According to US Department of Labor statistics, the average time to find employment is roughly six months. It could take as little as four to six weeks, or as long as ten to twelve months, or longer. Several factors determine your time to placement:

Degrees

Current state of employment

Age

Level of experience

Level of salary

Type of position you're seeking

Level of position being sought

Desired salary level

Location

Industry

Your resume

Your interview skills

Networking effort

Degree of career transition

No one knows how long they will be unemployed. Even a person with sufficient funds to last their entire period of unemployment may still want to consider a temporary or contractual assignment as an interim solution. The loss in income can have an unforeseeable psychological impact. Other concerns that need to be addressed include:

Loss of confidence

Losing familiarity with day-to-day responsibilities

Boredom

Creating employment gaps in the resume

More expensive health benefits

Minimal professional interactions

No opportunity to convert a temporary position into a permanent one

The rule of thumb is: if you have been searching unsuccessfully for two months and find yourself no further ahead than when you became unemployed, I would encourage you to seek temporary employment or a contractual assignment. More and more people are engaging in this type of activity, including former CEO's. In fact, there has been a twenty percent increase in the number of people working part-time since 2001.

The steady rise in temporary employment and contractual assignments is a definite indicator, not only of the state of our economy, but of things to come. Employers are realizing the many benefits of hiring temporary and contract employees. They dont have to go through all the screening and interviewing that is typical for permanent employees; they dont have to pay benefits; they can try out a person without any obligation to hire if it isnt working out; and they can convert a temporary or contractual employee to permanent status once the person has proven themselves.

At this time, there is a coupling of two factors: employers are seeking more people for temporary and contract jobs that used to be strictly for permanent employees, and job seekers are taking longer to find permanent employment. It would appear that temporary employment and contractual assignments represent ideal solutions.

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