Employment System

           Job seekers in Nashville and Middle Tennessee as most everywhere are frustrated by the length of time it takes to find a suitable job. Within the realm of a search there are actions that can be taken to reduce the time to find employment while making the process more efficient with better results. Understanding the process and what lies ahead is mandatory for to carry out a successful job search.

            Throughout the search progression, job seekers encounter barriers and pitfalls that are a major contributing factor to the length and often unsatisfactory results of the process.  Some of these are part of the existing employment system. Others are inherent in the seekers themselves.

            This employment section will help you recognize where the barriers and pitfalls lie and what you can do to avoid or deal with them once they are encountered during your own search for employment. In many cases, barriers and pitfalls can be eliminated or reduced by the course of action you take at the beginning. 

            First, what is a barrier and what is a pitfall. Merriam Webster’s College Dictionary defines a barrier as an obstacle, something…that blocks or is intended to block passage…or that impedes or separates. Pitfall is defined as a trap or snare…a hidden or not easily recognized danger or difficulty. Unfortunately, the employment system is laden with both.

            The section will do more than just show you how to handle barriers; it will also explain how to most effectively conduct a search. It will describe the differences in your marketing tools such as resumes, cover letters and interviewing techniques along with pointing out which ones are best for your situation. In addition, the book will provide alternative ways to reach your goal of a job and career.

            View your search as more than a way to find a job and instead as a pathway to career and life success. What path you take will impact where you end up.

            Barriers and pitfalls during a search are a lot like land mines laid out to impede progress along a path. Without a guide, like this book, you won’t know where to step. With it you will be able to reduce your negative encounters and more easily glide over and avoid obstacles to your final destination in a great job.

            What may first appear as an easy pathway set up by the employers and their compatriots (the employment Web sites/publications and human resource departments) to reach your dream job can be well disguised barrier, much like a Venus flytrap emitting a fragrance to attract insects. Once you have fallen for the seduction and are in their grasp, you may think for awhile you have found what you are looking for – a quick way to find a job. But in reality, you are really helping feed a hungry creature, which in this case is a system wanting applicants to fill its appetite for resumes.

            Just like with the insects and the Venus flytrap, eventually most job seekers find their goal is not being met with these publications and sites. The good news, however, is that unlike the insects, you can escape and make these applicant attracting systems an asset.

            And what about those human resource department bureaucracies – how do you handle them? There are ways to deal with these bureaucracies and end up in front of the actual hiring managers. This employment section explains how to get to those individuals that really want and need your services working for them.

            Knowing yourself is also an important part of the process. Not knowing yourself can lead to self-created barriers. For instance, not having a clear goal can mean having to stop in mid stream and go off in a different search direction wasting valuable time.

            Another self-created barrier or barriers are excuses. You need to ascertain what yours are and deal with them directly.

            Still another may be to not to take the time to know what tools you have to work with or how to use them effectively. Not only can this lengthen the time it will take you to find a job, it can mean losing employment opportunities that you are qualified to obtain.

            Avoiding barriers can also mean looking down the road to see what opportunities may be most prevalent in the future workplace along with which ones may be on the downturn. Why set yourself up for problems later in life with a career in decline?