When companies like Uber and Postmates started, they expanded the number of gig economy jobs available. In fact, a 2018 report from Upwork revealed, in the past five years, the number of American freelancers increased from 3.7 to 56.7 million. While many anticipated the increased amount of gig and freelancing jobs would change how we thought about career paths, few realized how popular the option would be among young people.

The Upwork report found 45 percent of college-aged young adults (18 to 21-year-olds) are already freelancers. Remarkably, 42 percent of survey respondents between the ages of 22 and 34 continue in the gig economy.

To offer students the best advice to help them navigate this new approach to their career, you need to understand the difference between a traditional career path and one in the gig economy. Here are four steps to take so you can prepare your students for a gig economy jobs:

It’s another reimagined word that’s worked its way into our vernacular: ghosting. In most cases, ghosting means someone slowly disappears in order to end a relationship. But it seems ghosting is also becoming a habit of job seekers. They’re backing out of the hiring process without giving much reason.

In fact, a recent CareerBuilder survey found 55 percent of job seekers will drop out of the hiring process if they haven’t heard anything from the employer in two weeks. Another 51 percent of job seekers say they keep looking for a job even after receiving an offer. In many cases, they never respond to the offer.

Of course, your job seekers have the right to leave the hiring process whenever they want. This ensures employers are treating them with respect and meeting their expectations. But when ghosting becomes a job search habit, there’s a good chance your job seeker will miss out on a great opportunity.

As a career services professional, you need to find out what’s going on with your job seekers so you can help them land — rather than ghosting — their dream job. Start with these three tips:

Every year, the hiring process evolves. Organizations prioritize finding different traits and skills in candidates. There are new technologies that job seekers need to be familiar with to stand out. Changes in the economy and workforce shift how much power job seekers have in their job search.

As a career service professional, you need to be on top of the latest hiring trends. By educating yourself, you can filter out what information is relevant to your students and better prepare them for their job search. But given all the information that is out there, this can become overwhelming.

Luckily, most of this year’s hiring trends are playing out in favor of job seekers. Help your students make the most of the hiring landscape. Here are three hiring trends you need to focus on to give your job seekers unique advantages:

Recruiters don’t type keywords into a job search engine and cross their fingers hoping top candidates pop up. In today’s recruiting world, social media, effective job boards, and an emphasis on company culture allow recruiters to look deeper into potential candidates and their whole person.

While this is a pro for both job seekers and employers, it means students entering the application process need a whole new set of skills and better career advice. And with recruiters maintaining that employee referrals remain the top source of high-quality hires, those skills must include networking, understanding hiring pros, and building meaningful relationships.

Students will be entering a workforce that’s at an all-time unemployment low. To help them stand out above the crowd, it’s critical career counselors teach them how to be self-marketing experts — no matter their field of study.

Here’s the career advice you need to give your students to turn them into self-marketers:

This post was updated in September 2022

There’s no denying the powerful part social media plays in young people’s lives. For the majority of college students, these platforms are their main source of information. And that includes information about their job search.

In fact, a 2018 survey by Yello found that 70 percent of students and recent graduates say a company’s social media presence influences their decision to apply for a job. Since your students are already taking their job search to these platforms, you need a social presence to provide them with quality information.

But that means understanding how they use the platforms, as well as what techniques will resonate with them. Here are four ways career services professionals can take advantage of social media:

Artificial intelligence often gets a bad rap. Employees worry that this technology will one day replace them in the workplace. Customers are underwhelmed by the service they receive from chatbots. Job seekers feel at a loss about how to convince a program they deserve a job.

But there is one group of people that has welcomed artificial intelligence with open arms: recruiters. In fact, the 2018 LinkedIn Global Recruiting Trends report found that 76 percent of recruiters feel AI has had at least somewhat of a significant impact on what they do.

If job seekers want to land their dream job, they need to embrace artificial intelligence and its role in the hiring process. And as a career counselor, it’s your duty to help them.

Here are four ways the technology actually makes the job search easier:

Success is measured in various ways, and for many people, the greatest achievement is landing a perfect career. The job market is wide-open, so it’s no surprise if your clients are contemplating their career goals and worrying that they haven’t yet landed that dream role.

While you’re stressing about finding them that perfect job, recruiters are stressing out looking for top candidates. It’s important to use this to your advantage.

In fact, a 2017 LinkedIn report found 55 percent of companies expect a substantial increase in hiring. Even though hiring managers are on the hunt for fresh talent, it’s often challenging to find a job that perfectly aligns with clients’ career ambitions.

However, with strong determination and these tips, your clients will be on their way to landing their dream job in no time: