If you’re having trouble finding employment in your current industry, you need to change your focus and start looking into adjacent industries.

Obviously you’re the most marketable in your current industry, but what if that industry is dying? What if – for whatever reason – you’re having trouble finding employment in your chosen industry? Maybe the industry isn’t dying, but you’re still having trouble finding employment?

If this is happening to you, I want you to change your focus to adjacent industries. Let me explain what I mean by adjacent industries. These are the firms that supply the products and services to your old company, or the industry you’re trying to get into now.

Let me give you an example:

Let’s take a construction company. How many vendors and suppliers are there that service construction companies? Think about all of the construction materials used on any given construction project?

You have concrete, asphalt, steel, scaffolding, wood, mechanical and electrical supplies, safety equipment and heavy construction equipment like cranes, backhoes, tractors, and trucking. What about any type of computer software for estimating, scheduling, and costs?

There are a lot of companies that work in and around a typical construction project, right? Now if you are unemployed and used to work for a construction company, those would be the adjacent industries for you to focus on.

Now, in that example I used a construction company, but let’s take your industry. What are the companies that service and supply your industry? Every industry has these adjacent industries, so once you put your list together you can start to focus on those companies, as well as your chosen industry.

Why is this so important and why does it work? It works because you will speak the language of these adjacent industries. You understand their business.

When you go to work for an adjacent industry your learning curve will be a lot less than someone that has never worked in that industry. Your marketability is greater. Employers know and understand this, so when you approach these adjacent industries you will get more interviews and, in turn, you will receive more offers.

So, first you need to keep looking in your chosen industry, but you also need to incorporate these adjacent industries. This is where you will have the greatest success in your job search if you can’t find a job in your industry. I hope this helps.

Good luck to you!

Mike Palumbo

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PS. If you want to try a free personality test or career test to help you find what you might possible be good at in your career, you can find a firm that specializes in these types of tests HERE. Give it a try, it might surface some ideas you haven’t thought about, who knows?

Mike Palumbo

Business owner, executive recruiter, author, radio talk show host, blogger, motivational speaker and career consultant! My goal is to help you find that dream career you’ve always wanted!

Tags: careers, Choosing a Career, Job Search Secrets, job search secrets, jobs