5 Surefire Ways To Improve Your Hirability In A Bad Economy

Getting a job is harder than ever. There are more people out of work and everyone is competing for the same small pool of jobs. This is the perfect time to take steps to increase your hirability to up your chances of getting a job in this bad economy. Here are 5 ways you can do it.


Go To School
Going back to school is one of the best ways to increase your hirability. You can get the degree and the training that will separate you from the throngs of other job hunters. You can choose to either complete an undergraduate degree or, if you already have your undergraduate, you can go for graduate education that will make you part of an even more elite subgroup of job hunters. With more education you will not only be more likely to get a job, you will be more likely to get a better one.

Get Certified
You can get certified in any number of skills in a variety of fields. You could get certifications pertaining to the fields of accounting, finance, business, education, law, security, or technology. What these certifications tell employers is that you possess certain practical skills that can be used on the job. Instead of having to rely on your assurance that you have experience or just the ability to complete a task, employers can just see your certification and know that you can do what they need done.

Join A Professional Association
Joining a professional association is your chance to rub elbows with people already working in the field in which you would like to work. By being active in the organization you can get peoples' attention without being too direct about it. You can talk to the other members to find out who is hiring and what they are looking for. You will probably run into the people who are hiring and you will be in the right place at the right time.

Work For Free
If one of the things standing between you and getting a job is a lack of experience then you can work a position that does not pay any wages in order to get more experience. This could be an internship or it could be a volunteer position. Either way, this type of arrangement will help you to gain experience, get to know people in your field, and may lead to a paying job with the same organization.

Learn How To Ace Interviews
The interview tells a prospective employer a lot about you. If you learn to ace interviews then you can increase your hirability tenfold. Learn to answer questions well, ask the right questions, use your body language to maximum effect, and get the job you want.

These are 5 surefire ways to improve your hirability in a bad economy. It's tough out there right now but you can increase the chances that you will get hired with these tips. Employers see a lot of people in interviews. Make yourself the one they want to hire.

Tom Rheinecker writes about where to obtain a masters in HR.