Tuesday Tea-Time: Our Current Job Market and How it Affects Applying for Jobs

with: Blue People Ginseng Oolong

Author

Radhika Paliwal
April 30, 2024 • Estimated Reading Time: 6 minutes

Welcome to this month’s tea-time Tuesday! As I write this, I’m drinking this new tea one of my dear friends got me called ‘Blue People Ginseng Oolong’. It is quite literally the coolest tea leaves I’ve ever seen. The dried tea leaves expand as they touch hot water. There is a beautiful sweet, complex, earthy taste to the leaves which is fabulous. The best part - you can use the same tea leaves up to 8 times without the flavor going away!!

As I’m sipping on this wonderful ginseng oolong tea, I want to talk to all of you about our current macro-economic situation and how it’s affecting the job market.

First of all, a big sigh and a big ‘ugh’ in disgust of how many layoffs there have been in the last few years. It’s really quite unfortunate the state of the economy last few years. Let’s look at some facts:

This chart below is pulled from the Bureau of Labor Statistics directly. You can see how the unemployment rate has pretty much stayed the same since March of 2023. Reading further into the report, the number of total unemployed people is currently sitting at 6.4 million in March 2024. That’s INSANE.

A majority of these layoffs unfortunately have been in the tech industry. In 2023: More than 191,000 workers in U.S.-based tech companies (or tech companies with a large U.S. workforce) were laid off in mass job cuts. Look at the below chart from TechCrunch showing layoffs only within the technology sector.

What sucks is that in 2024, things aren’t looking that much better either. Here are the tech layoff numbers from the last 3 months:

☹️ 

These are straight facts on the state of the economy. So why do I bring this up & want to talk about it?

Because:

I’ve personally seen my friends, peers, and coworkers affected by these layoffs. To the larger companies, they might be just numbers, but to the individual: it’s their life, family, career, future that’s being affected.

The question then becomes: what do you do if you still have a job? And what do you don’t have a job and you were affected by the layoffs?

Luckily, the answer to both of those questions is the same: you HAVE to differentiate yourself!

There’s no other way around it. You need to be different, unique in your own way. Specialized in some manner (technical or business). On top of that, you have to be able to show your value because of your uniqueness.

Being the ‘average joe’ just doesn’t cut it anymore.

So here are 4 different concrete things you can do to differentiate yourself:

  1. Be Known For Something

    • This is where personal branding comes into play. Leverage all the tools at your fingertips to build your online & in-person presence. If you’re just starting out, your goal is to just be known for something (anything! it really doesn’t matter).

    • In terms of looking for a job or elevating to your next career move, some examples to build your brand are: around your industry, your role, your thought leadership, etc.

    • An example of this is: she’s Radhika vs. she’s the one with a newsletter for high achievers.

  2. Skill Up

    • Learning truly never stops. I work with people who’ve been in the same industry for 20+ years. The industry itself evolves as technology evolves.

    • The biggest way to ensure you’re staying on top of the current technology and showing your current/future employer you’re the right person is by leveling up your skills. This is through certifications, courses, etc.

    • Large corps have a TON of learning resources available. Otherwise, there are a ton of free resources, groups, learning circles you can join for free

      • LinkedIn is a great way to start!

  3. Create Deeper/More Meaningful Connections

    • Many people just ‘send a connection request’ to ‘expand their network’. This is the exact kind of network that is meaningless. You want to have a meaningful network.

    • Next time you’re showing up to an event or sending a connection request, be sure to take the extra time to get to know the other person and share a bit more about yourself.

  4. Show Up in Creative Ways

    1. Think back to the last time you showed up to an interview - how did it go? Did you do anything exceptional or just answer a bunch of questions?

    2. You have to be able to show up in creative ways. I can’t remember the last time I had a ‘regular’ interview.

    3. Some examples of being creative and exceptional are:

      1. Creating a presentation on your background and your future goals

      2. Submitting a video before the interview to showcase your skills

      3. Creating a website to display your experience, resume, and any other projects you’ve worked on

    4. The point is you want people to remember you. “The candidate who submitted a video - that was great.” orrr be the guy with the bowtie. Do something exceptional or just different people remember you by.

It truly is an insane market right now and I wish you all the best in your career growth. I hope these tips were somewhat beneficial (they certainly have helped me excel) and feel free to reply back with comments/questions/etc.

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