The latest weekly jobless number show the U.S. labor market remains tight despite growing signals we are heading toward a recession.  Meanwhile companies continue to announce hiring freezes and layoffs. Cheddar News speaks with Kathryn Minshew, founder and CEO of online career platform The Muse, about the state of the current U.S. labor market. 

The Best Ways to Beef Up Your Resume

the central bank signaling more large increases are to come this year when it comes to rates and joining me now is Kathryn Minshew founder and ceo of the muse and online career platform based in new york city Catherine is great to see you. So we heard from the it's great to have you, we heard from the Fed chair yesterday saying that the U. S. Labor market does remain tight, butt could be headed toward a slowdown as someone who has their finger on the pulse of the labor market. Is that what you're seeing as well? You know, it's really hard to call right now because there are a number of trends pointing in opposite directions. We obviously have the rate hikes, a lot of fears of recession which would indicate that there might be a slowdown in hiring a continued increase in layoffs. And at this same point, we continue to see the economy adding jobs. There are some sectors where demand for talent is white hot. So I think that we're still in this mid period where most people are predicting we will see a recession, but right now the labor market um you know, it's it's it's still quite heated. So that's the positive right for now that there are still sectors of the labor market holding up Katherine, any insight as to which sectors are still seeing demand. So if someone does witness the layoff in the coming months, they might be able to find an opportunity elsewhere. Well, we've seen a lot of the layoffs hit the technology industry, particularly some cutting edge tech crypto has been very hard hit. Almost all of the major tech companies have announced layoffs at the same point, we're still seeing a lot of those brands hiring, they're just reducing their targets. Technical workers are still in very, very high demand, there are more technical jobs than workers looking for work. So individuals with engineering data backgrounds are still in a very good position in this economy. We're also seeing some growth within traditional financial services, although again, a lot of businesses are cautious right now. They are trimming their hiring goals. They're taking a wait and see approach, which does mean that there's less competition in some, in some cases, what would you recommend in job seekers out there? How do they spiff up their resume? How do they go after the right opportunities? I would say that this is a really important time to make sure that the way that you're presenting yourself as a job seeker is aligned with the key skills that employers are looking for. So I always like to say, and this is one of I think our most popular pieces of job search advice on the muse that you can actually look at a job description, highlight keywords and skills and then make sure that to the extent it's accurate, that it's accurate, you have those same words and skills reflected in your resume so that if you're applying to a company that uses software to screen applicants, as most companies do these days, you have a higher chance of getting past that screen because there's an exact match. We also have a lot of recommendations around making sure your resume fits on one page that there are specific numbers attached to your bullet points where you can go anywhere. You can show a specific numerical improvement that resulted from your efforts. Whether it's the number of projects completed clients closed square feet, you know sort of decorated etcetera anywhere. You can put hard numbers and very, very specific actions. You have much better chance of getting noticed. And then finally I recommend apply to fewer job with more preparation, more detail and more tailoring as opposed to the spray and pray approach of sending your resume out to 20 5100 positions without tailoring it without consideration spray and pray. I've never heard of that before but if you coined that, I like the phrase Catherine. That's a good one. I wouldn't, I could take credit for that but it's common you know, and it hurts Both sides right? You know, it's not great for the job seeker. It's not great for the employer. So I think that we are seeing candidates that are much more intentional and deliberate and and focused in their search are having more success right now. Okay, well my last question is a big put up to you and your company because I do see that you recently raised $8 million dollars in funding at a crucial time. Of course we know for the labor market and the economy. How are you gonna use that money to grow? Absolutely, well, it's very exciting because as you said, a lot of startup funding and technology funding is depressed right now. So we're incredibly proud of and excited to get this round done. What we're planning to do is really continue investing in the match and this actually goes back to what we were talking about with spray and pray. We have 75 million people every year who come to the muse and they're not just looking for a paycheck. They want to find that right job, that right fit. So we're investing in both the individual information about a candidate and the individual information about a company. What are the benefits that an employer offers? What is their company culture like and how do we put the two sides together to create much better matches. We're also doing a lot of work to measure the retention of the candidates that get hired through the muse because I think it's important not just to find people jobs but to find people jobs that they enjoy that they will stay in and for businesses to get them great employees who will be there for a while. Okay, Catherine, I'm gonna remember that spray and pray and again, major props to you on the round. Always good to see you always great to have you on the show. That's Kathryn Minshew, founder and Ceo of the muse.