The Five Things You Must Do to Get a Great Job in Orlando in 2019

Five Things You Must Do Orlando Job 2019

Central Florida’s job market is on fire. There are more open jobs here than people to work them even with the region gaining 140 new residents (net) every day. Most assume these jobs are lower-paying hospitality jobs. We had over 70 million tourists visit Central Florida last year and do need a lot of workers in our excellent hospitality industry. This is what we do in Central Florida, and we are very proud to be the world’s number one tourist destination. However, we also see tremendous job growth in many of our other sectors, including construction, technology, education, healthcare, and professional services (higher salary jobs). You can read all about where the jobs are in our latest employment report.

No matter what type of job, sector, experience level or location you may be looking for to get a great job in Orlando (not just any job) takes some strategic job search planning.  Great jobs reside at companies that you may never even knew existed. Fantastic higher-paying jobs also reside at our well-known companies like Disney, Darden, Siemens, and Lockheed Martin. To get a great job at ANY level, I have put together my top five things you must do in Central Florida to understand this job market.

  1. Your resume and LinkedIn profile have to be optimized so that your skill sets are clear, concise, and easily interpreted on the top half of the first page of your resume (read this article). Employers and robots do not have time to figure out what your skill sets are so you must be extremely clear about what you do (job title at the top of the resume that matches the job title in the job you are applying for) and your skill sets. I had seventy resumes for one of my open positions last month and over 75% of these resumes required me to “interpret” the candidate’s qualifications. With seventy resumes, this is not good.
  1. Use multiple sources for your job search. It would be great if OrlandoJobs.com or CareerBuilder had every possible job opening in Central Florida. This is not the case. Great jobs lurk at companies you know nothing about and many times they are not even posted to any job site; not even their own! Use the Orlando Business Journals Book of Lists to identify Central Florida companies. Go to their websites and research what they do and if they have any jobs posted. You will be surprised at what you find. 85% of Central Florida companies have less than 50 employees and they have some of the best jobs in the area.
  1. Go after the great jobs once you apply. You find a great job; you optimize your resume for that job, you apply and then wait for the employer to respond. If this job is a job that you genuinely qualify for and at a company that you want to work for, you have to let the company know you are the best candidate.   This can be done many ways depending on the size of the company and how you do your research (companies with more than 500 employees make some of this more difficult). Go to LinkedIn, look up the company and see if you can find the person who would be the hiring authority. Connect to that person with a simple note saying you applied to XYZ job and very excited about exploring opportunities with your company.  Your LinkedIn profile all the sudden becomes your resume and most hiring managers will either reach back out to you (again, if you are qualified and your LinkedIn profile/resume are optimized for that job) or alert their human resources department to set an interview. Department managers want to hire, and so many times, they only see candidates that are selected by the company robot or internal recruiting department.
  1. Network.  I know, everyone who tells you to network, knows nothing about a job search. It is a simple word to use, but most job seekers (at any level) have no idea how to do this. Central Florida has so many networking events that you could go to four every day. Use things like meetup.com and Eventbrite.com to find events where people who may have jobs in your field hang out. Go to these events and use the LinkedIn app to turn on “people close to me” feature. It will help identify who is in the room, and you can find them and connect in seconds. Once you meet someone at these events, let them know you are in a job search looking for jobs with your skillset. You will be surprised how people will extend themselves to help you in your quest for a great job!
  1. Use your social networks. If you are on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and Instagram, during a job search you should do a couple of posts on all these sites letting everyone know you are looking for another job (if you are currently not working). Talk about networking! I very rarely see these posts, and I assume many people who are struggling to get a job don’t want to broadcast this fact. Here is the best tip of the day; let your “social” friends know ASAP. The number one way to get a job is by an employee referral. If anyone has anything at their current companies and they know you are looking, this will work out well for you. In your posts, include your LinkedIn URL.

You have more control in your job search. Optimize your social profiles and resume and use this power to get the best job ever!

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