Earlier this year I decided to look into roles outside the company, just to see what was out there. The job market was plentiful. I received several job offers for more money than I’m making now but held off due to the potential of a promotion. Now, it seems the job market had dried up and for the last 2 months it’s hard to even get an interview. Has anyone else experienced this?
Is the financial sector waiting for the Schwab layoffs to happen before hiring?
Are we headed towards a recession?
10 replies (most recent on top)
It seems like it's dried up across many industries. I know at least 20 people looking at various career stages and we are all sharing the same outlook. I'm getting creative with my job applications and applying for entry-level in a field that seems fun. That way, if the money isn't there at least there might be some joy. My spouse and I had a long talk about what we would do if I got laid off when the layoffs were announced. Despite the frustrations of a long delay in hearing about it, if I do get cut, I was able to save. But with the job market I'm expecting to go back to bartending to make ends meet because it is rough out there.
It's a cold world out there, blood. Ain't that wut yos rite on 'em walls? Word. Word up. Aye. I say again. It's a cold world out there, blood.
If they don't do what they are doing they will lose their jobs. Well they may lose their jobs even after they do what they are doing.
The job market is tough. I last looked for a role that turned into my prior role at Schwab almost 5 years ago. Got it in less than a month and also got other interviews.
Now in almost 6 months of looking for a new role, I’ve gotten a handful of interviews, very long delays hearing back if I make it to the next round and mostly rejections or mostly not hearing back at all. I even reduced salary expectations and heard back from a couple more opportunities. This is the toughest market I have seen. Anyone at Schwab who hasn’t started looking for another role is going to have a really hard time if they get laid off. The day of the RTO announcement was a little late to start. So now it’s pretty late. I hope anyone who is looking has a better time than this.
Everything I’ve said here is similar to what I’m hearing from friends at other companies in America and other parts of the world, tech and non-tech. Whether the economy actually does go into an official recession, companies are sure creating an environment preparing for it or making it a self-fulfilling prophecy by causing it. Either way, it is tough out there. Most people can expect to take maybe 6 months or more to land a new role.
I’m mentally prepared for longer and have been focusing on saving cash in a high yield savings account. I’m up to six months of expenses that I can stretch to 8-9 months before severance. I hope everyone else is as prepared as you can be.
Unfortunately, the EC is doing what they are because they can. When the market was in favor of employees during the pandemic, they made a big show of forgoing their bonuses and giving many a 5% raise on top of regular annual raises. Now we are seeing the flip side of that.
@ida+1oRz7SRF
Adding to my post, some people here might not be marketing themselves and just be blindly sending off resumes. Some advice for those people:
Think about when you are hiring a contractor to do some work on your house ("Wa wa, we dont own a house because greedy capitalism." If you have this argument then think about shopping for an item or hiring a contractor for something else). Let's say I want a new kitchen. Are you going to hire any contractor or are you going to hire the one who is looking at your situation and marketing to that? Same with applying to jobs. I could just say I'm a developer and send off my resume to every job or I could tailor my resume to the role and sell my services on the points they are looking for. For example: They are really interested in someone who is knowledgeable in improving performance of databases and their services. I will copy paste the language from their job description and market the experiences I have with optimizing the performance of stored procedures and some of the performance improvements I made on services. Another company might be more interested in someone who is knowledgeable in Agile, testing, etc. I will sell more of my experience with this stuff. Another thing is you should add the technology they are looking for to your resume. If you haven't used it then write something like "Java (like C#)" as an example if you know Java. Show the companies that you have what they are looking for and copy paste their language to get past ATS (Applicant tracking system).
Also, don't waste time on cr-ppy jobs that use Workday. Only apply to a job that uses Workday if it is one you really want.
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@sss+1oRz7SRF
Applying for jobs is always difficult. Not arguing that and a lot of people here graduated in 2021 and had an easy job market. I started looking in early 2022 and accepted an offer with Schwab midway through 2022. The market was difficult then but it does seem more difficult now. I am starting to see more and better roles from when I initially started looking after RTO was announced but still aren't many options.
It could also be our roles. I work in STS and have limited experience so it is more difficult to find a job. If you have some experience and are in a role that is being seeked out rather than cut by companies, it will be easier.
My experience is that the market is strong. I have received two offers and three other firms wanted to bring me in for a later stage/final interview. I have read on this board "the job market is brutal, tough etc"; Having worked as consultant for many years, I have had to find work many times throughout my career. The job market is always "brutal"; you always experience some negative emotions in the process until you accept that coveted offer and you are on your way. I don't think this market is any different than the average market between 2010 - 2020. I think we had two "anomaly" markets due to the pandemic: the "great resignation of 2021 (jobs everywhere), then a cooling off after the war started in Europe in 1Q 2022 and inflation started going through the roof and suddenly everyone was terrified of a deep recession. 2nd half of 2023 is back to the way it was through 2010 - 2020, IMHO. As Abraham Lincoln once remarked: "the harder you work, the luckier you get"
_Is the financial sector waiting for the Schwab layoffs to happen before hiring?_
Don't flatter Schwab. Nobody is sitting around waiting for our layoffs to begin hiring.
We already are in a recession.
It is dependent on role really. I too have been fiercely applying since June. My role isnt engineering, or finance or anything like that. I know some folks here flexed that they have PLENTY of jobs coming in when most folks are experiencing the opposite.
There are tons of reasons for this, like most HR folks in hiring positions dont really know what they are looking for. Or jobs are being posted due to legal requirements with no intent of even interviewing someone (pay transparency act rule). Not to mention companies just totally lost in what they want, i made it to the final round of an interview for a remote position then was told i didnt get it (no feedback on why provided), a day later the job was reposted as being on-site in a totally different state...so..lot of cr-p coming into play
it isnt an easy market right now for a lot of reasons for most folks. it really is a numbers game now. I've had some luck applying for a role, and then doing research on linkedin to message who i think would be a hiring manager.
Your pain is shared OP, best of luck to all of us