What Happened to the Job Market in 2024?

Is the job market really as terrible as we are all thinking? Well, for those who haven't adjusted to the "new normal" it absolutely is, but getting a job is possible with the right changes to your approach. Most people are still sitting for hours in front of their computer every day and wondering why no one is reaching back out to them after hundreds (or for some, even thousands) of applications.

What Happened to the Job Market? The 2023 Economic Report stated that we had 2.0 jobs available per unemployed worker. We are no longer in that position in America. In 2024 there are now only 1.3 jobs available per unemployed worker. Add to this that a lot of the Tech Bubble has popped, and just within the last year several major companies have laid off thousands of people in Tech and many other industries nationwide.

The addition of AI has caused several companies to turn to software instead of human solutions. Add to this the massive inflation that we are all feeling as Americans, along with the fact that most businesses have spent their Covid Grant Money that was designed to get people back to work, and employers are now being incredibly choosy with who and even if they want to hire. All is not lost however, and there is still hiring going on across the country every day. The trick is to avoid the pitfalls that most people are falling into when trying to get hired. Most people are making some common mistakes that we are going to try to show you how to avoid.

1. Stop spending all of your time on one job site, there are dozens, and for no longer than a single day per week should you devote to just one site. Spread your applications around.
2. Get all the weird symbols, lines, and formatting off of your resume. Use the plain free Microsoft Word Templates that is just text and bullets. Most people don't know that anything else will cause most Applicant Tracking Systems to put your resume in the "does not match" category.
3. Every job you should apply for should also be followed by a connection on LinkedIn with someone with hiring capacity in the company. Both Connect and Message them.
4. Speaking of LinkedIn , if you are looking for a job, you should be posting here daily on topics important to your profession to brand yourself as an expert.
5. Networking is really important and undervalued by most people. Every person in your phone or that you have ever worked with is a source of a lead to a possible job.

You can see here that spreading your approach around, and not just raw applying, is necessary to land the right role in 2024, going into 2025 until the economy changes again.

For more free resources including Resume Templates and Cover Letter Templates for all levels, go to www.mattrieck.com for free resources.

If you are an employer who is struggling to keep people and you want help retaining your best employees, check out my new book The Employee Retention Bible, which is available on Amazone here: https://amzn.to/4fHfIKG

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