This is why you will get hired in the next couple of months with recruitment expert Matthew Wohl

As we transition from summer to fall, the job market experiences a notable shift. In our latest podcast episode, recruitment expert Matthew Wohl joins us to unpack this seasonal surge in hiring that typically occurs after Labor Day. With fresh budgets allocated and new projects kicking off, this is a prime time for job seekers to capitalize on the opportunities that lie ahead. Whether you’re actively looking for a job or just exploring your options, Matthew’s insights are invaluable.

In this episode, Matthew highlights the specific industries that are ramping up their hiring efforts. Sectors like healthcare, education, defense, manufacturing, and technology are at the forefront of this hiring wave. Understanding which industries are thriving can help job seekers focus their efforts and tailor their applications. Matthew delves into why these sectors are experiencing growth and how candidates can position themselves as ideal fits.

One of the key themes of our conversation is the importance of networking. Matthew emphasizes that building connections can significantly enhance job prospects. He shares practical tips for leveraging professional networks, utilizing social media platforms, and attending industry events. In today’s competitive landscape, a strong network can be the difference between landing an interview and being overlooked.

Optimizing your resume is another crucial takeaway from this episode. Matthew explains how job seekers can effectively highlight their skills and experiences to attract the attention of recruiters. He offers insights on tailoring resumes for specific roles and making sure that they stand out in applicant tracking systems. This is particularly important as many organizations rely on technology to filter candidates.

Proactivity in the job search is a recurring theme throughout our discussion. Matthew encourages listeners to take charge of their search by exploring various job boards, reaching out to potential employers directly, and even considering temporary or contract positions to get their foot in the door. This proactive mindset can open doors to opportunities that may not be widely advertised.

When it comes to salary negotiations, Matthew provides valuable advice for job seekers. He explains that while salary is an important factor, it’s essential to consider the entire compensation package, including benefits, work-life balance, and growth opportunities. Matthew shares strategies for approaching negotiations with confidence and how to articulate your value to potential employers.

Being realistic about expectations is another critical point Matthew makes. He encourages job seekers to set attainable goals and be prepared for the realities of the job market. Understanding that finding the right position may take time can help alleviate the stress that often accompanies job hunting.

Visibility is equally vital in today’s job market. Matthew suggests ways to enhance your online presence, from refining LinkedIn profiles to engaging in professional groups. Being visible to potential employers increases your chances of being noticed and invited for interviews, so taking the time to cultivate your online persona is worth the effort.

Finally, preparation for interviews cannot be overstated. Matthew shares practical tips for researching companies, practicing common interview questions, and dressing for success. His insights aim to equip job seekers with the tools they need to present themselves effectively and leave a lasting impression on interviewers.

As you listen to this episode, you’ll find that Matthew Wohl’s expertise provides a comprehensive roadmap for navigating the post-Labor Day job market. Whether you’re seeking a career change or your first job, his advice is relevant and actionable. Join us as we explore these themes and more in our latest episode, and take the next step in your job search with confidence!

 

Transcript:

Mary (00:00.768)
Matthew Wohl, welcome to Recruiting Insider!

Matthew Wohl (00:03.979)
It’s great to be here today.

Mary (00:06.017)
I’m so excited. I mean, seriously, I’m excited that you’re here, man. And it’s like, you know, before we dig into the topic, could you tell us just a little bit about, you know, you and your background? What are you all about?

Matthew Wohl (00:20.939)
Well, I’m all about recruitment, but it does date back a little while now. I’ve been in the industry for close to 15 years, started in a family business, still continue to work in that business. It’s called The Wohl Group, which is our last name. We specialize in, I would say, a little more than we started out as, but predominantly in aerospace, a lot of manufacturing, so transferable skills have really helped us out since COVID, least, because airplanes weren’t being built, at least at

at that time, we were able to pivot quite well. Since then, and this was always the case, but I had a really big passion for helping the candidate as well as my clients. In the last year, I’ve started a new business, which is sort of a spin -off, which helps my clients still, but also helps the candidates, which is called Recruitment Made Easy. Recruitment Made Easy is growing pretty quickly. It’s evolved into a few things. I do a lot of resume support, career coaching,

Interview Prep has been one of the more popular things people have asked me about recently. most recently I’ve launched a new community on school, is for recruiters, by recruiters. Town acquisition people, HR people, welcome as well. But it’s meant to be a community of recruiters who can help recruiters. It’s not just about sharing, but also education. There’s going to be a lot of tools people can use and ultimately some revenue opportunities for recruiters as well.

on the road.

Mary (01:52.066)
Yeah, very cool. Over the last few years, it seems like the job market has had its ups and downs. mean, really the years following the pandemic, it’s been a crazy time with, you know, tons of economic ups and downs. I mean, it’s like there was the great resignation, tons of economic uncertainty.

rising inflation rates, tech advancements like AI, supply chain disruption, so many things. It’s been crazy. You know, and it’s truly been a really tough time for a lot of people. mean, especially over the last, you know, I would say year and a half. It’s like people have been laid off. There seems to be just more and more competition with every single job posting out there. mean, in fact, on LinkedIn, I’ve literally seen thousands of people apply to one job.

within the first day of it being posted, which is absolutely crazy. the rhetoric on LinkedIn lately has been that the hiring market actually is getting just a bit better. mean, in fact, historically, it picks up by 20 to 25 % after Labor Day. And I’ve even heard this being called the September surge before. It’s the first week of September after Labor Day.

up until Halloween is one of the best times to look for work. And it seems like, you know, it really isn’t a coincidence either. You know, every single year without fail, it seems to pick up during this time. What’s the typical trend in the job market after Labor Day and why do you think this surge usually occurs?

Matthew Wohl (03:32.491)
Well, to your point, and you made a great one, that things first off do historically surge by about 20 to 25 percent. And yes, since 2021, which was a crazy year for recruitment, and every recruiter wishes it was only 2021 year over year. But, you know, we have had a come back to earth moment for various reasons. You you mentioned it, interest rates and the economy and things like that. And there’s a lot of variables that go into hiring and people were very caught

in many ways as they should be, probably in too many ways, you know, more than they should have been. So I do see things getting better. I can speak for our own business. We have had one of the busier summers we’ve ever had. And not just over the last couple of years, like literally in the last 15 years. This might have been our best summer. Now, there’s a few things that go into this, and this is a unique year as well because seasonally speaking, you know, we’re approaching a US election.

you know, the U .S. as powerful as it is, know, their election, you know, puts a lot of money into the world economy. So when you have both parties, you know, regardless of who ends up winning that election, putting money back into the economy, it’s going to create new jobs. It’s also going to create jobs in specific sectors. So I mean, that is very important for people to realize, you know, tech is an interesting, is at an interesting point. And that will come back, you know, from where, you know, it’s been a challenge in the last year. But, you know, certainly like the defense

industry, manufacturing, healthcare, education. These types of industries which are big talking points during an election period are the ones that are going to see a lot of money poured into them. Up until November specifically with the US election, I could speak to Canada where we have our election in a year from now. So that’s a long time or a long period where we should see a lot of jobs specifically in those industries certainly come back quicker. I would say that

You know as interest rates come down, you know, we’ll see more money coming back into you know, we’re hiring You know my might get back to I would say that you know important things to remember there especially in the tech industry is venture capitalist funding has come down because they’re not you know, Borrowing at the rates that they were so for them to reinvest, know at the high interest rate It is challenging, you know, that’s just a numbers game So, you know as interest rates come down which we should see, know quite a bit over the next 24 months

Matthew Wohl (06:02.145)
months, know, more money from at least VCs will go back into tech for sure. And as, you know, those types of markets see money, you know, it filters out through into other industries, you know, that build some of the hardware and manufacture parts of the things that go into the software and the tech side of it.

Mary (06:21.707)
Yeah, so you mentioned that your own company, your own recruiting company had the best summer that you’ve ever had. Do you think that that’s a trend with other recruiting companies? Because I’ve also, you know, I guess to kind of place a little bit of clarity to that, I’ve spoken with a lot of other recruiters that it seems like over the last year or so, it’s been really, really hard in the recruitment industry as well with a lot of recruiters being laid off.

you companies and industries, you know, laying off companies, shutting down entire departments. And it’s just kind of been challenging for, you know, external recruiters as well. Why do think your company had such a great summer?

Matthew Wohl (07:03.487)
there’s two things here. I want to preface this by saying that the start of the year for us was one of the worst starts of the year we’ve had. So we are picking up the pieces. So it’s not all roses, but it really has been a great summer overall for us. And we’re in a niche, so that is part of where we succeed. During COVID, in the niche that we’re in, specifically in aerospace, we were out of a lot of work. Airplanes were not being produced. We were not flying. We were not traveling.

Mary (07:08.736)
Mm, yeah.

Matthew Wohl (07:33.921)
There was a lot of lost work there that we’re catching up on. So there are a lot of plans that were put on hold, new projects that are being developed. So certain industries are succeeding. It’s hard to cut through the noise sometimes on a LinkedIn where we hear a lot more of the negative than the positive. And I don’t mean this in like a…

way to anyone but try different industries than you’re used to. Like there are jobs. I know that we see the big numbers you know there’s an 800 ,000 job correction that the US just made about you know how they overshot how many jobs were actually created and that’s a horrifying number for them to miss on but there are tons of industries that have been hiring all along and I know that not everybody wants to hear this or wants to put pressure on themselves to have to do this or upskill to do these things but there are

jobs if you are willing to make change. you know a lot of people you know maybe don’t think about it like this but changes come from making changes. So you know that is something that you know I want people to take away you know from this a little bit is that there are certainly a lot of jobs available you just have to be willing to do them.

Mary (08:49.281)
Yeah, I think that some people are hesitant to pivot from their industry because they see it as a, you know, either a step back in their career or potentially even a lateral move. They don’t want to take a position out of desperation. They’re kind of holding off and maybe waiting for that dream job or that perfect, you know, next fit position. What would you say to those people?

Matthew Wohl (09:14.955)
Well, would say to some of those people that two steps back is often two steps forward. know, you’re not always, you know, going backwards in a spiral, right? Like sometimes you take a few steps back, which will correct, you know, 10 years of making mistakes going forward. So you want to consider that, right? Sometimes we make, you know, sacrifices in the interim for the long -term gain. And a lot of people, you know, might not want to swallow that pill, but

some of it isn’t that hard, right? Like the easiest time to find a better job is when you have a job, right? Like a lot of people are wanting a lot more for their career. They wanna stay in their industries. They don’t wanna settle for jobs. And I don’t challenge you on that opinion. Like I know why you feel that way. But the easiest way to get a better job, and I mean this, is when you already have one. Because you have a little bit more flexibility on what you can be picky about.

Mary (10:13.293)
Yeah, absolutely. And I feel like that plays into part of the reason why the job market is so busy and saturated right now, because people are, know, number one, they’re scared that, maybe my position will be eliminated and I’ll be on the market, you know, in a time that I hadn’t anticipated. And so they are kind of passively job searching. And I completely agree with you, Matthew. That’s the very best time that you actually can and should be.

job searching is when you’re employed because then you’re building those bridges, you’re making those connections, you’re updating your resume, updating your LinkedIn profile, you’re ready. So if an opportunity does present itself, you’re ready to apply. Or, you know, if you lose your job, unfortunately, you come into work the next day, your boss brings you into their office and lets you know, hey, your position’s been eliminated. You’re ready to go, right? You’ve already taken those initial

sometimes excruciating steps to update all of your documents and you’re ready to go to start applying, you know, to pursue that next step in your career.

Matthew Wohl (11:19.145)
Yeah, no, know, preparation is very important and networking is very, very important right now. Most people are still sort of living in a world of where we were five years ago where a resume was enough. in most cases, you know, up until about five years ago, a very basic resume was enough. And we’re just so far from that, especially with technology and AI and things like that, which don’t necessarily play the biggest role that people think it does. But, you know, a good resume of

very clear and concise resume, one that highlights your quantifiable metrics, your successes, is very important. And then the networking part, which I want people to understand that there’s a difference between connecting with people and then networking with them. It’s very easy to hit connect on LinkedIn, and that’s great, but you really have to take it a step further and almost treat a lot of these engagements that you have like a sales pitch and explain to people why you’re suitable for even to be a connection

to these people but also why you might be a good candidate for their company.

Mary (12:23.331)
Yeah, absolutely. And later on in the conversation too, we’re going to talk a little bit more about, you know, from a job seeking perspective and what you can be doing now, you know, especially since there is this surge in the market. But I’m also curious, how does this post Labor Day surge compare to other times of the year? Is this the only time that it really increases like this or what can we expect?

Matthew Wohl (12:47.091)
Q4 is just historically a busy time and one of the main reasons is that budgets are being spent because if you don’t spend your budget at most companies then they just don’t reset in the new year. you know we come out of the summer it’s quiet a lot of big companies have summer shutdowns a lot of big companies also have big budgets to spend before the year ends. you know that’s where a lot of the acceleration happens. I do believe in this case as well you know we have the American election which is very

big worldwide, really regardless of who’s listening to this, whether you’re in Europe or even in South American countries, you will find that naturally your markets will pick up as well. And then the beginning of the year is when these budgets have reset, and the first quarter is now another time for projects to reset, budgets to reset on those projects, new projects to begin, so money’s being spent. So it’s really the September to March.

which is not, you know, over the, you know, which is spread over to, you know, calendar years, you know, is really the busiest time of the year for hiring. And that’s just, you know, a budget thing in most cases. Obviously, every company is going to be a little bit different based on, you know, what they’re working on. You know, some seasonal companies will obviously be very busy in the summer, let’s say, compared to the winter. But yeah, I would say overall, you know, keeping an eye on where the money is being spent is typically where the jobs are going to be created.

Mary (14:16.93)
What’s the best place that we can keep an eye on where that money is being spent?

Matthew Wohl (14:22.859)
Well, in this case, I would say that, especially if you’re looking at bigger companies, so public companies have public information. So, you know, that’s something that I try to tell a lot of candidates as well when they’re interviewing, like, how am I supposed to know what the company’s doing? Well, we can Google them and we can use some, maybe some AI to do a chat GPT search about, you know, what are Google’s financial records for 2023? Like, it will tell you what it is, right? So especially if you’re getting onto the finance side of things,

might want to know about those types of details. easy searches, would say, and then use tools like LinkedIn, let’s say, in a manner of creating Boolean searches where you go to the search bar and you use quotation marks to break up your conversation. So if you were looking for jobs as a financial analyst, you would put financial analyst in quotations. You would use the word and to connect the next word, would be hiring. So hiring.

and then you can filter from there probably on your location or industry and that will really you know bring you a nice feed of who’s hiring locally to you you know so really specific to your job so a couple steps but pretty couple like very simple ones I would think for for most users of at least those social medias

Mary (15:43.618)
Yeah, yeah, I love that. And I know you mentioned the, you know, the US election and, you know, inflation and all of these different things that are happening in our economy. So it sounds like the strength and duration of the surge can actually really depend and vary depending on some of these economic factors as well as the industry trends. Is that, is that true?

Matthew Wohl (16:09.001)
Yeah, possibly. mean, with the US election, somebody’s going to win, right? So they’ve got a plan, a platform. The money in, you know, we see it all the time. The government spends way more money than they bring in, right? They’re always at a deficit. So the money’s going to get spent. Now it’s a matter of where, like depending on which party wins in whatever country you’re in, the money goes maybe in different directions. There’s certainly some educational things, some healthcare related

things that will be probably split down the middle and so forth. So there are expected industries to succeed here. Well, some may end up taking a backseat depending on that. I would say we’re probably at a peak of interest rates going up. Like I don’t think they’re going to go up. So naturally as they come, optimistically speaking, they’re going to come down very slow, very fast. We’ll see what happens, but that’ll maybe help people with their budgets.

Mary (16:59.736)
Sure.

Matthew Wohl (17:09.145)
You know the economy spend more you know a lot of people are keeping their money pretty tight You know we’ve seen you even the real estate market take a hit where it obviously boomed You know two years ago, so you know construction is taking a hand so you know naturally You know our generation will be buying homes at some point You know if they haven’t already so you know things like that will will grow just because they have

Mary (17:32.696)
Yeah, absolutely. For our listeners who are job seeking, what should they be doing right now to really increase their chances of finding a job during this really high period of hiring?

Matthew Wohl (17:49.845)
Well, I would take a few minutes to really, you

Press everything, like really think about what you want to do, where you want to be, what your skills line up for you to do. Like make sure that you’re living in a realistic, you know, world and not because you shouldn’t strive for better, but because it is very competitive. You know, you’ve already mentioned this at the beginning. You might stumble upon a job description with a thousand people applying. So that doesn’t rule you out of competition, but of course, the more prepared you are, the better your resume, the more skilled you

are the more likely you are to be put forward for an interview.

In most cases, only one person is getting the job. So you want to make sure that you’re doing very little things. I read a lot of resumes. And a lot of people are really only one or two real key steps away from having a significantly better resume than 90 % of their competition. It’s generally the same mistakes over and over again. So I would say that whether it’s through simple search, because there are a lot of free tools, or speaking to someone like myself who

who tends to have somewhat of an expertise in resumes, you can position yourself quite well. And from that part, you should have a confidence level in yourself to have a certain skill level that makes you qualified to do a lot of jobs. So now you’re doing a search, you’re looking on job boards, you’re on LinkedIn platform where jobs are being advertised, and you start that connection period. And make connections at every company that you apply to. So if you’re applying to 10 jobs

Mary (19:04.269)
Yeah, yeah.

Matthew Wohl (19:27.411)
this weekend, then I’m suggesting you probably connect with at least three people at every company. So you’re trying to connect with the recruiters, the talent acquisition people, HR to some capacity, whomever that might be, and then of course whomever you might be working with or who your superior might become. And this isn’t about making friends with people, but this is now just giving you a better impression of maybe how they got their job, what they post about, what the company does,

And then of course with some connecting, you can build relationships with them to allow people a better opportunity to know about you. Pulling you out of that, maybe that pool of a thousand resumes into what could be more realistic, like maybe only ten people doing that. And it’s a lot easier to get a job against ten people than it is against a thousand.

Mary (20:18.466)
Mm -hmm, you’ve got that right.

Yeah, you mentioned that a lot of people make really simple mistakes on their resume. And, you know, sometimes it’s pretty easy to make some subtle changes to really have a bigger impact. And I see that day in and day out too, Matthew, where, you know, I’m working with a lot of clients on resume writing and, you know, sometimes how you represent that information and how you just kind of shift the story a little bit. And sometimes it’s just in the way.

you know, the language that you’re using it, how you’re telling that story to really quickly connect for the dots for the reader can make such a big impact. you know, and I think you alluded to this earlier in the conversation and it’s that, you know, the fact that sometimes a resume just isn’t enough in this job market. And that’s kind of the unfortunate reality because, you know, what I saw, you know, even, you know, I’ll say six, maybe eight months ago, maybe even a year ago now, time goes so fast.

I used to write a resume for a client. was like, boom, within a week they’d have, you know, five interviews. And it was like, that’s amazing. Well, now the job market is so saturated. Your resume isn’t as, you know, it’s still super, super important, but it’s also just as important to do all of those things that you’re saying with, you know, the networking piece and, reaching out on LinkedIn and being really, really strategic and proactive there and building those relationships.

Can you give us a few strategies that you would recommend, you know, in terms of connecting on LinkedIn and reaching out and how should we actually approach that in a way that is, you know, sensitive to the person that we’re reaching out to, providing value to that person, but also in a way that it’s like, hey, I’m looking for a job. How can you help me out here?

Matthew Wohl (22:13.771)
Yeah, well the first thing for people to remember is as a user, a LinkedIn allows you to have up to 30 ,000 connections. So, you know, use that to your advantage, right? You can connect really endlessly until people, you know, and if you, you know, it’s a numbers game, you connect to 30 ,000 people, you’re probably gonna have a few conversations along the way.

when you’re actually actively doing the outreach, you have to understand that people’s, you’re gonna respect people’s time and the work that they have on top of maybe getting back to you, but nobody wants to read like an essay. And even if you are willing to put that much time into your message and maybe provide too much, you have to remember that.

it has to be easy to consume. the easier you get to the point or the quicker you get to the point, the more likely you are to get a response. Where I see a lot of people struggle because I get quite a few DMs is they don’t provide enough information for me. So a lot of the messages I get will be like, hi, can you find me a job?

Mary (23:16.679)
Yeah

Matthew Wohl (23:17.067)
Hi, can we have a coffee chat for 10 minutes? Hi, I’m really interested in what your company does, can I learn more? And unfortunately the answer to all three of those things is no. Because I don’t know anything about you. So I would encourage, you know…

you people that are looking, you know, out to try new things like connecting through LinkedIn, let’s say, is to make things very obvious. know, hi, you know, Mary, my name is Matthew. I have 10 years of experience as a financial analyst. I specialize in, you know, spreadsheets and bookkeeping, et cetera. I most recently have this specific experience where I help the company generate two million in revenue by making these changes. I understand your company is looking, you

to do something like this.

do you have an opportunity to discuss this with And I would even be a little more concise than that, but three or four sentences that answers what probably would have been the three most pressing questions a recruiter would have had for you. Most job descriptions, although some are not, well actually most are not written well, although some have just enough detail, most of them have three or four main key requirements that are asking of the candidate.

hundred but you know the the ones that are are easy to digest have like three or four so those are the three or four you know sort of requirements you want to focus on you know in an outbound message to a to a hiring manager or a recruiter and to expand I would use that you know same sort of message in the personal summary on your resume like the more you can elevate your experience your quantifiable metrics your accomplishments the easier your resume is to digest and

Matthew Wohl (25:04.365)
Most of us are just naturally like this. We spend 30 or 40 seconds on your resume. We can’t consume everything, so we look for specific parts. And if we don’t have to necessarily play Where’s Waldo with it, your resume becomes far more attractive.

Mary (25:19.532)
Yeah, absolutely. think that those are great tips and pointers. And especially if you’re reaching out to a recruiter or a hiring manager or somebody within a specific company that you’re targeting. And I think I read somewhere recently or maybe I saw a video, you know, for those people that are reaching out to, let’s say it’s a senior level executive or not necessarily somebody that’s within the company that they’re targeting, but just

you know, somebody that they want to have help them with their job search in some way, because they have this higher level status. It’s all about, and I think that you can take this in the same way that you could, you know, if you’re reaching out to somebody internal as well, whether it’s a recruiter or a hiring manager. But I think it’s really important, like you said, Matthew, to be really direct and to the point, because if you’re just reaching out to somebody and saying, Hey, I’m looking for a job. I want to jump on a coffee chat. It’s like.

Okay, you’re looking for a job. you know, that it’s, it’s not clear enough. So it’s like, you know, reach out, have maybe two different points that you want to make with that, with that person. So it’s like, there are a couple people in your network who I would love to meet and, you know, work at their companies. So, you know, I, I’d love to earn an interview ad or, you know, maybe something like.

I was curious if you could give me one to two pieces of advice to get more people on your level to respond to me so that I could potentially explore opportunities with their company. So give them, you know, reach out and have two clear communication, know, communicate two clear things that you want from this person. And then, you know, I think that the return will be much greater than if you just reach out and ask, say, I’m looking for a job.

Matthew Wohl (27:06.83)
And a lot of people share.

pretty public stuff about themselves. I helped a client not too long ago, and this might be a little excessive, but it’s just a good example of maybe even what the farthest you can go is. She went to the person’s profile, senior executive saw, went through his post section to see what he was posting about regularly, and she happened to stumble upon an image of him at a rock climbing.

at a rock climbing center. She had been there before and actually had taken a very similar picture of herself with the same background. So part of her message to him was, hey, I saw this position, it’s really interesting. I also noticed when I was just looking up the company and a little bit more about you, that you posted this picture here. Funny enough, I actually took the exact same picture like three years earlier. And of course, instantly, and his message actually back to her, because she sent it to me was,

literally just pulled your resume from like 30th to 1st. And she ended up getting the job. And it’s not just because she did that. She was obviously qualified for the job. make yourself someone that’s connectable, that’s going to be part of the person’s culture, that shows a certain level of commitment to attention to detail, that did some research. That’s a step that I think more people can do a little bit better on. Some people are excellent at it. Some people are maybe internal.

Mary (28:11.409)
wow.

Matthew Wohl (28:37.738)
or they’re just introverted and that’s fine. Like, I can’t change you, but just know that if you are one or two percent better than your competition, that’s a lot.

Mary (28:47.023)
Absolutely. Another strategy that I’ve heard too is, you know, just sending somebody a voice memo or even a little video to relate to them in some way. And I think that that relatable factor is huge. Yeah. Yeah, and that stands out because not a lot of people do that.

Matthew Wohl (28:55.039)
Yeah, this is very new and popular. Yeah, no. No.

Matthew Wohl (29:05.191)
I’ll be honest. I would have a hard time doing that. not good at, you know, I can happily talk to people. I like doing that, but to film myself sometimes is a little strange for me. honestly, have seen a lot of, and I’m seeing a lot on the sales side because it’s like a, you know, it’s like a personal connection there. But I do actually encourage it quite a bit if you have the right, you know, conversation.

Mary (29:07.65)
Mm -hmm.

Matthew Wohl (29:30.763)
plan because people are very sociable in that way and are welcoming when you do some of those types of things.

Mary (29:38.041)
Yeah. Yeah, totally. And I know you mentioned earlier too, you know, there are specific industries typically during this time that are hiring a little bit more than maybe other industries. Could you name some of those industries and you know, what are the, are there any different regions too that tend to hire more so than others? And you know, if so, how can job seekers really target these areas?

Matthew Wohl (30:05.205)
So depending on where you get a lot of your information from, like let’s say you watch a lot of the news, let’s say you read articles or you have friends that are doing really well in their businesses, there’s probably a good idea that those industries are hiring. So seasonally speaking, there’s going to be industries that are much busier than others. We’re approaching Christmas, so retail is probably going to pick up and things like that. So there are certain ones that are rather obvious. Now I mentioned this already with the US election coming up.

There are certain industries that will just automatically see money because they’re talking points.

know, healthcare, education, defense spending. These things just have to go up because if you are a candidate in an election and you don’t want to spend money on healthcare, you will not win that election, right? There is just no way to do that, right? It involves everybody. It is not a one side or another side argument. Like no matter what side you’re on, you care about healthcare, you care about education, you care about the defense of your country, know, manufacturing.

when it comes to food and pharmaceuticals, things like that. These industries will just see a lot of money coming up because whatever side you’re on, you’re going to want to make it look good for voters. And that doesn’t mean that… I’m making no guarantee there, but this is like a historical conversation. That’s what we tend to see happen.

Mary (31:37.686)
And I’ve also chatted with a lot of people lately who are just considering relocating or even changing careers during this time. I mean, how might this crazy time impact their search?

Matthew Wohl (31:52.021)
Well, I want people to be optimistic about remote rules and things like that. I know people are not going to want to hear this, but make sure you’re making educated moves.

Like a lot of people during COVID thought their jobs would stay remote forever. They relocated and then they got called back to the office and they were 15 states away. And that’s not the company’s problem. know, so so make sure that if you are relocating for opportunities that maybe it’s in your agreement that you have some level of commitment from the company that you put in some type of package for relocation costs, right? Like make sure that you are very prepared to do those things because

Unfortunately, we’ve experienced this and I don’t want to talk poorly about companies now, but the loyalty is not where it used to be. So you can be out of a job as quick as you’ve got it and to companies’ respects as well, candidates can pick up and leave too at any point in time. So both sides, the loyalty is lost a bit. So just make educated choices because if you are willing to relocate, your job search is endless.

maybe 15 or 20 opportunities locally to having hundreds or thousands, you know, internationally or domestically. So relocating is fantastic if you can do it.

Mary (33:16.77)
Yeah, yeah, absolutely. So since there are so many openings and opportunities right now, does this positively affect our ability to negotiate our salary or even our benefits?

Matthew Wohl (33:36.555)
Well, I always tell people, if you don’t ask, you don’t get. The companies are not going to negotiate with themselves. So it’s certainly up to you to bring some aspects to the table. Now, if you’re at bigger companies, they’re going to have bigger guarantees in some of their offers to you. Certain things like benefits, maybe car allowances.

here in Canada like an RRSP contribution, you know, different types of things are sometimes just, you know, going to be expected at bigger companies. When you’re at smaller companies though, you know, don’t be afraid to ask for more. And it’s not always about the salary where you actually can gain the most. A lot of people, know, pick and choose the salary because that’s what they see up front, but that’s also what the company sees up front. And that’s where they’re more hesitant. And they obviously have some type of internal equity at their company as well. So,

If they try to give you a pay bump, might have to give someone else a pay bump. try to negotiate other things like your vacation time, maybe a hybrid work schedule, car allowances, different types of benefits. Some companies might only initially offer you benefits after three months. maybe get the benefits upfront because that could add quite a bit. Maybe add a certain type of incentive structure to your plan because when that

type of money is sort of hidden upfront, companies will only pay you based on essentially your ROI. And when your ROI is high, they’re more inclined to continue to give you those incentives going forward. When you ask for higher salaries, you put yourself on the dartboard. You become a target if you don’t deliver. So there are definitely better ways to negotiate your salary outside of just the salary itself.

Mary (35:23.628)
Yeah, absolutely. So as we wrap up our conversation today, you know, since the September surge is officially here, what’s the your top piece of advice for our listeners to really capitalize on that?

Matthew Wohl (35:41.675)
Apply for jobs that you’re qualified for. There’s going to be a lot of them. when I say be qualified, anything over in most industries, 70 % generously, is going to make you qualified. You certainly don’t need to be 100 % qualified to do many jobs, because 100 % on one company wouldn’t even look like 100 % at another company.

So, you know, use your judgment, be realistic, and prepare yourself to be interviewed. You know, I say this a lot now. The best ability used to be your availability. Well, now the best ability now to me is your visibility. So make yourself more presentable, make yourself more visible, you know, get active on, you know, platforms like LinkedIn, connect with people. You’re not just applying for your next job anymore. You’re applying for five years from now, 10 years from now.

when you make these connections. You know, I make a connection with somebody. I try to keep up that relationship if I can because three years down the road they might be a client, they might be a candidate, they might be a co -worker. I don’t know what they’re going to be, but the more relationships you make, the more opportunities will be, you know, you’ll get to see more opportunities.

Mary (36:54.126)
Yeah, amazing advice. Well, Matthew, where can we find you on social media?

Matthew Wohl (36:59.915)
Well, I’m on LinkedIn quite a bit. For anyone that isn’t following me, it’s quite the exciting following. I am very candidate forward. I post a lot of tips, lot of resume interview tips all the time. I am very devil’s advocate -ish sometimes on what other people are posting, but it’s always meant in the lightest of ways because I want people to always put themselves, like I said, one or 2 % ahead of their competition. You can go to recruitmentmadeeasy .com.

Mary (37:02.444)
Hehehehe

Mary (37:07.796)
Yeah

Matthew Wohl (37:29.869)
to find some of my services and if you’re familiar with the school app and you are in that’s SKOOL if you’re familiar with their platform and you’re in the recruitment industry I’ve created a new community we’re up to over 315 members in just three days once it gets to 500 it becomes a paid community which will start to see a lot of revenue generation for the community members so I’m looking forward to that and yeah feel free to DM me at any time

and someone that prides themselves in getting back to people. So you can count on that.

Mary (38:04.044)
Yes, amazing. Follow him on LinkedIn. He’s a great follow. Well, Matthew, thank you so much for coming on today.

Matthew Wohl (38:07.147)
Thanks, Mary. Yeah, it was a pleasure. I’m really happy I can. Thank you so much.