RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK – Looking for a job? Pondering a career change? With a possible recession the horizon and the state’s job market evolving, two North Carolina economists has some advice for you.
Dr. Michael Walden of North Carolina State University advises job seekers and workers alike to prepare as if there is a pending economic recession.
“Talk to managers at your work firm to get an idea of how vulnerable your job is to a reduction in work hours or – at the worst – to total elimination in the even of a serious recession,” Walden wrote in responding to an inquiry from WRAL TechWire on what individuals could do to prepare in advance, should a recession occur.
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And the chief economist at the Kenan Institute for Private Enterprise, Dr. Gerald Cohen, advises job seekers to shore up their job search as soon as possible, so you’re in a position should companies decide to roll back hiring, as some technology companies like Google have already done.
“If you are looking, be less choosy and take a job,” said Cohen. “It will be much easier to find a job now than in the midst of a recession.”
But, added Cohen, if everyone were to take this advice and we were not entering an economic recession, this could push the economy toward a recession instead.
“This second part is fraught because it is better to have people in the right jobs than in any jobs, so advising people to be less choosy isn’t great advice if we are not a recession or significant slowdown in growth,” said Cohen.
