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Tech Hiring Is Terrible Now. What Happened?
The failing of a once-abundant job market in real time
The tech industry is finally cooling down. It might pick up again, but don’t count on it — AI might just replace you before it does. And if that wasn’t bad enough, companies are offshoring operations again while reporting record profits. Better upskill — that’s always a better option… right? Not quite, unless you agree with the idea that employers are just pushing the costs of training and time onto you while expecting you to meet their ever-increasing list of qualifications. It’s a collective race to the bottom — and unless you started at the top, you’ll always be at risk of being laid off again during the next cycle.
The nature of corporate tech
It’s a sad state of affairs for white-collar workers. Trends in hiring are pointing to an increased use of AI in job postings and the hiring process. Recruiters tend to ghost for no reason at all, and now “ghost jobs”, openings that aren’t really openings, make up almost 50% of all online postings.
We are becoming an increasingly digital society with much of our activity consisting of engaging with each other via the internet. That doesn’t mean that business will simply sit out and not notice this trend — they wanted a piece of the pie, and they got in on the action, too. The reality is that we simply haven’t seen this much online engagement in human history. The other side of this is that we are not prepared for what is coming — an increased need for direct social engagement in the midst of an artificial demand for digital engagement.
Here’s an example from my personal life.
The other day, I went to a job fair (because, like many of you, I have also been laid off and have been dealing with the job search). After speaking with a few hiring reps, I was told to “wait for a phone call, and to expect to hear from them” soon. The result? Crickets. I never heard from any of them. I was disappointed in their lack of communication — or so I thought. However, what I failed to realize at…
