What inventions would make the process of finding a job easier?

I. Observation or Discovery is made

In my 3rd question I would like to write about the process of finding a job. Is there an easier way? Wouldn't it be nice if your dream job would be handed to you on a silver platter? But, that is not reality. Finding a job seems to be a full time job in itself. My mind begins to ponder. There must be an easier way to find a job. It can be very discouraging in this economy finding a new job. In my observations, it seems to be these days all about building relationships with other people. As a society I am noticing that we are becoming a social networking society. Especially with the invention of social networking sites such as Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and MySpace. An old phrase comes to my mind when searching for a job. "It is not what you know, but it is who you know". To some degree, in my opinion, this is very true. People land jobs everyday by meeting the right people through networking. Although, from various people I have asked claim that networking for them is not always easy. Beth Haggenjos, our Career Advisor at IUPUI, has taken it upon herself to try to do that very thing for us. She helps us with the networking process. But, is there something else we can be doing? What is the best way to find a job? Sure there are job sources for finding a job like Career Builder and Monster.com. Even IUPUI has their own job site http://informatics.iupui.edu/careers/job-board/. As I approach my graduation date I begin to wonder; How do I network?, What is the easiest way to find a job?, How do I get from point A to point B?, How do I reach my dream job?, What does it take to get into a job I love doing?, How can I make myself stand out?, etc. But, what is the core question I am asking here? I think the best way to ask this question is to just be very straight forward. What inventions would make the process of finding a job easier?

II. A Question(s) is asked based on that Observation or Discovery

What inventions would make the process of finding a job easier?

I am defining the term "easier" as inventions or ideas that might make the job process easier than it is now. Inventions that might take the frustrations out of finding a job. Something that gets you where you want to be in a heartbeat.

III. How does this question(s) validate as being a "Month Long Question"?

I think this question validates as being a month long question because there is no black and white answer here. What maybe one person's idea of easier might be more difficult for another? It is hard telling what the future may hold for the job searching process. It is my job with this question to find out what new inventions or ideas maybe might be coming out in the near future to help with the process of finding a job. I intend to explore this idea and see where it takes me.

IV. Where has this Observation or Discovery been?

The finding a job process now has not changed much other than methods of technology. The newspaper was one way that people would usually find a job before the internet. Now with the invention of the internet people have job sites like Career Builder and Monster.com that they can located and find a job. People often did not travel much. Now with the invention of the airplane people travel all over the world in a short amount of time. However, before this invention took place people did not have the means to travel. Many people stayed in the same place that they grew up. For example someone in California would probably not apply for a job in New York as it is today. I am not saying there were not a few here and there that make take on that adventure. It just was not heard of for people to travel distances. Many people got jobs in their local towns or cities. Mostly you would hear about a job through word of mouth or by the newspaper. There would be application fees. You would have to type your resume on a typewriter and mail it in through the US Postal Service. Radio and TV were considered too expensive to advertise jobs. The newspaper was the way to go. I found an interesting article that explains more in detail what the job process was like in the 20th Century. You can find that website by going to the following link. http://www.cenedella.com/stone/archives/2010/01/history_of_job_search_20th_century.html

V. Where is this Observation or Discovery at present day?

In today's market is all about showing what you can do and building relationships with people. I always thought it was just New Media people or computer people that had to build portfolio websites. This is not the case anymore! Everyone or at least the majority of people need a portfolio website to demonstrate their skills. Visuals and Photos seem to be attractive and are just what employers maybe looking for. Many employers do not even take the time to look at resumes. Most of the time you get the job by knowing someone within the company. Take for example myself. I am going to be a teacher for a Day Camp this summer. I would never have known about the job if it had not been for my co-worker at my weekend job. She had worked there the previous summer. I applied for the job and I got it.

Cool Web Link
http://www.ecu.edu/e3careers/pdf/ePortfolio.pdf

Of course what I am seeing today is that we are in fact a social networking society. In class Steve always told us that things are becoming more blurred. That it use to be that things were more clearly defined. In terms of being called now a "social networking society" the lines between home life and the work life are blurred. Often in the office world people will sneak onto Facebook or twitter to talk to friends they have outside of work. Often I have heard about co-workers becoming Facebook friends and socializing outside of work. I have recently done this myself. I am currently staying in touch with co-workers by means of social networking on-line. A great website I found on-line talks about all of this. Check it out at http://www.pcworld.com/article/162719/how_social_networking_has_changed_society.html


VI. Where do you see this Observation or Discovery moving towards?

The concept of finding a job appears to be all on-line anymore. This is to continue in future years to come. Today over half of employers are recruiting people every day on-line. Companies are no longer waiting for resumes. Employers are actively searching for employees as well as employees are searching for employers. I found this concept very interesting. One article in particular talks about where the process of finding a job is moving towards.

The link is located at http://www.career-intelligence.com/transition/FutureofJobHunting.asp

According to this article people of today are becoming more and more tech savvy. Which means that most people know how to surf the web and check email. This opens the doors into the way we search for jobs. Everything can be virtually found on-line anymore.

As said before many companies are now turning towards the internet to search for possible candidates for jobs in which they wish to fill. What is important now is to market yourself. Many employers are using Google or other tools on the net and locating people that fit the criteria in which they are looking for. So in a since when trying to find a job you are now advertising yourself to companies. You are showing your skills and what you are into. The term that this article uses is java beans. If say an employer in Atlanta, Georgia wanted to find someone who knew something about java beans all they would have to do is a search. The article explains that 6 candidates show up. It is assumed that there are probably a lot more than 6 people in Atlanta, Georgia that know something about java beans. However the 6 candidates know something most people do not know. They know how to market themselves. I read a very good article talking and explaining about all of this.

Again the link to the article in which I found is located at http://www.career-intelligence.com/transition/FutureofJobHunting.asp

VII. What are your opinions about the subject matter?

Virtually anything can be found on-line these days. This would also include finding a job. I predict that society will invent easier and more efficient ways of connecting the employees with employers and vice versa. However, how will society do that? What inventions might be developed to make the job process easier in terms of being more efficient?

Wouldn't it be great if there was one centralized location that most people could go to in finding a job? I am finding society is searching for ways to make things more fun and less boring. For example, it use to be people were very strict with the way in which writing is composed. However, now with the invention of social networking sites and blogging people are not worried about spelling or grammar errors as much. As long as people are getting what you are trying to say people seem to be fine with it. At least in my observations and when I question others this seems to be the case. I mean they are still important, but not as much as they once were in society.

My prediction is that the process of finding a job will be much like a dating service. You will set up a profile with telling the employer who you are and what you are about. You will be able to show your skills. It seems that people are already doing this by way of web portfolios. However, many people do not want to take the time to set up their own websites. Many are not skilled in this area, but find a need to have one. Much of what is on-line now seems really crowded and text based. Would it be better to have visuals? Maybe photos of you and your skills. Most people these days seem to be visual people or ones who have a photographic memory. I know at my internship with the Federation, my supervisors described this to me. They are visual learners or remember things by way of pictures. Having a profile that employers could look at would be one step in making the job process easier. Many people find love every day and have fun with it by using on-line dating services. Why not do the same for finding a job?

I found some of the history of dating on-line sites to be quite appealing. They describe a transition of where we have been and where we are going. It is expected that finding a mate will be as easy as picking out a sofa at the store. All possible prospects will be laid out for you. Then you are free to meet up with that person and see if that person is a good fit for you through the process of elimination.

http://www.ehow.com/about_5380367_history-dating-sites.html
http://brainz.org/history-online-dating/

Most of which I find is that before the internet people had a need to connect with one another. One old source they used and that we still use today is the newspaper. People would put personal ads and respond by way of the newspaper. It use to be if you used these types of services you were considered desperate to find a mate. Now I think that has changed. In fact, it has become the norm when looking for a mate. You see the ads or advertisements such as eHarmony on TV. I found that one of the first dating sites was called kiss.com and match.com. These sites were created by the same person back in the mid 1990s. The movie "You Got Mail" with Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan actually changed the views of society in the matting process. The movie "You Got Mail" was actually a remake of an older movie. At least this is what I have heard. However, in that movie they would write letters. This is how my mom and dad met. It use to be that women were given the names and addresses of service men serving in the military. The men and women would exchange letters and get to know one another much like we do today with on-line dating services.

Much like a dating site, people only want a temporary profile up until they find what they need. In the case of a dating website people are searching for love. When they find the person that they want to spend the rest of their life with or find a person in which they want to steadily date, often times people will delete their profiles. People when searching for love can search for a mate by categories. They can search for a mate by eye color or by age now. They can select body types and characteristics they are looking for in a person. Basically, they are cutting to the chase. They are searching for the exact person that they might be interested in. They also might not know who they are interested in. They can also just freely search people and reply to those who interest them.

I predict that this maybe the best route in searching for a job in the work place as well. People could set up a temporary profile of their job skills. Employers could make a profile explaining the jobs that are available and people they are looking for in terms of filling the position. Both are looking for a cheaper route to take in landing a job or finding the person to fill the position.

Something that I found while researching is that there are literally companies out there that market Dating Software so that you could create your own dating website. I wonder if you could use the Dating Software package and turn that into a Finding a Job site??? Meaning people could set up their profiles as either a business or an individual and they could find each other.

http://www.webscribble.com/


VIII. Can you back up any of your thoughts?

As I was researching to back up my thoughts earlier I came across a much different idea. Take a look at this site called Job search 2010. It has a new way of thinking about the future of job searching. Check it out at http://www.internetinc.com/future-of-job-search-business

From what I have found on the net many people instead of finding a job will create their own businesses. It is happening now and is predicted to happen more often in the future. So here is a new concept. Remember mom and pop places? Perhaps they are on their way back. The economy I think has caused a lot of problems recently and a lot of people are out of work. Many older people are taking jobs at McDonalds that were once considered to be teenage jobs.

To prove this idea I read an interesting article entitled "Do Small Businesses Care More About Their Customers Than the Big Guys?". Which maybe proving that people would much rather do business with a small business than a monopoly. Remember how we were talking about how society has become more of a social networking society? Well if more and more people are upset with larger companies and prefer small businesses perhaps the future of searching for a job is not actually searching for a job. Perhaps the future of searching for a job is to create one. Read this article "Do Small Businesses Care More About Their Customers Than the Big Guys?". I find it very interesting. The article can be found at http://entrepreneurs.about.com/