IT Job Market: How well is it doing?
How well is the job Market doing?
Or a better question to ask is: How well if the job market doing for you?
The biggest parameter of success in selling anything is: Is there a demand for the product?
Simply put, no matter how great you are at selling something, if people don’t want it, they won’t buy it.
So when it comes to job search, you need to know if there is a demand for YOU.
Simply put, there are two important questions to ask:
Can you find matching roles on common channels like LinkedIn or Indeed?
Yes, on the common channels.
No, there is no hidden market - much to what career gurus are telling you.
A matching role means that THEY are actually looking for you. Read the description and preferred qualifications. Read between the lines:
Make sure that your industry, of course function, and what you have done are a good match.
The idea of "Transferrable skills" does not hold much value in this market.
And it'll continue to be this way for many years to come.
For example, if you were an Engineering Leader building internal applications for a bank, you can not just transfer to an e-commerce domain and make high-traffic web applications and services. They’d look for someone with ecommerce experience.
Are recruiters reaching out to you with roles that you’d like to transition to?
If either of this is the case, if you have seen some 3-5 well-matching roles in the last week or two, congrats, you’re lucky. You are in a great market.
Yep, 3-5, that’s it. For exec-level roles, that’s great, actually.
Couldn’t the market be better? Sure, but why bother with something that’s not in your control?
Problems around misreading the market usually arise because
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most people don’t have a feel for what their competition really looks like.
So, they don’t objectively pay attention to how selective companies can be.
Candidates often look from their own perspective: “Oh, even though I don’t have the experience doing this particular thing. I could learn that. It’s a transferrable skill”
The problem is that transferrable skills do not work in most cases for exec-level roles in a competitive field where tremendous talent is available
Think software engineering, data science and data engineering, Product and program management, IT leadership roles).
They’d likely not trust someone to come in and “learn” something new when they can just hire from that exact industry and domain.
And then, candidates often blatantly ignore this and come up with made-up beliefs like:
While at the end of the day: Most of these positions are being filled with straight forward sourcing on LinkedIn.
That said, though, if you do have a few roles that seem to be a strong match:
Then don’t just sit on those. Act.
Craft a compelling resume.
Connect with the hiring manager.
Tell them why you are a precise match in the simplest terms, clearly outlining how YOU can solve THEIR challenges. It doesn’t have to be fluffy. Keep it straight to the point.
This also means do not contact hiring managers if you are not a clear fit. Doing so will decrease your credibility.
Additionally define very clearly who you are and who you are not on your resume and LinkedIn, so recruiters are able to find you.
Focus your energy on making highly targeted applications, and you’ll start landing interviews.
Cheers, and all the best!