The HRDC Job Bank has been around for years.
Yet many jobseekers seem to overlook opportunities to utilize meaningful labour market information for sound decision-making. While labour market data can be resourceful, it can be overwhelming to sift through and interpret vast amounts and numbers. However, applying effective strategies for extracting labour market information can help formulate the bigger picture about career trends.
Recently, at the CareerPro Conference, we discussed how researching labour market information can help facilitate a proactive and productive job search. Understanding certain labour market trends and developments can assist jobseekers with forecasting and exploring viable opportunities within a particular field or industry. Doing so may even save time and empower jobseekers with relevant knowledge to move forward in their career.
What is Labour Market Information?
Labour market information (LMI) refers to quantitative and qualitative data found in tables, spreadsheets, maps, graphs, charts, reports, or newspaper articles and other credible sources. LMI displays vast data on occupational outlooks, demography, globalization, education/training, technological change, and government policy-related changes.
How Can The HRDC Job Bank Help Jobseekers?
The HRDC Job Bank provides jobseekers with a detailed labour market report customized by occupation and location that provides data about job opportunities, wages, skill requirements, current statistics, and a library of occupational videos.
Acquiring useful facts about working in Canada can be invaluable to newcomers who are navigating the labour market landscape and probing new, culturally diverse work environments.
In order to learn more about a certain field, role, or industry, it is always advisable to conduct thorough research on LMI first and consider the following:
Research for better long-term planning. Find out what skills employers are seeking, which industries are hiring, and where they are located. This can help you better plan for the future before relocating to a certain city or region.
Discover what working conditions look like for specific industries. What education and training do you need for specific jobs?
Use critical thinking by probing long-term prospects. Which job areas are growing? Which factors could impact you from acquiring a job? This knowledge will boost your awareness of career prospects and aid with long-term planning.
Strategies for Navigating LMI: Take the Research Challenge
Remain focused; target one area at a time. Decide what area to research, take notes and record observations, and understand how your research affects your choices. Select the pieces of qualitative and quantitative information that are meaningful to your career development and/or career transition.
Conduct informational interviews. Pair valuable labour market information with informational interviews to leverage relevant data before making a decision.
Realize that labour market trends are constantly evolving along with changing world events. Demographic and world trends such as globalization, immigration, a gig economy, older workers seeking contract work, robotics, and retiring baby boomers, along with political and economic events all shape our vast labour market.
Be prepared to adapt to changes.
Prospects may change in another few years for graduates by the time they complete their degree. Some companies may close; others may expand or falter. There is currently a growing trend towards part time and contract work. However, that doesn't mean that long-term opportunities will be hard to locate. Do your research.
Tapping into the hidden job market, conducting informational interviews, and developing marketable skills is imperative to align with changing market trends.
Read and educate yourself on LMI trends. Conduct investigation and forecasting by reading about various events and trends in local papers and online resources so that you can see how these events potentially shape careers in the future.
The key: Interpret labour market information with accuracy and objectivity.
Work backwards. Think about the organizations that you would like to work for and why you would want to work for those organizations. Conduct some exploration – who would these organizations hire? Evaluate the match between you and those organizations. Delve deeper by exploring similar prospective organizations and draw on internet information using Google.
Focus on the possibilities. Realize that even in regions where there may be relatively high unemployment, jobs can still be found by tapping into the hidden job market and networking. Focus on your internal needs and the external needs of the external labour market to keep track of the various demographic changes and shifts.
Review both local and global resources to get the full picture. Explore sources such as National Occupational Classification (NOC), Job Bank (Canadian Government), associations, business journals, and governmental associations.
Connect with professionals in target groups and ask relevant questions.
Ensure that the information is specific and relevant to your career needs.
Be Prepared: Take the Research Challenge Before Making a Career Transition
Leverage labour market data to forecast and interpret trends and developments as objectively as possible by posing thoughtful questions. Extract the breadth and depth of both qualitative and quantitative information in order to make well-informed career-related decisions.
Feel free to access the HRDC Job Bank widget on my website.
View additional resources: http://settlement.org/ontario/employment/find-a-job/labour-market-information/what-is-labour-market-information-do-i-need-it/.