…and not a damn thing has changed.

Same president, roughly the same breakdown in House and Senate, not a lot of local changes that I can tell. Oh, except the pot thing. My state is apparently legalizing marijuana so we can all just get high and forget about 8% unemployment. I told my good friend Michelle that I personally had been disappointed with the government since voting for Ross Perot 20 years ago (I was SO NAIVE) and she assured me Obamacare would cover my preexisting depression condition.

This is NOT A POLITICAL BLOG. I’m not intending to take any cheap shots at anyone in government, just laying out some facts and what it means for recruiting. We can only assume (and I’d say the same no matter who was elected) that we are going to face some difficulty moving ahead. Unemployment will not mysteriously drop overnight. Debt and taxes (whether they go up or down) are still going to be a concern.

My Fellow Recruiters – people need us now more than ever.

My children are growing up in a country where political division is the new normal. For every CEO who donated to the President’s reelection campaign there’s a business owner threatening to lay off staff if Obama won. Even our job creators are divided. If anyone has figured out what all this means for the energy or manufacturing sectors, please let me know because I have no idea. Confusion and apprehension reigns amongst the unemployed. My mother (who is STILL looking for a job) cried on the phone with me for half an hour this morning. It’s her birthday, for the love of Pete.

The job market is changing and will continue to evolve – for better or worse remains to be seen. We are on the front lines and we know what employers need. Take IT for example – I don’t know a single technical recruiter that would turn away a solid Web Developer right now (shameless plug – Zones is hiring one!) Why is it that whenever I go speak at my local (government funded) employment office, I hear that all this federal money is being spent on sending people to CNA SCHOOL?? WHY DON'T WE SEND THEM TO WEB DEVELOPER SCHOOL!! (or wherever you learn that techie stuff). Seriously - you can’t swing a loaf of bread at a grocery store in my town without hitting at least three unemployed certified nursing assistants.

We can help. Partner with your clients. Try to understand not just what they need now, but what they’ll be hiring for in the future. What does growth look like? What kind of skills will the candidate of the future need? Then don’t keep that information to yourself. Talk to the unemployed. Remember they’re getting a lot of their information from well-intentioned yet flat wrong “career counselors” that staff our government employment offices. We should be getting in front of them and setting them straight.