Flexibility in Your Job Search (Surprise! You Have Options.)

Last week I hosted a networking event in Boston geared towards uniting members of the creative community. It was held at a low-key local venue, what I like to refer to as ‘your typical Irish pub’, and it drew a great crowd of job seekers, colleagues and friends in the industry. The event was to not only mix and mingle among like-minded professionals in the industry who are all looking for contacts, but to also re-introduce the phenomena of social media that has invaded the professional world, through a live demonstration on how to use Twitter. Everything was set to go- we had our Mac Mini hooked up to the large plasma screen television hanging above our section, with easy access for patrons to use the Twitter application to “tweet” to other members in the room. Of course, what makes a good evening without a dose of irony? Prepared as we were, the venue’s internet connection failed miserably and the idea had to be nixed 15 minutes before my guests arrived.

As I scrambled around to find any and every tech expert in the bar, I finally settled on the fact that the point of the evening didn’t have to revolve around promoting Twitter or social networking in general. It was an opportunity to bring my guests together and provide an alternative to their everyday job searching tactics. Moral of the story: even the most careful planning, the best sure-shot idea and attention to detail can fail you.

More than ever, in today’s market- a constantly changing landscape of new technology and trends- it is important to incorporate a level of flexibility into your job search. A professionally-formatted resume in 10-point Palatino on high-grade paper won’t necessarily get you the job, the interview or even recognition. An impromptu introduction to the CEO’s brother’s best friend from college might. It’s important to stay flexible throughout your search. Let me provide an example.

My background over the past few years has dealt heavily in staffing for the creative industry- advertising, marketing and new media. These are areas where it is common for many professionals to bill themselves as “freelancers” or “independent contractors”, rather than full-time salaried employees. Many people are comfortable with the idea of handling their own marketing strategies, paying their own salaries, and providing their own benefits. Having a spouse who can provide such makes it that much more attainable. Other people certainly prefer the security of a full-time job and a steady paycheck with benefits, myself included. But as the economy has been in constant flux since last fall, the amount of hiring for full-time positions in my industry has decreased significantly, leaving multitudes of highly-qualified designers, marketers and advertisers not only jobless, but now unmarketable in what has become an industry very conservative with its hiring. And if you WERE lucky enough to find a full time role that fits your qualifications, most likely the money wasn’t there to match your compensation expectations.

At the event on Thursday, my general message to my guests was this: Be flexible. Be open minded about different types of employment, be it freelance, temporary, etc.. While you may ideally be targeting a full time position, right now what I’m seeing out there in the market is temporary and project-based work, and a lot of it to go around. While many of my clients have undergone scores of layoffs, in many cases that has not changed the fact that work is still coming in to them through their own clients and internal departments. The dilemma for them is that they are now faced with a steady workload and significantly less internal staff available to get it done. Because of this, I have seen a surge since the New Year in the need for freelance contractors, people willing to go into a company for a couple of days or a couple of weeks to help these companies get their existing projects out the door. And if you do your research you will find that many staffing companies even offer benefits to their temporary employees, things like health and dental coverage, tuition reimbursement, childcare discounts and even 401K plans. Often times you can negotiate a higher hourly wage than what you might make on a salary basis because the company is not responsible for your insurances and benefits. There is opportunity out there to find work and to make money in this downturn- you just have to find it, and you have to be open to it. Take advantage!

Guest Expert:

Dana Leavy is a New York City-based writer, recruiter and marketing guru with expertise in personal branding and digital styling.

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