ClearRock

BOSTON - Layoffs are up and hiring has slowed. Besides being more difficult to find a job, this employment environment necessitates that people try to change industries, especially if they've been affected by recent layoffs, according to ClearRock, an executive coaching and outplacement firm headquartered in Boston.

Between 30% and 40% of laid-off employees are successfully transferring their skills from one industry to another, particularly if they've been displaced by industries that have been heavily cutting back lately, including manufacturing, banking, pharmaceutical, and military/defense-contracting, according to ClearRock.

They have been transferring the skills they've built up in these industries to those that are in the forefront of hiring, such as health care, information technology and computer-related, services and professional services industries.

Here's why:

• Initial unemployment insurance claims resulting from layoffs rose 11.8% in 2005 over 2004, according to the U.S. Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics - to 1.79 million in 2005 from 1.6 million in 2004.
  
• The number of mass layoffs (those involving 50 people or more) rose 3% in 2005 over 2004, to 16,466 events in 2005 from 15,980 events, according to BLS.
  
• However, the rate of new hiring slowed considerably in 2005. Hiring rose only 3.7% in 2005, a decline from the 9.5% increase in new hires that occurred in 2004 over the recession-ravaged 2003.
  
• Mass layoffs have accelerated in the past two months, with large-scale layoff announcements by General Motors and Ford alone of over 60,000 workers, with a non-auto industry multiplier in the hundreds of thousands.

"With layoffs increasing and hiring slowing, more job-seekers need to be prepared to transfer the skills they have built up during their careers in industries that are now contracting to those industries that are hiring," said Greg Gostanian, managing partner for ClearRock.

"It is much easier to transfer the experience you have acquired from one industry to another than it is to try to get a job in a completely different field of work," added Annie Stevens, managing partner for ClearRock. "You will have more success in trying to switch from being an accountant for a manufacturer to being an accountant for a hospital, for example, than you will have in trying to get a new job in a functional area in which you have no experience."

One of the most important elements of an industry-switching job strategy is to search in all industries that are most closely related to the one in which you have experience. "Out-of-work banking industry employees should also search for jobs with mortgage companies, credit unions, and financial planners, in addition to looking for employment with other banks. But after this, they should look for jobs within their functional areas (accounting, for example) with unrelated industries, such as health care and information technology," said Gostanian.

It's also important to learn the language of the industries in which you're applying for jobs. "Just as you have your own buzzwords in your industry, you need to learn the terms and trends of the industry in which you are applying. It's not only important to 'walk the talk,' but you need to be able to 'talk the talk' as well," said Stevens.