Glad you're here! I have a great new job-search idea to share with you this month. Sometimes all it takes is one idea to finally hear the words..."so, when can you start?"

Despite the dreadful winter we're experiencing, the job market is actually starting to thaw. Punxsutawney Phil did not see his shadow when it comes to the job market. Expect an early spring. Promise.

Since the first of the year, I've been tracking job openings posted by employers in 5 metro areas: Detroit, Grand Rapids, Kalamazoo, South Bend, and Fort Wayne. I picked these cities because they are manufacturing based and were hardest hit by the recession.

I only tracked jobs that paid over $60,000 a year.

Here is what I found: In early January, employers in the above 5 markets posted 13,072 jobs. At the end of this week, that number has grown to 18,671.

This is a 43% increase over a 6 week period. This is not a fluke. It's a solid trend.

I spoke with several managers and directors this week about their hiring plans. They all told me they are seeing a noticeable increase in business and they will have to hire soon or risk losing sales to their competitors.

I've also noticed lots of ads running for truck drivers. One major freight company reported this week that shipments over the past 3 months increased 20% and beat their expectations. This is significant because companies don't ship stuff and pay all these freight bills if there isn't some buying going on.

I know the stock market took a dump last week and the talking heads on the financial networks had plenty of negatives to share with us. thanks...

Ignore these guys.

They're looking at charts and graphs. I'm on the front lines. I'm telling you...I'm seeing some green shoots and tulip stems poking through the half-frozen crust. Job spring is arriving early, and job summer is not far off...and it will be a hot summer.

This month's Job Brick Wall newsletter will share with you a job search tactic that will definitely uncover more job leads for you in a fraction of the time.

If you missed December and January's newsletters, check them out in my newsletter archives. These back issues contain some great job-search techniques that work like crazy.

All the best...and keep your chin up and the wind to your back!

Mike job-interview-wisdom.com

Uncover more job leads with Indeed

If you are familiar with it, stick with me for a minute as I probably can help you use it more effectively. If you're not familiar with it, you need to start using it today. It is, by far, one of the best websites to find job leads. And, the best part...it's free.

Here is how it works and why it's so powerful. When you arrive on Indeed's home page, you'll see a very plain white page with 2 windows for you to type something under the headings: What, and Where.

In the what heading, type in a job title or keyword that best describes the kind of job you are looking for. In the where heading, type in the zip code of your target location.

Indeed spiders all of the job postings on the web within a 25 mile radius of your zip code and pulls them down for you in one neat, easy to read list. In other words, instead of you going out to each individual website like Monster, CareerBuilder, HotJobs, and other niche sites, Indeed does this for you and organizes all of them on one list.

Indeed not only spiders the major job boards it also searches newspaper want ad sites, government job boards, company job postings, recruiter jobs, and many other sites you've never heard of before. So, in a flash, Indeed has done a lot of tedious grunt work for you.

Experiment with your key words and job titles to make sure you're using the best search parameters.

Ok...once your job list pops up, look at the far left column. See the different search criteria you can click on to further refine your search? Experiment with 1 or 2 at first, then come back to further refine if you want.

Notice at the top of your job list there is a drop down menu under the heading, Distance, that allows you to expand the miles radius of your search.

Indeed also has a Job Alert feature that saves your search criteria and emails you any new job postings. To set up an alert, you have to set up a free account that takes 3 minutes. You are allowed several job alerts.

Let's say you want to keep tabs on new job postings in Purchasing in 5 or 6 cities, you can set up your searches once and Indeed will email you daily or weekly with any new job postings. Very slick.

Experiment with it to become familiar with it. It's very easy to learn and use and it will find job postings on sites you would never think to go.

OK...isn't life grand? Indeed to the rescue. What's the catch?

There is no catch as long as you remember that 80% of all the jobs out there are not advertised. So, at best, with Indeed or any other job board, you are only fishing in a pond where 20% of the fish live. In the current sluggish (but improving!) job market you can't rely on one way to find a job.

The biggest mistake job seekers make is relying totally on job postings to find a job.

Indeed will cast a wider net for you for online job advertisements, but continue to network the way I described in my last 2 newsletters.

Networking is by far the most effective way to find a job. But, most people avoid it because it's more work and you have to do a lot of telephone calling.

Not very much fun.

Ok...try Indeed...and don't forget to sign up for their job alerts. Keep networking. You'll be back in the saddle before you know it.

Happy hunting!

Mike

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