Remote work 'shrinkage', job search patience, and a dash of Doomsday

Welcome back! Lots happening. The job market for remote workers is shrinking. Job searches are taking longer as the market cools, and more career-centered news and views to take a look at this week.

Before getting to the meat, first a little update on this newsletter.

Going forward for Career Forward

Typically, I've posted sporadically at best this last year.

Not through a lack of wanting to, but from a motivation standpoint I just didn't have it.

The usual format is more long form articles with deep dive perspectives, which I will continue.

But...

I'm going to mix in more editions, and more edition variety, and bump publishing frequency up to at least once a week, maybe twice a week on occasion (depending on available time and what I find in the news). Don't worry, I won't spam you.

The goal is to bring more consistent value to longtime and new subscribers.

What can you expect?

Likely the same consistency if not a little bump up for the thoughtful, longer pieces. These will be interspersed with more editions like this one where I'll pull interesting news items, posts from other LinkedIn members which I find valuable, and various interesting tidbits and nuggets that play into my areas of expertise and interest.

Expect new editions Thursdays at around 5:00pm PST (8:00pm EST, Friday 9:00am GMT+8, Friday 6:30am IST). Timing could change depending on reach, but I'll try to keep it international friendly.

If there's anything in particular you'd like to see from this newsletter in the future, I'm all ears. Let me know in the comments!

Now for that meat.

?? Honey, I Shrunk The Remote Job Listings

Seeing less full time remote job postings? Yeah, you're not alone.

The job market for permanent remote workers is shrinking. Significantly so. According to WSJ, "Remote jobs made up 13.2% of postings advertised on LinkedIn last month—down from 20.6% in March. Other job sites such as Indeed.com and ZipRecruiter also report declines in remote listings."

That's...a bummer. Hopefully a nice balance will be found.

Though it'd be nice to hear less ill-informed takes on remote work from the likes of those such as Jamie Dimon , who recently proclaimed from his porcelain soapbox, "Remote work doesn't work for bosses, young workers, or spontaneity." Just, no.

Curious as to the fields most likely to be hiring remote workers?

Try marketing. These roles in particular:

• Marketing Manager
• Channel Account Executive
• Sales Enablement Specialist
• Growth Marketing Manager

The ever insightful LinkedIn News team says these and many more of the roles in their latest Jobs on the Rise list are remote friendly, so not all hope is lost.

RELATED ?? Here's 5 reasons why companies should continue to support remote work

?Job searches are taking longer

Really not at all surprised that for unemployed Americans it is taking longer to land a new gig. All of the recent layoffs, particularly in tech, aren't helping matters either.

More layoffs = more competition for the same jobs = longer times to find new roles.

It isn't just a US trend. SEA tech is feeling the post-pandemic pinch as well, with their own waves of layoffs in the sector.

?? Worth your time

• Nice piece on Forbes by Jack Kelly around the recent spate of layoffs calling out a reminder that "You are not your job".
• Have an indifferent boss? Haven't we all at some point? This article by Octavia Goredema on how to not let an indifferent boss hold you back is on point.
• You've probably been doing battle with Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) without even knowing it. LinkedIn Learning has a solid short guide on how to tweak your resume to be more appealing to the ATS bot overlords who get a first pass at your resume.
• Red flags to keep an eye out for while you're interviewing for jobs. If you hear, "We work hard and play hard" when talking about company culture during an interview, well, you might want to ask a few more questions.
• 5 big mistakes recruiters and interviewers make during the interview process.
• When layoffs hit, tenure and age can often be a factor, as terrible as that sounds. Consider Google's recent cuts slashing many newly-promoted and long-tenured employees (IE, older). Age bias is unfortunately alive and well, so for the "older" workers out there looking for a new gig, its good to know going in what you're up against, like 38% of hiring managers in one survey admitting to reviewing resumes with an age bias.
• Then again, the Doomsday Clock was just set to 90 seconds to midnight, so who cares about finding a job if we're all just going to perish in the flames of an (AI?) apocalypse anyway, right? ˉ\_(ツ)_/ˉ?

• If you think the Doomsday Clock is silly (like me) and that maybe there's still a future for us all that doesn't look like a scene from Don't Look Up or The Last of Us (great show!), then use ChatGPT to write your resignation letter and learn about how to forge a career path in AI.
• Speaking of forging a career path using AI, BuzzFeed announced to staff the publisher will use ChatGPT creator OpenAi's generative AI for "both editorial and business operations."

?? If you could follow only one person this week...

• It should be job search expert and career coach Katelyn Richards as she consistently shares solid career advice, job search tips, and motivating career stories. Give her a follow.

?? Today's random but useful LinkedIn tip

• Post about what is interesting and compelling to YOU on LinkedIn. Don't pander. Start there and the rest will fall into place more often than not.

?? In case you missed it...

• Check out last week's edition of Career Forward (Subscribe!) on how generative AI will impact your career, cause it will.