The U.S. jobs situation is trending upward. According to reports released on Friday, there were 165,000 jobs created in April, exceeding a forecast of 135,000. The hiring increase helped push down the unemployment rate, from 7.6 percent to 7.5 percent.

Specifically, there was a net job growth of 43,000 for the leisure and hospitality sector. 

"MPI’s job board, Career Connections, reflect this stated job growth," said Randy Crabtree, MPI membership marketing manager. "Over the past year, we have seen an increase of 70 percent in monthly resume views by employers. Job seekers are getting more active too, with an increase of 34 percent in monthly job views by potential candidates." 

Now that the economy is showing signs of improvement, you should focus on a strategy for securing the job you want.

“The truth is, even in a good economy, the average job seeker is not properly prepared,” said J.T. O’Donnell, career expert and CEO of Careerealism.com. “Regardless of age, most are under-educated when it comes to knowing how to effectively manage their careers.”

O’Donnell recommends that you ask and answer five questions before you start your search.

1. What are some examples of how you are more successful than others in your field with similar experience?
2. How do you use your professional strengths to add money to an employer’s bottom line?
3. What industries or professions that could make good use of your skills in this economy?
4. What are your minimum job requirements and how have they affected your approach to your job search?
5. Who are the companies you really want to work for and why?

Answering these five questions is part of a two-phase job search plan. 

“In the beginning, ‘strategic’ phase, you assess your current priorities, strengths and interests and then use this self-knowledge to research and identify opportunities that best suit you,” O’Donnell said. “This phase is critical because it’s a chance to come to terms with who you are and define a professional goal that is achievable and satisfying.”

The second phase is tactical and consists of building a customized job search plan that emphasizes your strengths.

“No two people are the same, which means no two people should go about a job search in the same way,” O’Donnell said. “When the strategic phase has been completed properly, the quality of the job seeker’s efforts in the tactical phase goes up—and so do their results.”

What are some successful ways you’ve secure a job in the past? Please share your stories in the comments.

A new Global Workforce Study by global professional services company Towers Watson reveals that almost two-thirds (63 percent) of U.S. workers are not fully engaged in their work and are struggling to cope with work situations that don’t provide sufficient support. This finding suggests employees are finding it difficult to sustain the kind of positive connection to their companies that yields consistent productivity — the result of almost a decade of pressure to do more with less and respond to the challenges of global competition, ever-evolving technology and the ongoing need for strict cost management.

“When workers are not fully engaged, it leads to greater performance risk for employers. It makes companies more vulnerable to lower productivity, higher inefficiency, weaker customer service and greater rates of absenteeism and turnover,” said Julie Gebauer, managing director of talent and rewards for Towers Watson. “Without attention and interventions aimed at improving on-the-job support for employees and creating a sense of attachment to the organization, this trend could worsen—and directly affect business outcomes. Companies have known for years that employee engagement is important to business performance. We’re now seeing—in part because of the tough business climate—that engagement is quite fragile and will not be sustained over time without careful attention to very specific elements in the work environment.”

The study breaks new ground in understanding and measuring what contributes to sustained employee engagement in the workplace today and demonstrates the strength of the relationship between “sustainable engagement” and specific financial outcomes for employers.

“Sustainable engagement is an important evolution in the science of workforce behavior—and it’s an approach well suited to the unique aspects of the current work environment,” said Laura Sejen, global practice leader of rewards for Towers Watson. “It recognizes that employees need support from their employer to continue to give discretionary effort on the job, and right now, employees are telling us they’re not getting that support in the way and at a level they need.

Sustainable engagement starts with basic engagement, defined as employees’ willingness to expend discretionary effort on their job. It also requires enablement—having the tools, resources and support to do their job effectively, as well as energy, through a work environment that actively supports employees’ well-being. 

“Enablement and energy are critical factors in this equation,” Gebauer said. “In the last several years, when we’ve seen much more pressure in the system, their importance has risen to the fore. Engagement will only hold over time with these elements in place.”

The Towers Watson study used a specific set of questions to measure and classify respondents as to their level of sustainable engagement. Overall, the study showed that only 37 percent of U.S. workers are highly engaged in a sustainable way, meaning they scored high on all three elements of sustainable engagement. Just over one-quarter (27 percent) are classified as unsupported, meaning they display traditional engagement, but lack the enablement and/or energy required for sustainable engagement. Thirteen percent are detached, meaning they feel enabled and/or energized but are not willing to go the extra mile. And almost one-quarter (23 percent) are completely disengaged, with less favorable scores for all three aspects of sustainable engagement.

“There is a real imperative for change right now. The risks of continuing to manage with traditional practices are just too great from a performance perspective. And everyone in an organization has a role to play in helping close gaps in employees’ feelings of enablement and energy—from executives, to supervisors, to human resources, to employees themselves,” Gebauer said. “By taking actions to address identified gaps, organizations will be able to move some of the unsupported and detached to engaged—and likely experience a measurable and positive impact on financial performance.”

Narcissism, a trait considered obnoxious in most circumstances, actually pays off big-time in the short-term context of a job interview, according to a new study to be published in the Journal of Applied Social Psychology.

Narcissists scored much higher in simulated job interviews than non-narcissists, researchers found. They pointed to narcissists’ innate tendency to promote themselves, in part by engaging and speaking at length, which implied confidence and expertise even when they were held to account by expert interviewers.

“This is one setting where it’s OK to say nice things about yourself and there are no ramifications. In fact, it’s expected,” said Peter Harms, assistant professor of management at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and a co-author of the study. “Simply put, those who are comfortable doing this tend to do much better than those who aren’t.”

The two-part study examined the effectiveness of the types of behaviors that narcissists exhibit—which would be typically seen as maladjusted—in the narrow context of an interview. In the first part, 72 participants were videotaped in a simulated job-applicant setting. As expected, narcissists were more likely to self-promote. However, it was when expert interviewers challenged applicants that narcissists started behaving in unexpected ways, Harms says.

While normal individuals backed off of their self-promotion tactics when held accountable, narcissists actually increased their attempts to make themselves look better.

“When feeling challenged, they tend to double down,” Harms said. “It’s as if they say ‘Oh, you’re going to challenge me? Then I’m not just great, I’m fantastic.’ And in this setting, it tended to work.”

In the study’s second part, 222 raters evaluated videos of applicants with similar job skills and varying levels of narcissism. The raters consistently awarded chronic self-promoters—who spoke quickly and at length and who used ingratiation tactics such as smiling, gesturing and complimenting others—far more positive evaluations.

Meanwhile, equally qualified applicants who tended to rely on tactical modesty scored lower, according to the study.

“This shows that what is getting (narcissists) the win is the delivery,” Harms said. “These results show just how hard it is to effectively interview, and how fallible we can be when making interview judgments. We don’t necessarily want to hire narcissists, but might end up doing so because they come off as being self-confident and capable.”

For interviewers, the study’s findings mean they must become aware of the tactics used by narcissists, Harms says—and, if necessary, avoid selecting people who chronically use self-promotion and ingratiation, unless those behaviors are appropriate for the position.

“On the whole, we find very little evidence that narcissists are more or less effective workers. But what we do know is that they can be very disruptive and destructive when dealing with other people on a regular basis. If everything else is equal, it probably is best to avoid hiring them.”

(Story materials provided by the University of Nebraska-Lincoln/Steve Smith.)

While the unemployment rate (8.3 percent) is the lowest it has been in three years in the United States, the same rate in the European Union is 10.8 percent—the highest the 17-nation collective has seen since the Euro was introduced in 1999. 

Easy translation: No matter where you live in the world, unemployment is an issue. 

When the EU jobless rates were released this morning (4/2), it's no coincidence that the Harvard Business Review posted as their "Tip of the Day" a great article called "Finding a Job by Changing the Way You Network," by Bill Barnett. In it, Barnett offers three really simple, yet very important tips for anyone looking for any employment in any field. If you're in between jobs or even if you're looking to expand your opportunities, take a look at these tips, put them into action and build a solid foundation for success.

Tip #1: Expand Your Possibilities. As HBR says, "You have more contacts than you think." Log on to all your social networks and find past colleagues who know your capabilities. Call on former classmates or clients. If you have a track record of volunteering, contact those you have shared experiences with and tell them your looking for a new career. You'll be amazed how quickly good things will come your way if you enlist more than just your own eyes and ears in the search process. The most important piece is once you make contact with these people, "ask for introductions to others" that they work with. It's "grass roots LinkedIn" at its finest—an unpublished opportunity could be waiting for you through a friend of a friend.

Tip #2: Don't Converse, Discuss. "Approach meetings as conversations, not interviews." When you connect with your contacts, ask them about more than just job possibilities. If it's a different industry or a different part of the industry you are in, ask about how to best succeed and how to get the most out of the opportunity.

Tip #3: Record it. "Connecting with many people can be complicated." HBR recommends you take notes during the meeting and write down what you learned from your conversation and most importantly, write down action items for what you are going to do with what you learned. Take a proactive approach to build on what you learn from your contacts.

BONUS Tip #4: Use Your MPI Membership to Your Advantage. One of the many perks of MPI membership is exclusive access to the MPI career portal. I just checked and you currently have access to more than 225 meeting and event industry jobs. Here's the link: http://qa.mpiweb.org/portal/career

Check it out!