The best time to look for a better job is when you do not HAVE to look for one!

Is it only me? As a consumer, I feel my shopping habits have changed in the past couple of years. The Big Billion day, the great Indian Sale or the unbox sales notwithstanding. The malls and stores have bargain sales almost every other month. My impulse purchases are becoming increasingly lesser. With more apps in tow,  WhatsApp to get instant feedback from those that matter, window shopping and comparing online prices is less stressful- after all, I am making more informed decisions and value purchases.

We as consumers have come to accept disruption as a new normal in all ways of life, but when it comes to looking for jobs, we still tend to be in a time warp!

Did you know in the last 6 months, hiring in B2B has picked up and those in B2C are consolidating?

It pains me every day as acquaintances call me- when in between jobs..and frustrated about the pace of hiring action. "Am looking at the portals, and have reached out to pals -but nothing seems to happen. How do I find the jobs that I want"?

Almost every day, I have to educate that recruiters are in the business of finding people for jobs. We are mandated by employers looking to fill in critical positions & their specs are becoming more demanding.

And would you believe it..employers have changed their shopping habits over the past couple of decades!! 

If you are looking for a change of job, change the way you are looking! Stop posting CVs on portals and hope that a recruiter from your dream company will call you.

Professional networking sites is passe as Ver. 3.0 -as companies are in Recruitment 4.0 are more focussed on 'catching the early bird' as they have been investing in big data and AI and adopting 'outbound hiring' strategy!

So how does one make oneself prepared for a new job?

-Get yourself found by employers looking for great bargains! Review your social media footprint. Invest in Personal branding. Position yourself to stand out amongst peers.

-Take stock of your inventory of skills. It is predicted that 69% of the jobs in India will be made redundant by AI. Don't despair- there will be a new set of jobs/skills that would be in demand. Can you transplant some of your competencies to leverage them in a new environment?

-Embrace change the right way. Here is a hint to manage your career better. You can choose one among the four options :

• Step up is where you use computers or artificial intelligence to step up their skills, be it decision-making or knowledge production.
• Next, you step aside by opting for jobs machines cannot do.
• By stepping in, you can act as links between the man and the machine
• Stepping narrowly is you can focus your skills so narrow and sharp that you attain great expertise in some super special areas so that automating them won’t make economic sense at all.
• Finally, stepping forward is about “creating new cognitive technology solutions for the rest of the world to use”. 

Finding a job can be a full-time job in itself. I shall be glad to have your impressions.