You Can Do Everything Right, and Still Have a Tough Time Finding a Job...

I know from a candidate's perspective it is very frustrating in today's market to find a job, let alone a new career. I hear it from almost every candidate I speak with, including several today. It's often easy for candidates to fall into the trap of blaming themselves for how long it's taking to find a position and there is no doubt that Colorado's job market is as challenging as it's been in decades.

I've spent the last two days at a conference celebrating Great Places to Work and in getting caught up on my e-mails and news I saw a study highlighted in an article by Greg Griffin in the Denver Post from Wednesday that paints a picture in stark contrast to the companies I saw at the conference who appear poised to surge out of the recession if given half a chance.

Conducted by Colorado State University, the study  illuminates what has occurred over the last decade in our state:

• While the Western Slope and central-northern mountains created a net 12,200 jobs in the last 10 years, the front range, including the greater-Denver area, actually lost 5,000 jobs over the decade
• Since the start of the recession in December 2007, Colorado has lost more than 126,000 jobs eliminating any job growth that had occurred in the first 7 years of the decade
• During the same time frame Colorado's labor force added more than 300,000 people and the working-age population soared by 575,000

According to the economists who wrote the report, Martin Shields and Michael Marturana: "In many ways, Colorado has lost a decade."

Job-seekers today can do everything exactly right - have the correct blend of education, skills, and experience, have impeccable references, and network like they invented the term - and still be unable to land a job. That is an incredibly frustrating situation for anyone to find themselves in. This recession will eventually come to an end; when it does it will take a long time to forget the 1st decade of the new millenium.

To see the Colorado State University Study "Has Colorado's Economy Lost a Decade?", click here.