NEW YORK, N.Y., Sept. 14 (SEND2PRESS NEWSWIRE) — We are in the worst recession in over 20 years, but employers still have millions of jobs going unfilled. According to a recent article in the Wall Street Journal, outplacement counseling programs are struggling to assist job hunters get the job done. Bob Gerberg Jr, the CEO of ITS, said that this is partially because many people are doing the wrong things and some counselors are still advising job hunters to use methods from the 1990s.

But, traditional job hunting is no longer effective. Why? Gerberg says too many people still start by preparing a historical resume that says, “Here lies John Doe, he went to these schools, he had these jobs and these achievements.” Then they just start answering ads, networking some friends, contacting a few recruiters and posting resumes on the Internet. It is hard to believe, said Gerberg, but that’s all that tens of millions of people still do. In a typical month they generate only one or two interviews. Today, much more is needed.

ITS has just made available a free 25 minute online video that educates job hunters in this regard, and highlights many new innovations that affect job hunters. It is called “a tour of today’s job market” and can be viewed at www.anewcareer.com/markettour.

Because of the recession, the jobs for people seeking more than $100,000 will shrink from 3.8 million jobs filled last year to 3.5 million jobs this year. The market is down, but there are still millions of jobs out there. Professionals with good backgrounds and marketable skills should be connecting. But, they need to approach all the segments of the job market in a much different way.

New job hunting approaches are called for

Here’s just part of what the ITS Job Market Tour covers: how the job market really works, the new resume styles that are producing better results, where the jobs are, both published and unpublished, how to find more openings, leads and contacts, and how people can get their resumes placed with top prospects, including growth firms through major employers.

The video also shows how people can uncover up to 97 percent of the right openings that are out here for you them, not the 2 to 3 percent they usually find with old methods.

Recognizing that something new was needed, ITS invested over $30 million to pioneer a faster approach to job hunting for anyone with a marketable background. Most of this went toward development of The Job Market Access Center (JMAC) which enables people to instantly connect with the openings, leads and contacts that are so vital to job hunters.

Why did ITS invest so heavily in a new approach to job hunting?

It may surprise you, but before the current recession, the U.S. Labor Department said it took many professionals from 9 to 12 months to find a suitable new position.

Fortune Magazine, in two cover stories in the last year, documented the difficult journey people face and the strain and worry that can be involved. The Chicago Tribune has also done many articles. One survey said that of people who lost their jobs, only 1 in 20 get back to their previous level of responsibility and income.

Given this environment, Gerberg said that everyone in the employment world knew something better was needed, so they raised venture capital to bring new technology to this field.

The mission of ITS has been to use technology to pioneer new approaches to job hunting. They first tested their ideas with a small number of corporate outplacement clients, including Citigroup, Eaton, Ingersoll, Johnson Controls, Kellogg’s, Novartis, Sun Microsystems and others. After several years, their concept was expanded to the broader market of professionals, managers and executives seeking $50,000 to $500,000 plus.

Free fallin’ is what the U.S. labor market seems to be doing, particularly over the last five months. The headline news in January’s employment report was the sharpest drop in payrolls since 1974; over 34 years ago.

Overall

Employment contracted by nearly 600,000 in January; this report was a negative surprise with economists were expecting a number of just over a half million. Since the recession began in December of 2007, the U.S. economy has lost over 3.5 million jobs; but the worst part is that the bottom is not yet in sight.

Finance and Insurance

This broad sector fell by almost 48,000 jobs or about 0.8 percent in the month of January. Job losses during the trailing 12-months period since February of ’08 amount to nearly 3 percent of the workforce and total over 175,000.

Securities Industry

In January, the securities industry experienced the worst single month’s job loss, in our records, which go back 16 years. For the month, 18,000 workers lost jobs, and for the eight month period from June 2008 through January 200 employment retracted by 47,000 workers; falling from a historically record high employment level in June of last year.

While it is true that many firms are not hiring in this industry, it is also true that we are experiencing a significant number of firms who are recognizing that an unprecedented number of high-quality job candidates are looking, and these firms are starting to take advantage of this opportunity. Most of the jobs are in sales, while salaried positions are at a premium until this economy and the financial markets can stage some sort of recovery.