This job market is freezing out white collar professionals

Five minutes on LinkedIn it is clear that the job market for most professionals is nothing less than maddening and frustrating. 

There are stories of job seekers submitting hundreds of applications, going through rigorous interviewing processes, and then dealing with inexcusable ghosting. 

Professionals who have decades of experience and impressive credentials are shell-shocked as, never in their entire careers, have they had such a hard time finding a job.

The job-market data doesn’t make sense

How employers and employees are dealing with the current job market

According to an Atlantic article published earlier this month, employers are taking a very conservative approach to hiring. Companies are sitting still. And, consequently, so are their employees. 

This has led the pace of hiring to slow considerably. The last time hiring was this slow was shortly after the Great Recession in 2008/2009. 

Employers are feeling cautious in an environment of higher interest rates, geopolitical turmoil, and now tariff threats. 

With employers not hiring, few opportunities open up for movement. Employees have nowhere to go.

Which workers are most impacted by the slowdown

Unfortunately this is being seen the most with white collar professionals. 

According to an analysis from Julia Pollak, the chief economist at ZipRecruiter, hiring in almost every non-professional sector, including construction, retail, and leisure and hospitality, is down significantly relative to pre-pandemic levels. 

Among the hardest-hit professions, have been professional (white-collar) jobs. These are usually protected during downturns. Professional sectors including architecture, accounting, law, and consultants—actually lost net jobs over the past two years.

So until stability returns in a consistent fashion, employers will likely remain in a wait-and-see mode.

How to job search in this tough market

Despite this negative outlook, it’s not a hopeless situation. There is still movement but not at levels seen during normal times. A job search today will require a different approach. The application submission route is proving less fruitful. Instead of doing more of that, make efforts to expand your connections and interactions with the teams that are hiring. 

Connect with your first degree connections and let them know what your career goals are and what your target opportunity looks like. Be as specific as you can.

Then ask them if they can introduce you to anyone in or around this space (industry, role, target company, etc.). Often there are hidden surprises in networking. It may be a perfect introduction or a great lead. 

For targeted contacts out of reach of your immediate network, get creative in your attempt to connect. Learn what you can about the target contact and attempt making contact in unconventional ways like commenting on their LinkedIn posts. Or craft an email outreach with a highly personalized message introducing yourself. Be sure your message shows you’ve done your homework on them. Ask an engaging question or highlight a point of commonality between you too.  

For the immediate future the path forward for new job opportunities will likely be harder than usual. But the less frustrating path forward will be through showing up one-to-one through direct and targeted communication.

Wrap-up

This job market is not normal. It is responding to factors that are outside anyone’s immediate control and it may persist for some time. Given this, you’ll need to switch up strategies. As a savvy job seeker, you should focus on reigniting your existing network and expanding from it. This is where the choicest jobs will be discovered and ultimately filled. Be sure to be there.