It has not been an easy year for jobseekers.
The hiring rate has significantly slowed since the pandemic, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and nearly a quarter, 23% of unemployed people have been looking for work for 27 weeks or longer.
If you're one of the long-term unemployed and have been focused solely on applying for full-time work, Emily Levine, executive vice president at recruitment firm Career Group Companies, has a simple suggestion for 2025: "be really, really open to freelance and contract positions," she says.
Here's why.
'I'm seeing these roles convert to permanent'
There are many benefits to taking on a temporary role.
It's a way of earning some income as you continue to look. Jobseeking can be a blow to the ego and freelancing can be a way of "keeping your self esteem high," says Levine. It's also a great way of opening up opportunities for full-time work.
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"More and more often I'm seeing these roles convert to permanent," says Levine. "You're able to bypass a competitive interview process, and you're able to get in there right away and show them what you can do."
Levine noted that she is seeing these kinds of results "in finance, creative, entertainment, marketing, real estate, all over the place."
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'Put an end date for your most recent role'
To increase your chances of getting hired for those freelance roles, make sure to update your resume accordingly.
"Put an end date for your most recent role to show that you're available to take a contract role," says Levine. Make sure to put everything you did in that role in the past tense as well. "You can even put at the top of your resume 'open to new opportunities'" — including temp work.
And search for opportunities in multiple places.
Look on sites like LinkedIn and Indeed, and contact staffing and temp agencies to let them know you're interested.
If companies need to hire someone on a temporary base quickly, "they're calling a staffing firm," says Levine. "They're getting people in that next day. So making sure you're in the database in a roster of a top search firm is huge."
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