So many people are looking for work right now. Of course, this impacts the PR, communications and marketing sectors, too.
I know of many talented professionals in my network who are currently seeking full-time and freelance work. They say it’s rough out there.
A recent Glassdoor Community poll found that more than 70% of workers aren’t hopeful about their 2026 job search, and part of that pessimism may stem from feeling like the process is out of their control.
My guest, Stacia Doss, M.A., Senior Content & Marketing Strategist of Glassdoor, will be with me to talk about what those seeking employment can do beyond simply submitting more online job applications. Glassdoor’s research shows that online applications account for 60% of job offers – but 40% comes from other sources like referrals, recruiters, and in-person applications.
Show summary:
In this episode of PR Explored, host Michelle Garrett, a PR consultant, author, and writer talks with her guest, Stacia Doss from Glassdoor, as they dive deep into the current job market’s complexities and provide actionable advice for job seekers.
In this episode, they discuss effective job search strategies, the importance of networking, leveraging AI, and how to stand out in a crowded field. This follows the discussion on the last episode about skills pros need to succeed in a PR career.
They also touch on mental health aspects of job searching and the value of maintaining professional connections.
Whether you’re in PR, comms, or any other industry, these insights and tips are designed to help you navigate your job search more effectively.
00:00 Welcome and Introduction
00:31 Guest Introduction and Background
01:34 Current Job Market Challenges
02:47 Statistics and Trends in Job Listings
04:59 Impact of AI on Job Market
12:19 Application Process Frustrations
16:25 Exploring the Hidden Job Market
20:08 Networking and Building Connections
23:04 Leveraging LinkedIn for Job Search
33:39 Enhancing Skills and Upskilling
35:11 Weekly AI Learning Routine
36:34 Free Resources for PR and Comms Pros
38:27 Networking and Weak Ties
39:28 Informational Interviews and Follow-ups
42:34 Virtual Coffee Chats and Professional Organizations
45:04 Staying in Touch with Your Network
48:06 Mental Health and Community Support
52:04 Researching Companies and Job Markets
53:17 Organizing Your Job Search
58:57 Final Thoughts and Resources
Show notes:
Follow Stacia Doss on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/staciadoss/
Stacia’s article on which the episode is based: https://www.glassdoor.com/blog/beyond-online-applications-job-search/
The Lonely Office podcast: https://www.glassdoor.com/Community/the-lonely-office
Glassdoor’s blog with more tips and advice for job hunters: https://www.glassdoor.com/blog/
Stats cited were pulled from these articles: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/u-marketing-jobs-report-2025-140900893.html
https://www.roberthalf.com/us/en/insights/research/data-reveals-which-marketing-and-creative-roles-are-in-highest-demand
https://www.marketingdive.com/news/entry-level-marketers-feel-job-pinch-what-the-numbers-say/803705
Full transcript:
How to Maximize Your Job Search_ Strategies Beyond Submitting Applications
Michelle Garrett: [00:00:00] Hello everyone and welcome. We are here for another episode of PR Explored the PR podcast, where we delve into trends and topics related to public relations and communications. I’m your host, Michelle Garrett, a PR consultant and writer, and my guest today is Stacia. A thank you so much for being here, Stacia.
Stacia Doss: Thank you Michelle. It’s Stacia. It’s great to meet everyone. excited to be here. So yeah, I’ll just share a little bit about myself and then we can get into the conversation. But I’ve been at Glassdoor for the past four years, and I spend a lot of time looking into conversations among job seekers, also expert advice from recruiters, career coaches, all those things to create content that helps job seekers.
Really navigate this new [00:01:00] world of the job market. I know it’s very challenging right now, and so everything that I’ve seen and read and that my colleagues have dug into really paints the picture of how complicated the landscape is. So I’m excited to talk more about it and hopefully share some advice that will help a lot of you.
Michelle Garrett: Yes. I have, I was, we were chatting a little bit ahead of time. I’m gonna put, Stacia’s, LinkedIn up here as we’re talking. we were talking a little bit beforehand about, I literally have a list of people, colleagues, and friends that are looking for chops right now. And I have never seen it like this.
And I saw your report and I was excited to talk about this. And we are gonna, I’m gonna lean into the marketing, comms, PR side of things a little bit, but really the advice, it was not written specifically for that. So the advice will [00:02:00] really apply, across industries. But I just, I know that in, my field, our field, it is really, tough out there.
And I’ve talked to a number of, like I said, friends who are in a job search and, it’s, really challenging. So I’m, the idea today is to try to help. And dovetail even off what we talked about two weeks ago, which was a skillset, what skillset you could, should bring into, a PR and comms, job search and, what are employers looking for.
This, I thought would be a perfect follow on that.
Stacia Doss: Yeah. Yeah. I’m excited to talk more about it.
Michelle Garrett: Talk about, so I will, let’s get started with our questions. I kind of wanna set the stage a little bit. This, this wasn’t part of the report, but I wanna talk just for a minute about, how many people are currently [00:03:00] looking for work.
and I know people who are freelance consultants, like me, and then I know people who are of course, looking for full-time jobs. And, my research was a little, it’s just, it’s I’ve just never seen anything like this.
Stacia Doss: Yeah. Yeah, it’s definitely, I hate to use the term unprecedented times, but it is in a different way.
Michelle Garrett: yeah.
Stacia Doss: Yeah. So I don’t have the numbers in front of me if you want to share those.
Michelle Garrett: Yeah. I’m just gonna, I’m gonna read this and then I’ll put the link up to this marketing dive article. it says, active job listings for marketing roles overall fell 5.2% between the second and third quarters, of 2025 and new listings fell 4.4% during the same period.
they are saying it is due to economic issues as well as ai. [00:04:00] and I found another article that says Employment prospects for marketers had a four year low in April, 2025. It just in hiring takes longer. it used the term some listings are frozen, seem to be frozen in time, which I’ve also heard as an issue, For job seekers who are just looking and implying online. so I’ll put this article up here in case anybody wants to look at it, but the, stats are, eyeopening,
Stacia Doss: Yeah. Yeah. And daunting for a lot of people. So yeah, recruiters are getting a record number of applications so much so that they’re not even able to review them all.
So if you don’t apply within that first 24, maybe even 48 hours, your application is more than likely not even getting looked at because there’s just so many applicants coming in. For industries that [00:05:00] are not hiring as much or rapidly changing comms for one, those roles are evolving so much and so quickly this leaves fewer roles across the board and just higher competition, stiff competition in those industries where they’re just seeing significantly more applicants than previous job markets.
So it’s definitely challenging to break through the noise when there are fewer roles to apply for, and then recruiters are being overwhelmed on the other side of things as well. It’s tough.
Michelle Garrett: Tough. Yeah. I also saw that, remote jobs are make up just 14% of all marketing jobs. We were talking a little bit about how everybody, really wants, I think most people want hybrid or remote, would be their preference, it seems And I understand that completely. and I also saw a stat that the, the communications professional listings fell 17.5%, which that was [00:06:00] a very high number in my opinion. So I don’t know how accurate that is. but generally, what I saw was that it’s, there’s a trend towards smaller, more experienced teams versus a broader expansion.
So what it said was that more employers are hiring, but there are fewer roles. So they’re looking for senior talent versus entry level. and that makes it tough for. Younger professionals to really get anything going on.
Stacia Doss: Yeah, absolutely. There are definitely fewer entry level roles. That’s something that our research team has looked into and has seen trending.
of course AI plays a big part in that because some of those tasks that entry-level workers may have been doing traditionally can now be handled through ai, but that doesn’t [00:07:00] mean that they’re not out there. I think you just have to get creative in how you position yourself and having some skills in AI or being able to position how you use AI in your daily life or as part of your job is really important.
Even if it’s just a little bit, I’d advise anyone who is not or who is anti AI to at least. Start training themselves and figuring out some creative ways that they can use it to help them with their job search.
Michelle Garrett: Yes. I, yeah, it’s here and so we have to, make,
Stacia Doss: Yeah.
Michelle Garrett: Make
Stacia Doss: the best of it, Yes.
Michelle Garrett: I will, share the report link too, but one of the things that, the report talks about is 70% of workers aren’t hopeful about their [00:08:00] job search in 2026. And I, say, why do you think that is? And I think we’ve just talked about Yeah. Some reasons, but maybe we should talk about that a little bit.
Stacia Doss: Yeah, I think we have seen a lot of workers say that they’re frustrated with ghosting in the process. Some people aren’t even getting rejection letters after they apply for jobs until months and months later, but that just ties back to the recruiters being overwhelmed with the number of applicants and it’s really just a lose on all sides.
But it totally makes sense why they’re not hopeful about the job search. this number can be pretty jarring to look at, especially if you are entry level or you’re looking to change careers or anything like that. It’s pretty, pretty tough to swallow. [00:09:00]
Michelle Garrett: I feel and maybe we’ll see how this plays out, but I feel like maybe we, might be seeing, or we may see a little bit of a turnaround as far as, the reliance on ai because I’ve also seen a lot of research and articles about how while companies are like adding AI tools, adopting ai, they really don’t know how to implement them and apply, what they’re, what they have
Stacia Doss: Yes.
Michelle Garrett: To bring about actual results. And so they may end up, finding that they do in fact need human workers.
Stacia Doss: Oh, yeah. particularly in, in our industry, there have been, there’s someone I follow from stacker who posts a lot about storytelling roles that companies are hiring for that are.
Paying a hundred k and above. And what that basically [00:10:00] tells us is that just what you’re saying, that human aspect is still important. You need the humans who understand human storytelling to tell the AI what to say, what to do, and to edit that content in a way that makes it relatable for the humans that are consuming it.
Because if things are robotic and you’re trying to reach a human audience, it’s not gonna work. You need someone to provide that guidance and an actual narrative that people can relate to.
Michelle Garrett: Yes. S I did see the storyteller, skillset as one of the ones that’s in demand. a couple other ones that I saw where were growth marketers and product.
Fastest growing growth marketers. That was what I saw. And then product marketers have the highest pay. And I also saw a demand for social media pros, I find that really interesting. ’cause I feel [00:11:00] like, I almost feel like there’s cons, general people may be trending away from using social as much.
I don’t know. Yeah, that might just be,
Stacia Doss: if you count Reddit and threads, I think that people are gravitating towards platforms like that more.
Where their conversations, I’m not sure if Substack is considered social media, but that’s another one where we’re seeing a lot of people finding their voice and sharing stories in a different way.
Michelle Garrett: Yeah. So that’s why I’m thinking, If you have, skill sets in those areas, yeah. It might not be quite as, as daunting, but Yeah. but I did find it interesting that it’s that more companies are hiring, but they’re not just, they’re not hiring at the, massive, scale that they were.
So it, it feels like there was just a market correction [00:12:00] in there. Yeah, because it felt, it did feel, it, it’d be nice to find the happy medium because
Stacia Doss: Yeah,
Michelle Garrett: it’s either, a lot of hiring or, not enough.
Stacia Doss: yeah. Yeah.
Michelle Garrett: Absolutely. Let’s talk for a minute about, the application process, because I’ve heard this anecdotally as well, that it’s very, can be very frustrating.
And of course, people hate writing cover letters and then they have to, they put their, upload, their resume, and then they have to fill out an application. And just it’s a lot of, redundancy, it feels like.
Stacia Doss: Yeah. Yeah. That was the biggest frustration when we pulled workers. It was reentering your resume.
We thought that people would say automation, AI screeners, something like that as the biggest pain point. But that was actually number two. [00:13:00] 48% of folks said reentering their resume. that’s so annoying to them. And even when we get into the comments, people were sharing their woes with that.
But we also, as I mentioned earlier, we’ve seen people talking about, ghosting and their process being a big source of frustration for them as well. You put all this info in you, you’re reentering your resume and then you hear absolutely nothing back. Or some people have shared stories about being in the process, maybe having a conversation and then never hearing back again.
So that’s where we’re seeing the biggest frustration. I wanna talk a little bit about AI because there was an interesting comment when we did this poll. So it’s a poll and then people can engage in conversation underneath the poll. someone brought up how frustrated they were and they got a lot of.
Likes [00:14:00] on this particular comment, but how frustrated they were with recruiters and or hiring managers, reiterating that people should not be using AI too much in their process of applying for jobs. They’re frustrated by this because they say that a lot of companies are using AI in their process. So they’re like, okay, so you can use AI for us, but we can’t use AI when we’re applying for your role.
So that was just interesting to see that.
How many people liked that comment and felt that way? That’s not something that we saw people saying. So it was interesting to get those comments and see how they’re really feeling.
Michelle Garrett: Yeah. it’s not fair, but
Stacia Doss: it’s not fair.
Michelle Garrett: I follow a couple people in the recruiting space and yeah, they always, talk about, [00:15:00] the, how it just, it isn’t really, it’s not set up for the job seeker, of course. And yeah, I just wonder how much of it just goes into a black hole somewhere and how much they’re really looking at.
Because I also hear my friends looking for jobs saying that they often don’t hear anything. So the ghosting and it’s did it even, where did it go? did it even count? Did it even matter?
Stacia Doss: It’s frustrating. Yeah, it’s very frustrating. I totally understand. Because yeah, you put a lot of effort into it.
You may even be. Tailoring your cover letter or tailoring your resume for different roles and
Michelle Garrett: Right.
Stacia Doss: And then you go and fill it out, resubmit everything, copy and paste everything over again, and then you hear nothing. That’s incredibly frustrating.
Michelle Garrett: Yeah. And then we will talk in a little bit about, just mental health [00:16:00] wise, maybe some things that would
Stacia Doss: Yeah.
Michelle Garrett: Be helpful. So
Stacia Doss: yeah,
Michelle Garrett: we’ll get to that and please ask questions, if you have any, as we discuss this, and we will do our best to, get to those. okay.
So next let’s talk about, the tips that are, make up the heart of the report about, What is known as the hidden job market. And, I know that, a lot of it talks about things that you can do beyond applying online, because I think the first thing many job seekers are gonna do are gonna, they’re gonna search for jobs on LinkedIn or online, how, whichever, wherever they look at, they’re gonna submit those applications and they’re gonna sit there and [00:17:00] hope that somebody’s gonna, call them or gonna touch.
but often, the jobs are not coming from that particular part of the search. They’re actually coming through other channels.
Stacia Doss: Yeah, absolutely. So our researcher, Chris, our lead researcher, found that online applications cold applying is still, of course, the number one way to get a job, but it’s a lot more complicated than just that.
So referral interviews or interviews that come from referrals, where 35% more likely to result in a job offer. And one of the big things that we’ve heard a lot about, or maybe not heard so much about is the power of weak ties. So Adam Grant, organizational psychologist, talks a lot about this, and that’s really just the power of a friend or a casual [00:18:00] acquaintance, maybe a former colleague, people you don’t know that well, that are really.
Key to getting your foot in the door. cold outreach can work, like just finding someone at the company and seeing if they’ll be willing to refer you or connect you with someone. But the best way to go is probably through informational interviews, so really finding a connection. Someone at that company or someone, a target company or someone who’s doing something that you’re interested in, at a company you’re interested in, and just making.
An introduction, setting up time with them so that you already have those connections. You don’t have to find one. So if something comes up or you just wanna keep in contact with them in the event that something is, maybe it’s posted internally and they’re open to considering external applications, you already have someone.
And as fast as [00:19:00] roles are being taken down, the ones that we do have access to, it’s critical to apply as soon as you see something you’re interested in. So having those connections in advance, or at least trying to make those connections is like super important.
Michelle Garrett: and obviously, most people probably know how to use LinkedIn to see, if you ha share a connection in common.
Yeah. Or if you’re, a degree away, but have know someone they can introduce you maybe, or, and I think more, most people are more than happy to do that. I’ve certainly done it for people and, I think that can be at least a foot in the door, and help you stand out.
And sometimes, I know everybody will often direct you back to the application online, but yeah, sometimes you can get the resume, sent directly to the hiring manager or [00:20:00] somebody who is in touch with the hiring manager. And of course I think that can also be, more powerful perhaps.
Stacia Doss: Yeah. And I know we’ll get into this later, but I’ll share some stories from.
Job seekers as well as some things that our recruiters and career coaches have shared with us on our podcast.
Michelle Garrett: Oh, yeah. I’m gonna put the podcast in our, chat, in our comments as well. I saw one thing, I don’t know if you’re gonna talk about this in a little bit, but the The target company list.
Stacia Doss: Yeah. Yes. That was something that JT O’Donnell spoke to on, we have a podcast called The Lonely Office, which has an ask a recruiter segment, and there are a lot of nuggets that are shared on there. And one of them that JT O’Donnell shared was the 20 company bucket list. So coming up with your bucket list of your target [00:21:00] 20 companies based on different attributes, things that you want out of a company, and really starting to build your story around those brands, building your narrative.
It’s. Yeah, that’s one thing, but that’s something that as comms pros, PR and comms pros, we do that for a living. So being able to do that externally, like for yourself, I know it can be a bit challenging, but sharing your, story for as it goes with these companies, sharing your narrative as it relates back to their values and things like that, is something that is super important.
And having to do it as part of your job should make it a bit easier to, craft stories for these companies.
Michelle Garrett: Yeah. No, I really like that tip because, I think sometimes, we’re just, [00:22:00] I feel like it’s, first of all, if you get laid off, it’s very overwhelming to just start To start in like, where do you start?
There’s so much to do and and you’re just, you’re overwhelmed and, you just don’t know. So that’s why I like these tips ’cause they’re practical and they actually give you like things that you can almost homework I would call it to, that you can do to hopefully get a leg up.
Stacia Doss: Yeah.
Michelle Garrett: And, yeah. Yeah, that, I thought that was a really interesting one because I also was posting about, the fact that we were doing this today and somebody online was talking about how they have. Done a lot of cold outreach. I think they are more on the freelance consulting side. But, that can work.
it is a lot of work to do it, but I, know several, folks who do that and are able to, you might have to, touch, reach out to a lot of companies, but you can come away with, a client or a project. I think, that could be [00:23:00] another way, to approach this. At least you feel like you’re, you’re hopefully accomplishing something and, I, I don’t know if we wanna talk about LinkedIn as a tool, but I think that is a really powerful way to, uncover, find the companies, but then find the contacts at the company.
Stacia Doss: Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. It’s like you’re. Personal directory.
Michelle Garrett: Yeah. alright, let’s see here. we are talking about, we, we’ve talked about this a little bit, beyond the typical, process. What else, can we do, what are some other methods, that maybe we haven’t talked about yet?
Stacia Doss: Yeah, so once you have built [00:24:00] that 20 bucket list, of companies, make sure that you’re following them on LinkedIn and you’re getting jobs alerts in addition to LinkedIn, I think it’s important to go to those company sites and set job alerts so that you can be notified before they’re even posted on LinkedIn and you can get a leg up on applying.
One thing that another career expert recommended Madeline Mann is regularly posting. So sharing your story in that way, regularly, posting on LinkedIn about the work that you’re doing and having an engaging narrative, but also engaging with the target company’s content. So commenting under those things, so that they see that you’re active, you’re visible, you’re a fan of the company, they’ll recognize your name.
Those things have [00:25:00] been impactful for some. And then as PR and comms pros, like it’s really about just targeting companies where you genuinely can add to the conversation, whether that’s like employer brand, executive visibility, thought leadership, anything. And you’re already thinking, I’m sure, as someone in this field, in terms of visibility, voice, and influence.
So that translates directly into your job search and really shaping perception and sharing what you do and even your approach to different things. Because as you make those connections, they can go to your profile and see oh hey, they’re, they know what they’re talking about. They actually do these things.
’cause especially if you’re just doing a cold outreach, it may be more challenging to just be like, oh, here’s my resume. It’s more impactful to tell your story when you’re doing [00:26:00] that initial contact and just saying, Hey, here’s a little something that I worked on. Or, check out my latest, here’s my latest post.
It talks a little bit about my approach to X, y, Z. So just keeping that in mind.
Michelle Garrett: Yeah. I think showing that how to deliver results is a huge Piece of this. And, I think for a long time, maybe that, again, was under sung a little bit. And so now I feel like that the person that can show what they’ve done as opposed to just, putting it as a line item on their resume, have they show the results they show, Themselves in action. That really helps them stand out because companies want somebody, again, just looking at some articles as I prepared for today, they want somebody who is ready to hit the ground running. And I know, again, that sounds kind, however it sounds, but, but [00:27:00] they want somebody who can deliver real results.
And that’s why I feel like, the entry level, the new college grad, set is probably struggling a little bit, although I see a lot of professors in comms and, marketing, talking about how even when you’re an undergrad, you need to be doing the internships and you need to be, demonstrating your skills and abilities.
So again, you stand out from your fellow, grads or whatever. So I feel like, yeah. That’s just more important than it’s ever been.
Stacia Doss: Oh yeah. And that’s when you start building your network too. When you have these internships, you make sure that you are staying in contact with connections and internships give you a taste of what you might wanna do, but then there might be someone in a different area of the business that you’re interested in learning more about what they do.
Or maybe you had some [00:28:00] exposure to it and you’re like, Hey, like I actually would like to do something more like this. So just making sure that you keep in contact with those people is. It’s super important. They can, they may leave that job, but they’ll still be part of your network and could possibly help you get a job once it’s time to graduate.
Michelle Garrett: Yes. And that’s what I tell, I have a couple younger kids, in the, one in college, one out, and I’m always saying as as soon as you meet someone
Stacia Doss: yeah,
Michelle Garrett: it, she, my daughter’s a freshman, start adding them to your LinkedIn. ’cause it kind goes over time. And, in a few years when she gets to that point, then she’ll already have, a solid base of, folks that she can hopefully, look to for introductions or references or
referrals or whatever it might be. So I feel like again, [00:29:00] I know sometimes I’ve talked with some students who really love LinkedIn and really know how to use it and then others who Look down on it, and I, I get it. But it’s, it really is an important tool and, it’s a place to collect all of those, professional contexts that you’ve made.
And it’s, it is easy to search and find, who, might be able to help you or who, who knows someone who could help you. So I think, don’t, dismiss LinkedIn.
Stacia Doss: Yeah, I agree. It’s the easiest way to reach out. And, you may not get a response, but I think nine times outta 10, Previously, I have used LinkedIn to learn more about opportunities and things like that in the past, and I’ve successfully been able to get people to talk [00:30:00] to me, and that’s without having premium. So I think it’s worth trying, and again, craft a message that is compelling and makes sense and will get someone to wanna respond to.
You. Don’t just say, Hey, can you help me get a job? Or, Make sure that you’re actually telling a story when you’re reaching out.
Michelle Garrett: I think that’s a really important, point that you just made because I, again, when someone comes to me and says, oh, I got laid off, or, oh, I think I’m gonna get laid off, so I’m looking for a job, I need more, I need to know industries, types of roles.
sometimes I think the roles don’t match what the skillset is. So maybe a little bit about, what you really wanna focus on in the role. just so I’m not. Wasting anyone’s time by sending the job seeker, a bunch of openings that maybe really aren’t a fit. I think on the job seeker side, when you ask someone [00:31:00] for help, also be aware that if they send you something that isn’t a fit, they may not have taken the time to look and see if it’s a remote role or if you’re in the same vicinity or they’re trying to help.
And so I don’t think most people look down on that, but I sometimes I feel the expectation can’t be that I’m gonna be doing all the research on the role. I saw it, Sent it over.
Stacia Doss: Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. So you’re not looking that deep into it. You’re like, okay, overall it looks like something that you have a skillset for.
Yeah, I think that can still go a long way. I hope people are appreciative of things like that.
Michelle Garrett: And I see just a lot more people, compiling job listings and I’m not sure. how much overlap there is. I don’t know if you’ve seen this too, but I follow a few people who share, compilations not only for freelancers, but for full-time jobs too.
[00:32:00] And sometimes I’ll suggest, you need to follow this person or that person they post once a week or they post one person I know post every day it seems like. yeah, I’m not sure where they’re pulling all that from, but,
Stacia Doss: yeah, if you wanna post more frequently, my recommendation would be to, build your own calendar, your own content calendar, and I don’t think you gotta post every single day. if you’re trying to be an influencer or something on LinkedIn, maybe you wanna post more frequently, but I think to start once a week is fine and just go through, you can even schedule your content as well. So just figuring out what do you have in your arsenal that you wanna share, you wanna promote and stuff.
Michelle Garrett: Yeah. yeah. And then do follow those people who share job listings. And, I, like I said, I, have a few, in my network that I see either once a week or more often than that, that are [00:33:00] compiling, marketing and comms PR jobs and posting them, on LinkedIn. And and some are free, some have paid Substack newsletters or, what have you.
And then others are just posting them up there. I don’t think they’re, it’s just there, so it’s available for free. I’m not trying to give people looking for a job, more things to pay for, but,
Stacia Doss: yeah,
Michelle Garrett: we’re trying to help them without them spending money,
Stacia Doss: yes. Yes.
Michelle Garrett: we do have a question.
yeah, I will put it up here and let’s see if we can put our heads together. Annette is asking, what tips do you have for season professionals who went to enhance our, build a new skillset?
What do you think about this one? we talked a little bit about AI and of course, I think there’s a lot of ways, to look at that, And maybe take [00:34:00] a course or, again, sometimes there are free resources. I just went to a day long marketing profs, session. It was free about, AI and SEO and, X-E-O-A-E-O-G-E-O, whatever you
Stacia Doss: Yeah. All the eos.
Yeah,
Michelle Garrett: That’s what I know. I like that. so that’s, that would be one thing if you’re looking at the AI side of things,
Stacia Doss: yeah, I see a lot of events actually on Eventbrite for different webinars and classes to learn new skills, but I want to share.
not to be promotional. there’s a blog post that had some career coaches advice on setting your intentions for the new year, and I think there’s some good stuff here. one of the [00:35:00] things is AI upskilling through consistent micro learning, which basically means don’t go, you don’t have to go all the way in and learning all the things, ai.
You can, take set aside like time each week to learn at least one skill or certain learn about a certain area of ai. basically what the article says is part of the recommendation of Amy Linz, who is one of our career experts that we talk to on our podcast. She recommends putting at least one or two 30 minute calendar blocks each week.
And attending those as like meetings for yourself to invest in AI research and use and just like playing around with things, seeing what you can learn. Use tools like Chat, GBT, help you find [00:36:00] different resources. So there is actually a lot out there that is free, as you mentioned.
You don’t have to necessarily pay for a full blown course or a certification to learn these things.
There’s a lot out there. So I encourage you to check out, some of the, like you said, marketing profs, PR daily, any of those types of sites, and see what types of webinars they’re offering that are free.
Michelle Garrett: I’m gonna offer another resource. I was looking it up. Jenny Dietrich of Spin Sucks, has a Slack community, for PR Pros and Comms Pros, and it is free.
I’m gonna put the, link here and, I would recommend that because there are job postings in there occasionally for freelance and full-time work. and I think that is a, [00:37:00] a really good resource. and it’s a community, so you can ask a question in there too. You could say, Hey, I wanna learn more about this.
What would you recommend? And maybe there, there will be some, free and paid resources that people have tried and can recommend. And of course, they have resources too that they offer, for free and paid, options. that’s another place. I think that’s, it’s a good place to go.
Stacia Doss: Yeah, absolutely.
I dropped, I know you have the blog link, but I dropped a couple of posts that have some solid advice for building skills and also like where to start with your search as well. Those are helpful.
Michelle Garrett: Okay. I’m gonna put those in the comments here. let’s see, what else? if anyone else has questions, please feel free to ask.
I know we have a [00:38:00] question here, that we were going to discuss. Put it in the chat. Oops.
Okay. did we, talk about outside the box approaches? Did we already talk
Stacia Doss: about, we talked a little bit about some other methods, but I can share a few others that we got from. Community comments. Okay. Yes. so the first set comes directly from the career experts, coaches, recruiters, but specifically job seekers where they have shared that they’ve had success.
the weak ties is one big one. Networking with weak ties, which I know we’ve talked about a bit today. Also, someone said, literally emailing resumes out to their contacts helped. And just, again, you gotta have a story there before you start doing that. Similarly to reaching out to people on [00:39:00] LinkedIn.
Give a little blurb about what you’re looking for and your background, that sort of thing. And emailing resumes out to context. Some people have actually found success with that. Just cold emailing. And then I wanted to share one underutilized piece of advice, and this was actually back, this was from.
Some content I was working on for things to do immediately after you’ve been laid off. And one of the pieces of advice was setting up coffee chats with people in your network or with those weak ties. And then at the end of each conversation asking, is there anyone else who do you recommend I speak to next?
Is there anyone else that you can, you do an intro, and that just goes back into continuing to build your network. Don’t let the conversation end like your informational interview should continue with more informational interviews based upon the [00:40:00] recommendation of who you’re speaking to because you might, you just might end up sitting across from someone who could get you a job.
And having those conversations and making sure that they don’t end there is really important.
Michelle Garrett: Yeah, I think, I know ex especially when I noticed this with my, again, with my own, son, but they don’t know what an informational interview necessarily is. And hopefully there’s a college, professor or class that’s helping coach on this.
Yeah. But you definitely wanna do homework for those too. And you wanna go in with questions that you wanna ask. And I think that is a really great. Reminder to, to ask, who else would you suggest I talk to instead of just, saying, okay, thank you, and walking away. I say also make sure and send the person a thank you.
Yeah. Email. You don’t necessarily, if you wanna do handwritten notes, that’s fine, but you can, I think [00:41:00] this is an email, because people’s time is really valuable and I think people enjoy helping and are happy to help, but also they want to be appreciated and thanked for that time.
Stacia Doss: yeah,
Michelle Garrett: that’s a very simple, just a reminder, but I think especially again, I’ve seen sometimes with, folks that are newer to the job search process, they may not understand, yeah. What they’re really asking and what that person has given them. So I think just, thank you.
Stacia Doss: Oh yeah. Yeah. Thank you. Goes a long way and. And making sure that you’re recapping some of the things that you hit on in the conversation that really stood out for you, would definitely make them, see how serious you are about this and how appreciative you are.
Michelle Garrett: Yeah, I think, like I said, just simple thank you goes a long way. And, it doesn’t have to be anything elaborate. ’cause again, we’re trying not to, [00:42:00] have people who are looking for work spend more money. So
Stacia Doss: Good. Yeah. Correct. We really, yeah. Yeah. Zoom chats perfect.
Michelle Garrett: Yeah. ’cause if you go, if you take someone out for coffee or lunch, you don’t have to pay for their coffee or lunch, but I think sometimes the offer, you might, sometimes they might think that you’re going to offer or they, some people might think that you’re going to pick up the check.
Yeah. and so just, I, again, I, we’re not trying to put people,
Stacia Doss: their head. Yeah. And in this day and age, I would say don’t limit yourself to people that are local. Yeah. Have a coffee chat. Virtually have your coffee. They have their coffee in their own location. Expand your network.
I think don’t just think locally. if you happen to be in town and someone that you are connecting with, is [00:43:00] there, then you could meet with them in person. But I think people are also very appreciative of having a virtual option these days because it’s a bit harder to get out of if they’re going to the office.
It’s harder to get out of the office, come all the way to a point, get back in time for whatever meetings they have, that sort of thing. So consider virtual as an option as well.
Michelle Garrett: Yeah. another thing that just popped into my head is, professional organizations, are a great resource. Yeah. And again, you don’t necessarily have to pay to be a member.
You can almost go to a meeting and see how you feel about it. Yeah. and just again, you’re gonna meet people. Whenever you go in person to an event. and sometimes it’s, it works out better than other times. Sometimes you get to an event and you’re like, I didn’t really meet anybody that I think would be, a good, connection for me.
But, but sometimes you’ll meet, even if you meet a couple people, yeah. Add [00:44:00] to your network, and maybe just explain, what you’re looking for and,
yeah.
Michelle Garrett: just. I think that’s another way. and of course there are a number of them. I know. in Columbus here we have PRSA, which is for public relations.
We have a MA, which is American Marketing Association. there are various organizations, probably wherever you’re located, especially in larger cities, of course, where you can go. And again, they sometimes they host events. you can just attend as a non-member. And sometimes here, I know there are even free, like coffee, or, happy hour type gatherings where there really is no charge to get in.
and, or maybe it’s, it’s a low, low fee to get in.
Stacia Doss: yeah.
Michelle Garrett: So that’s another, another idea.
Stacia Doss: Yeah, absolutely.
Michelle Garrett: and I had a, I had something else. oh, I know what it was. I sometimes [00:45:00] people, it’s always, whether you have a job that you feel secure or not. I feel like it’s a really good practice to stay in touch with your network as much as you can.
Now, of course, if you have 500 people in your LinkedIn network or more, you’re not gonna stay in touch, close touch with all of those people. But what really I think is not effective is waiting until you need something. Yeah. And then get a good touch with someone. it’s really good if you can just keep an eye out for ways to help people even when you don’t have any reason to be reaching out to them.
Just maybe you saw an article that might be of interest to them or I don’t know, just, I think it’s good to find ways to support each other all the time so that maybe in the event that you do need to ask for support, it’s not You feel like you’re just showing up asking for something.
Stacia Doss: Yeah. [00:46:00] Yeah. They’ll, they’re familiar with you. You’re not, you are not just popping up out of nowhere and they don’t remember who you are because you haven’t talked to them in years.
Michelle Garrett: I, I will a ask one more time. I encourage people to ask the questions. If anyone has questions that we haven’t covered or anything that you wanna add to the discussion, please share that.
we are going to, talk a little bit about, other things for job seekers to keep in mind. I know again, it can be a really tough, tough time and it’s stressful.
Stacia Doss: Yeah. Yeah. I would say it’s important to give yourself time and grace. Start tapping into your network, but you don’t have to go all in immediately.
Give yourself some time to breathe if you’ve, [00:47:00] recently been laid off. Layoffs are pretty common these days, unfortunately. so yeah, give yourself some time and space before you jump into anything and then start tapping into your network or building your network. One of our career experts, Phil Terry, shared that community is super important in the job search and reminds folks who never search alone.
So making sure that you have your own little council or community of people that you can talk to, whether they’re part of your network or friends, family, those having the space and support to. Talk to people and on, of course, not even talk about work sometimes is really important because if you’re constantly talking about the job search, it can be pretty, pretty depressing.
And it’s important to have that, [00:48:00] have the folks around you that can help you.
Michelle Garrett: Yeah, I think that is, that is really, So important and the mental health aspect of this, can’t be downplayed. I think your point about community and just having people that you can talk to. but I don’t know.
I went through a layoff one time and before I, when I worked for someone else, now I’ve been working for myself for quite a while, so I don’t have to necessarily worry about that in the same way. Yeah. but that was tough. and, sometimes you don’t have a lot of notice, you have an inkling that it might happen, but, yeah.
It’s just, it makes you feel a certain way about yourself and I would say just try, not to, make it about you as much as about. The company and, for example, I was the low man on the [00:49:00] totem pole Yeah. In the marketing department. And that I, was the one, that got cut. I just had to remember again that it really wasn’t about anything, that I had done necessarily to put me in that position.
it wasn’t fun, but, I, you can get through it and, having a community and people to support you will really help.
Stacia Doss: Yeah. I’m going to share another piece in the comments with you. Okay. That some of these, there’s some really good tips for just recovering, and then we also have a layoff survival guide.
So if you have recently been impacted and you’re looking for something. Or you’re trying to figure out how to get back into the swing of things or making sure you don’t necessarily find yourself at another company that’s [00:50:00] gonna be laying off soon. There’s some tips here, so I’ll drop that in as well.
Michelle Garrett: No, thank you very much. I think that’s, the more things we can give people, to help support them throughout this, process, that’s, that was my goal today was really just to kinda, encourage people. ob obviously, everything that goes down comes back.
Stacia Doss: Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah.
Michelle Garrett: and so we have to remember, it might look different, but I do feel like, hopefully we’re gonna be, I’ve seen more job listings just this week, just anecdotally.
Stacia Doss: Yeah. Yeah. This is the most historically, this Q1 is the biggest hiring season. It’s probably one of the biggest times to find a job, to land a job.
So there, there’s still [00:51:00] hope. I think keeping the human part in everything is really important. Even with, AI and all these things, I think that’s what we’re seeing consistently is
Keeping the human part of your job process there is gonna help you land something faster.
Michelle Garrett: Yeah.
No, I, think that there’s a big need, for, The human side of things. And then we talked about storytelling and being able to tell your own story and bring forward your own examples. And, I think, employers are looking for somebody who’s gonna be a fit, as well.
Yes. From a personality or, values, even perspective maybe.
Stacia Doss: yeah.
Michelle Garrett: I wouldn’t be afraid to, even bring some of that into the conversation if it makes sense.
Stacia Doss: Yeah, absolutely.
Michelle Garrett: we [00:52:00] do have a question, and I don’t, I’m not sure how to answer this one. Are the local markets more reliable than online remote openings?
Stacia Doss: Yeah. I don’t, I’m not sure. I think that probably depends on industry.
tapping into listings for certain industries may be easier to do, like probably more like blue collar work. It could be more impactful to tap into your network versus just looking for online jobs.
I’d even heard of someone in commu in our community sharing that they literally went to a job and handed their application.
I think in industries that are more traditionally blue collar, that could be a possibility.
Michelle Garrett: Yeah.
Stacia Doss: But I think if it’s more traditional [00:53:00] white collar, the online openings are probably gonna be your best bet or tapping into someone virtually to see if there’s an online application of some sort.
Michelle Garrett: Yeah. I think that’s, good advice.
And then I, it just popped into my head. Are there any organizational resources as far as just organizing your job search that you recommend? Beyond like an Excel sheet or a Google Sheet, or that’s another thing I think, that I’ve seen people be a little bit overwhelmed by.
Stacia Doss: Yeah. I have to think about this one.
I think as much as I, as much as I’ve kept saying ai, human, I think AI is where you tap into something like that to get the most out of it. I think it’s really good at arranging things, time, creating timelines, agendas, itineraries, all those things. I think tapping into it could help you with organizing in [00:54:00] that way.
Michelle Garrett: Yeah, I’m sure there are some tools, and if I had thought about this earlier, I would’ve
Stacia Doss: like I use it to plan trips. I think it can definitely help you plan your life or plan, Yeah. Plan what’s next? If you give it the information to do the analysis and help you based on what you want.
Michelle Garrett: Yeah, I’m of a sheet gal, an Excel or Google Sheet gal. yeah. I, I use that a lot for just organizing things for clients and just my own marketing and things like that. Yeah.
Stacia Doss: I
Michelle Garrett: tend to just, use that, but I don’t know, I, I can’t imagine, how complicated it would be if you’re pulling job openings from various resources and is there overlap and did I apply for this?
Or what’s my next step? Did I need to follow up? When did I last follow up? so there’s a lot to keep track of,
Stacia Doss: oh yeah. Pretty manual. I would, yeah, pretty manual. one thing that [00:55:00] just popped up, if you wanna do, you could create your own version of Google Forms. It still puts it in a spreadsheet of course, but what if you had fields for, here’s what the company is, here’s what the job is, if you want, you’re wanting to keep track on what you have been applying for, or.
what job descriptions you felt resonated with you more than others? you could do that to keep track and then just look back at the spreadsheet.
Michelle Garrett: Yeah, or John is asking about traveling, to other cities to, just check out, if, even if you’re gonna plan to work remotely.
I certainly, if you have trips in, in, in the, on your agenda, I don’t think it would hurt to, to live what the job market is like. yeah,
for
Stacia Doss: sure. I agree. Yeah. And you could potentially reach out to someone in [00:56:00] advance. I feel like vendors will sometimes come into town for conferences and they’ll say, Hey, I’m gonna be in town.
Can we set up time for coffee and. That’s a great opportunity to reach out if you’re going to already be there.
Michelle Garrett: Yeah. I think trade shows are another opportunity to network and, just, not necessarily hand out your resume, although you could keep a couple, copies of it. But,
Stacia Doss: yeah.
Michelle Garrett: But I think just meeting people and again, making those connections, bringing them back and putting, connecting on LinkedIn and just, just it takes a lot of different, approaches I think to really, make it an effective, search. And I really think it’s good advice.
Again, even if you’re not actively looking for a job to be
Adding to your network, meeting people. Yeah. Always helping and supporting people that you meet and your, and helping your colleagues and just having that kind of a spirit where you’re not just, head down until you need something.[00:57:00]
Stacia Doss: yeah. I agree. Definitely.
Michelle Garrett: And of course if you are looking, if you’re checking at companies, you wanna look at Glassdoor.
Stacia Doss: Yes.
Michelle Garrett: Which is a great way to learn more about what a company’s culture is like.
Stacia Doss: Yes.
Michelle Garrett: I’ve used it, of course, I work with clients, but sometimes I’ll look up a company on their, just to see, what the comments might be, from those who have actually worked internally at the company.
I think it’s, it can be very telling and, and either for the better or the worse. So
Stacia Doss: yes, absolutely. Always do your research and then you can reach out to people on, that’s another big part of informational interviews is reaching out to people who are in roles you’re interested in or who work at the company to get a little peek of the company culture.
’cause should this company be on your bucket list or not? Because
You wanna know if the culture is, how it’s being shared externally. Internally.
Michelle Garrett: Yeah. [00:58:00] and sometimes, I know here locally, there’ll be companies on the best, places to work list and
Stacia Doss: Yeah.
Michelle Garrett: sometimes, I always wonder how accurate that is that they pay to get on that list,
Stacia Doss: yeah. yeah, I used to work in PR and I know that some of those lists are pay to play. Some of them aren’t. Of course, glass doors is based on reviews, so you can trust that those are the best according to employee reviews, but not all of them. Work that way.
Do some additional research.
Michelle Garrett: Yeah.
Talk to somebody who actually, works there or has worked there recently. ’cause it can’t change over time. We know that too.
Stacia Doss: Yep.
Michelle Garrett: John mentioned alumni programs, that was another point. I thought that was really good. get, contact your, alumni, program at your school and see if they have any resources to help you with your job search.
I think that’s another great tip. So is there anything else [00:59:00] as we wrap up here that you wanna share?
Stacia Doss: no, I guess a shameless plug check out Glassdoor’s blog because we’re constantly posting tips every month to help job seekers in navigating the search. this is a challenging market, as we’ve talked about repeatedly today.
And we also have the podcast, the Lonely Office, specifically the Ask a Recruiter Off episodes, offer even more tips that you may not hear elsewhere. So make sure you check that out. And then if you have any questions that I can answer, feel free to connect with me.
Michelle Garrett: I did not know that Glassdoor had a podcast, so I learned something.
Stacia Doss: Yep.
Michelle Garrett: I’m gonna put it up here again.
Stacia Doss: okay.
Michelle Garrett: I have it up here from earlier. And I want to thank you Stacia, so much for being here. Yeah. I’ll put Stacia’s, LinkedIn, up here again so you can [01:00:00] follow her there. And, again, she said she’d be happy to answer questions if she can help you at all.
I know that we don’t wanna put everything on you. Stay
Stacia Doss: I’ll help as much as I can. thankfully I’ve got a team of people doing a lot of research. We’ve got, the podcast team. We’ve got a bunch of different resources. So if I don’t have the answer, someone I work with will
Michelle Garrett: Yeah. Yep. I appreciate your time very much.
Thank you so much for being here, talking about this very important topic and our, of course, we wanna help our friends and colleagues who are looking for work. if there’s anything we, we can do, I’m always happy to, help and, and keeping an eye out for people, for opportunities and, things like that.
I’ll be back in two weeks and I’ll be posting more about, my guest, pretty soon. And, I just wanna thank everyone for being here. Thank you so much.
Stacia Doss: Bye everyone. Thank you.
Michelle Garrett: [01:01:00] Bye.
About the host: Michelle Garrett is a B2B PR consultant, media relations consultant, and author of B2B PR That Gets Results, an Amazon Best Seller. She helps companies create content, earn media coverage, and position themselves as thought leaders in their industry. Michelle’s articles have been featured by Entrepreneur, Content Marketing Institute, Muck Rack, and Ragan’s PR Daily, among others. She’s a frequent speaker on public relations and content. Michelle has been repeatedly ranked among the top ten most influential PR professionals.
Learn more about Michelle’s freelance PR consulting services here. Book a no-obligation call to talk about your needs here. Buy Michelle’s book here.
