In the three weeks Marcus Greely has been job looking, he’s submitted 39 job purposes, had two preliminary telephone calls with potential employers and a number of other casual networking chats. So far, that’s it.
The just lately laid-off tech sector recruiter is targeted on extra networking, and much more job purposes.
“I’m just throwing as many darts at the board as I can,” the 38-year-old Minneapolis, Minn. resident stated. “I know I am going to have to apply for a ton of jobs before I find something.”
Is he nervous after the layoff from his senior-level job, a primary in his profession? Slightly, he admits. Is he pissed off? Definitely not. Greely stated he stays “cautiously optimistic.”
“On average, it’s a good time to be a job seeker,” he stated.
The blowout jobs report Friday confirmed the financial system added 517,000 jobs in January, almost triple the forecasted 187,000 acquire. Meanwhile, the quantity of job openings in December reached a five-month excessive, based on information launched Wednesday.
“‘I know I am going to have to apply for a ton of jobs before I find something.’”
Two current surveys additionally paint a extra sanguine view. Nearly two-thirds of Americans (64%) stated it’s a great time to discover a high quality job, up from 62% in November, based on Gallup.
Almost half of shoppers (48%) say jobs have been “plentiful” in January, up two proportion factors from December, based on the Conference Board’s newest learn on client confidence. Slightly fewer folks (11.3%) in January stated jobs have been onerous to get, down from 11.9% in December.
This optimism in regards to the labor market is likely to be learn as a disconnect provided that the Conference Board additionally famous that client confidence slipped in January as folks fear a few potential recession. Not to say the layoffs within the tech sector: 86,000 world technology-sector workers have already been laid off within the first few weeks of 2023.
But the well being of the job market will not be a “one size fits all” proposition. Job hunters could must take go on one or two further interviews as employers take a “more measured” strategy to hiring, stated Paul McDonald, senior government director at Robert Half International
RHI,
the worldwide staffing firm geared at white-collar work. “But the jobs are still there, and people are still being hired,” he stated.
The January jobs report reaffirmed that perspective, McDonald stated. “It’s still very much a tight, candidate-driven market.”
“There are different stories for different companies — and different stories for different industries,” Nick Bunker, an economist at Indeed.com, stated in an interview with MarketWatch forward of Friday’s numbers. “But overall, the data shows the U.S. labor market is very strong.”
Taking Friday’s jobs report into consideration, employers have added a median 356,000 jobs month-to-month for the previous three months in “a juggernaut” of a jobs market, Bunker famous. The jobless charge, at 3.4%, “dropped to a level not seen since before Neil Armstrong stepped on the moon” in 1969.
“The burning question remains: how long can this strength endure?” Bunker added.
Marcus Greely: ‘I know I am going to have to apply for a ton of jobs before I find something.’
Courtesy Marcus Greely
Keeping perspective
The Federal Reserve raised a key rate of interest for the eighth consecutive time on Wednesday in its battle towards inflation. Fed Chairman Jerome Powell stated the financial system might deal with it. “Despite the slowdown in growth, the labor market remains extremely tight,” Powell stated.
In the rebound and reshuffle after the pandemic’s darkest days, corporations have been including jobs at a fever pitch. After the financial system misplaced 20.5 million jobs in April 2020, employers added shortly staff when the financial system opened again up once more. In October 2020, it added 719,0000 jobs and in October 2021, it added 781,000 extra, based on the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
To examine the present job market to 2020, 2021 and 2022 warps perspective, Bunker stated. “Even good times would look horrendous, if you use that baseline. Those are not normal times.”
At Indeed.com, January job postings are down greater than 4% month over month. But they’re nonetheless roughly 40% increased than February 2020, Bunker famous. Some roles have been tougher hit than others — together with HR-related jobs, Bunker stated.
When corporations sluggish hiring, they want fewer folks to seek out and handle personnel, he famous. Human-resources job postings at Indeed.com are down 39% on a yearly foundation whereas software program growth posts are down 43% in the identical time.
“It is tough if you’re a talent acquisition professional now,” Greely stated. “I’m now competing with the same types of professionals nationwide.”
Overall, American-based employers have introduced almost 103,000 layoffs in January alone, based on the outplacement agency Challenger, Gray & Christmas. That’s 440% increased than the quantity of layoffs introduced one yr earlier, the agency famous.
“Marcus Greely is broadening his search beyond the tech sector.”
Big identify tech layoffs seize a variety of media consideration, Bunker stated. The checklist contains Microsoft
MSFT,
IBM
IBM,
Google
GOOG,
Meta
META,
Amazon
AMZN,
and Twitter.
But there are different corporations making an attempt to take care of their present workforce and really add employees he stated — they embrace Walmart
WMT,
which is elevating employee pay, or Chipotle
CMG,
which plans so as to add 15,000 new staff. (Walmart reduce 200 company jobs final August, however the firm has about 2.3 million workers worldwide.)
It’s a brand new yr and lots of corporations have simply put their permitted hiring budgets into motion, stated Robert Half’s McDonald.
Some of the usual job-searching guidelines nonetheless apply, he famous. People with jobs should be discreet if they’re searching, and other people out of labor ought to be aware of their worth of networking as they comb by postings, he stated. “That puts you in a different realm,” he stated.
One wrinkle revolves round distant work. Before the pandemic, the capability for a versatile schedule was a “nice to have,” McDonald stated. Increasingly, many job seekers now regard it as a “must have,” he stated. “It’s almost table stakes.”
In Greely’s efforts to differentiate himself, he’s purposely eyeing jobs with hybrid, on-site work expectations. Job listings for purely distant work within the talent-acquisition discipline can shortly get loaded with a whole lot of jobs purposes, he stated.
As somebody who’s tried sifting by greater than 500 resumes for anybody function, Greely is aware of how daunting it may be for employers to seek out the correct individual and for candidate to shine out.
Another a part of Greely’s technique is broadening his search to recruiting work past the tech sector, which now leaves him feeling “a little skittish.” That contains healthcare, manufacturing, banking, retail, building and extra, he stated.
Friday’s jobs report gave Greely some reassurance, he stated. The robust numbers have additionally inspired him to look exterior jobs linked to know-how and software program corporations. Meanwhile, he added, there’s additionally loads of non permanent contract recruiting work available.
“I am open to any industry, essentially, at this point.”
Source web site: www.marketwatch.com
