The job market is still soft the latest ABS figures show that in May 2009 unemployment climbed to 5.7%, an increase of 1.6% over the last 12 months.

This growth in unemployment means that many job seekers have to go the extra mile to land a new role.

For example take Doug Winfield.

Doug decided to take out a Facebook ad advertising his skills. But with one unique difference. He targeted a specific company, SHIFT. Using Facebook Ads Doug was able to narrow in on the specific organisation he wanted to work for. While he did not get the job at SHIFT they are certainly impressed, this from the PR Squared blog:

I don’t know how many other agencies Doug had used this approach with, but I was intrigued enough to reach out.  What had me most excited, thinking more broadly (i.e., beyond this one job applicant), was that Doug had created some Word of Mouth for himself, even within the small confines of our offices.  No less than 5 people showed me this advertisement.  That’s got to give a fellow an edge.

We’re not hiring at Doug’s level just now, but I hope to keep a dialogue going with him for down the road.  (If you want to beat me to the punch, you can reach out to him yourself.)

Like the song says, when the going gets tough the tough get going!