Power Your Job Search With These Successful Strategies
Patrick McHargue of PromoPlacement offers practical tips that will help you land your new position.
With some initial signs that the coronavirus-caused economic winter might be thawing a bit, many promo products professionals who have lost their jobs during the pandemic are preparing to ramp up their search for a new position.
Patrick McHargue can help with that. He’s director of talent for promo-focused recruitment firm PromoPlacement. In this discussion with Counselor Executive editor Christopher Ruvo, he delivers actionable tips that will help you find your next gig.
Podcast Chapters
1:05: The current job search landscape.
2:36: The first two things you need to do to get a successful job search going.
4:38: The next major step.
5:54: How to strengthen your resume and LinkedIn profile. Plus, is a website that spotlights you and your career right for you?
9:34: Did you know there are promo industry job boards you can check out?
10:40: How recruiters might be able to help.
12:18: Timing your job search.
13:32: The importance of using “downtime” for professional improvement.
For sure, McHargue’s advice comes at a pivotal time. Societal shutdown mandates resulting from COVID-19 have caused unemployment in the United States to soar to nearly 15%. Sadly, the job losses have been widespread in the promotional products industry, too. “There’s no use sugarcoating it,” says McHargue (pictured). “Things have been bad out there.”
Still, McHargue says there are signs that conditions are beginning to improve slightly for suppliers and distributors – something backed up by reports from industry firms that have recently brought some staff back thanks, in part, to a successful pivot to selling personal protective equipment and/or support from the CARES Act Paycheck Protection Program. The positive trend could accelerate as the country moves into summer, making now a good time to start job searching.
What should the first step in your job search be? It actually involves a little self-empathy, according to McHargue. Listen to the podcast to hear him explain why that’s so, as well as to get a range of practical take-action strategies.