About two years ago, I lost my job. Overnight, an otherwise stable company went under, and I found myself asking, “What happened?” I took a week to feel bad for myself and sleep in, then hit the ground running to find a new job.

During this process, I found it interesting that most of the avenues I had used previously seemed closed. This appears to be an unsettling trend for many of us. In a recent survey by Aerotek, a leading staffing and workforce management solutions firm, nearly 70% of respondents said their current job search was more challenging than their last one, and the recruitment process now averages about 43 days1.

A colleague of mine just posted on LinkedIn something I have now seen too many times: the stats of what it took him to land a role. It went something like this:

8 months unemployed
2,500 applications submitted
82 rounds of interviews
3 percent conversion of application to interview

This is not someone who is new in their career or lacking a network. This is someone with a master’s degree, experience leading teams, and decades in the workforce. It made me ask why it took so long. Why was the process so hard? And what has changed?

The Bureau of Labor Statistics says that the United States added 139,000 jobs in May 2025, and the unemployment rate was unchanged at four percent2. If that’s the case, then what are we missing?

I think the answer to this may fall across a variety of areas, but those of us with jobs can do more to help our colleagues—and in doing so, will help ourselves in the future.

Networking: This can be a hard task. We all have colleagues and friends at work, but at the end of the day, that network needs to remain nourished after you leave a role. The best jobs go to those in your network. But I find people often neglect their network until they need it. Too often, colleagues who reach out to me to learn more about a role at my company or to connect say that they have reached out to many others and no one returns their calls. Are we really at the point that when you have worked with someone for years, you can’t take 30 minutes out of your day to connect with them?

Even if you can’t help them get a job, just the connection, the time, is meaningful to help them on their journey, to keep up their spirits, to instill hope founded in the respect of years worked together. We need to do more. It is time we looked at such connections with a sense of pride; these are people who are reaching out to you because they admire you, trust you, and need your help. We can do better to help them, because we may one day be in the same position and need that helping hand from someone else.

Outreach: Most companies have between 10 and 100 open roles at any one time. The problem they face is that only the recruiter and hiring manager are looking for talent. Why aren’t you? In every company, someone has said, I wish we had better talent. When those roles are advertised, what action are you taking to fill them? Once a month, look at the open roles in your company and think about who you know.

Bringing great people into your company, even if they are not on your team, will make a positive impact on the bottom line. A few short emails to reach out help those who are looking, and you may even grab someone who is employed but ready to make a move. There is nothing to lose. If you are good at your job, those you bring in will be at a similar caliber and help to drive the organization forward.

Sharing: When you get your job, after all that hard work, please tell your network how. Share it on LinkedIn, tell the friend who is still looking, I promise you will not ruin it. By the time you are looking again, the formula will have changed. Early in my career, I met people in person to drop off resumes; later, LinkedIn was the place for jobs; now I see 500 people reply to a job there in the first 30 minutes it is online, so where are we headed next? Gatekeeping the information keeps good people out of the workforce who just may not be looking in the right places.

Share your secrets. Share your hacks. Once you land a gig, spend time with a few of your peers and walk them through your process. Post it in a blog, tweet, podcast, or email. The job search process is evolving every day, and we need to share where it is headed and help others to get there.

We must remember that we need to help others when they ask, because at some point, we will need that same help. If someone has reviewed your resume, offer to do it for two other people and double the help that is out there. If someone connected you to a colleague, do the same for three of your colleagues and triple the strength of the network. Reflect on your own workplace and who you would love to work with again. I bet you are hiring, and I bet they would be glad to hear from you.

Reach out, share information, and help each other. We are all stronger together, and we all will have a time when we need help ourselves.