Need A Job? What Employers Are Looking For

Unemployment is over nine percent and has remained stubbornly high since the start of the Great Recession. It's not uncommon for job seekers to be out of work for a year or more.

If you are out of work, statistics suggest that the longer it takes you to become re-employed, the worse your chances are of finding a job. Yet, many employers complain they have a hard time finding qualified workers.

What's responsible for this disconnect? It might have something to do with the interpretation of the word “qualified,” and what it means to employers.

Women returning to the work force seem to have an even bigger challenge. So, to get some insight into what employers are actually looking for, researchers studied the characteristics on older women's resumes that received the most success in securing job interviews.

Vocational or computer training

And what was the secret to landing an interview? The top characteristic that resulted in job interviews for middle-aged women seeking an entry level job was vocational or computer training, according to the study in the Journal of Career Development.

In writing up their study, researchers said they looked at the effects of age, job-related experience, vocational training, outside activities, and length of gaps in work history. Researchers sent a wide variety of resumes to more than 3500 employers in Boston and St. Petersburg, Fla., and studied the responses from employers interested in conducting interviews with their "candidates."

Employers represented various fields of industry and the jobs listed were all entry-level positions requiring up to one year of post-high school education and combined work experience. Yet researchers Emily Johnson and Joanna Lahey found that on quality possessed by their fictional applicants drew the most attention.

Focus on education

"Employers focus almost exclusively on educational background in the entry-level jobs studied," the authors wrote. "The benefits of adding volunteer experiences, hobbies, or involvement in sports may help in some communities more than others, and while they may not hurt the potential for an interview, these activities do not guarantee an interview for an entry-level job position."

In other words, the researchers say employers who are hiring are looking for candidates who can step into the job – even at an entry level – with some knowledge and training required to do the job.

Some of the findings go directly against what today's career guides direct job seekers to do, note the authors. The lack of impact of outside activities did not carry the same importance as a lot of today's job manuals profess.

Johnson and Lahey say they hope their findings will influence the advice to middle-age women by career counselors, and encourage them to seek further education or vocational training to stay current with today's sought after skills.

"Job seekers may be helped in their decision making processes by knowledge of employer demand and specifically by knowledge of the items employers are looking for that could make employees more attractive," wrote the authors.