When Does Reality Kick In? When We Realize How Screwy Today’s Job Market Is

I’VE BEEN SAYING THIS for a few months now: the job market is screwy and not nearly as good as everyone — especially the president — has been saying it is.

I’m not as plugged into the recruiting and hiring space as I was for the past 20 years, but even I can hear the drumbeat about how hard it is to find a decent job.

Earlier this month, The Wall Street Journal tried to explain what is going on in a story titled Why It’s Hard to Get Hired Despite Glowing Jobs Reports. As usual, the subhead cut to the heart of it all — “Job seekers say getting hired is deceptively hard, and recruiters agree that qualified candidates are often passed over.”

WSJ reporter Callum Borchers described it like this:

“I hear from a lot of white-collar workers on the job hunt who say it’s much harder to get hired than the unemployment numbers make it sound. They complain about hiring managers who ghost them and draw out the interview process. They say job listings linger on companies’ career pages and never get filled. Or get reposted repeatedly.

It’s enough to make people who are between jobs question whether businesses are serious about hiring. … Recruiters acknowledge the uncertain outlook is a factor and even say some jobs advertised are fake, designed to give the impression of company growth or build a reservoir of résumés to tap at a later date. It is one thing not to get a job—it’s another to feel like you’re being gamed. And it’s wreaking havoc on people’s self-worth and belief in their career paths.”

Layoffs and job cuts

THAT WAS PUBLISHED the first week in May. Fast forward and take a look at these stories — all published this past week — and see if they connect the dots:

• Five biggest tech industry layoffs of 2024, so far  (From Yahoo Finance)
  • Key insight: “Mass layoffs across the technology sector have continued throughout 2024 following a tumultuous year of layoffs during 2023. According to online tracker, layoffs.fyi, job cuts have continued to plague the industry with over 81,000 employees laid off in 2024 already.”
• Indeed lays off 1,000 employees, citing “global slow-down” in hiring (From HR Dive)
  • Key Insight: “Indeed laid off approximately 1,000 employees Monday, or about 8% of the company, Indeed CEO Chris Hyams announced May 13 in a letter to employees, a move driven in part by ‘a global slow-down in hiring,’ the message said.“
• Walmart to Lay Off and Relocate Workers (From The Wall Street Journal)
  • Key Insight: “Like other companies, Walmart has gradually moved away from remote-work flexibility. It has also shrunk the number of smaller offices scattered around the country. Last year, it closed three tech offices and asked some staff to relocate to central corporate hubs.“
• 8 in 10 hiring managers have ghosted job candidates (From ResumeGenius.com)
  • Key Insight: “2024 has been a tough year so far, with more layoffs making the job market even trickier. As companies trim their budgets and reduce staff, a lot of people find themselves looking for work again and are facing more competition than ever. Add to the mix a surge in AI-generated resumes leading to a flood of applications, hiring managers are increasingly overwhelmed — making it tough for them to respond to everyone personally. As a result, ghosting has become more common, often leaving job seekers stuck in an unfortunate waiting period that leads nowhere.”

Doubts about government statistics

HERE’S MY TAKE: Despite all the clucking about how many jobs have been created over the past three years, real people are finding that it is tough to find a new job in today’s market.

There are a lot of caveats behind that statement, of course, but the reality today is that it’s hard to find a new job, as WSJ reporter Callum Borchers explained:

“After vying for talent with generous pay and work-from-home flexibility, companies have reasserted control over the employer-employee relationship. Bosses who preached self-care now squeeze maximum efficiency out of their teams and hold out for ‘perfect’ hires when they reluctantly agree reinforcements are needed. 

One in 50 American workers jumped from one company to another in March, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, among the lowest rates in three decades.

Some workers harbor serious doubts about the government’s statistics, backed by the fact that initial monthly payroll tallies have been way off at times. The number of jobs added in December was ultimately revised up by 34%, while an eye-popping January total turned out to be 27% smaller on review. 

Other workers who trust that Uncle Sam’s economists are acting in good faith still say you have to look under the top-line data to understand the dour mood in offices and the pervasive feeling that online job portals amount to nothing more than your résumé versus oblivion.”

So, what should you do? Well, a lot of the old job search rules still apply.

• If you have a job, hang on to it while you search for something new. It’s almost always easier to find a job when you have a job, and since getting hired is taking a lot longer now, staying employed is the smart play while you search for a new gig.
• Take a patient and realistic approach to your job search. Finding a new gig can be a full-time job in itself, and that’s hard to do when you are working long hours at your current one. Be patient and know that you’ll need to do your job search bit by bit in your off work hours,.
• Work your network and let those you trust know you’re looking. Putting out the word that you’re looking for a job not only expands your search ability, but it allows you to connect with people who know what you can do and can be an advocate for you with others.

The grass is always greener?

ONE LAST THING: Remember the old saying that “the grass is always greener on the other side?” Most everyone probably has a personal story about when that wasn’t the case.

I have found that you can jump too soon and come to later regret not staying with the old job. That’s because the more you know about something, the more you trend to focus on the aggravating things about it.

You don’t know about those kinds of things when you start a new job, but at some point, you realize that perhaps the new job isn’t as great as you thought, and, your old job wasn’t as bad as it seemed.

That’s life, of course, and the trick is to know how to tell one from the other BEFORE you ditch the old you know so well for the new that you don’t.

If you can figure that out, you’re probably smarter and savvier then 99.9% of the people out there, yours truly included.

Please let me know if you do. I’m all ears.

Other trends and insights 

And your latest dose of AI news … 

• Business locked in expensive AI “arms race” (From BBC.com)
• What Companies Don’t Know About How Workers Use AI (From HBR.org)
• AI isn’t coming for your job — at least not yet (From Fortune.com)
• Despite Urgent Need to Adopt HR Tech, Your Peers Are Cautious About AI (From HRMorning)
• It’s Time to Believe the AI Hype (From Wired.com)
• Google’s AI Overviews Are Here, Whether You Want Them or Not (From Wired.com)
• AI Can Really Mess Up Your Payroll (From Salary.com)
• 66% of leaders wouldn’t hire someone without AI skills, report finds (From ZDnet.com)

ALSO: I’m a sucker for good headlines, probably because I had to write them for all sorts of publications for many years. Here’s one from Fortune that grabbed me. It said — Gen Z is the most eager generation to retire early. Good luck with that. The crux of the story:  “Survey after survey finds that Gen Z is the most ambitious generation when it comes to early retirement, with some reports suggesting as much as 70% of the workforce’s youngest cohort would like to permanently clock out years — or even decades — early. But financial experts say Gen Zers who want to exit the workforce early are, to put it mildly, facing an uphill battle. …”

Loyal Readers: I’ve been writing this weekly wrap-up for 20 years — from Workforce.com to TLNT.com to Fuel50 and now here on The Skeptical Guy. It would help to know what you think, so email comments to me at  johnhollon@yahoo.com.