What is the economy/job market REALLY like?

In My Humble Opinion
1

So here’s my situation (I imagine I am far from alone) –

I’m working at a job that I don’t particularly like. I used to have a great job – I loved the company, the people, the pay… then they went out of business (sigh). I was unemployed for a little over a year before I got this job. Obviously, I was overjoyed at getting it. But it’s boring, unchallenging, and I swear it’s turning my brain to mush.

I am terrified of looking for another job. I do NOT want to end up unemployed again, but my job is reaching the point now where I really need to find an alternative, or it will drive me insane.

I can listen to the radio, read the paper, etc. and get a feel for all of the key economic indicators, but I’m interested in what people who are actually out there and dealing with these things on a day-to-day basis think.

I am a software engineer, I’ve got all kinds of experience, although I prefer server and UNIX-y stuff (which is not what I’m doing at the moment).

Anybody looking for a job in this field? How’s it going? Looking for a job in a different field? I’m still curious.

I’m in the Washington, DC area, but I’d love to hear opinions from other parts of the country and world as well.

2

I just got a job with a software company in the Boston area after a solid year-long search. It is really, really tough to get a tech job now. Most positions are attracting literally several hundred mostly qualified applicants. Many of those formerly in IT are switching careers because of it. I only got this job because I know the CEO from a former company and he liked me.

Give it a try if you want but don’t get your hopes up. On the other hand, you might get lucky the first day.

One tip: The days when you could just throw a resume on Monster and get calls are long gone. That just doesn’t happen anymore. You will have to fight hard for every nibble and lead.

3

The job market pretty much sucks right now, especially in NYC.

New York is at about 8.6% unemployment. I went to a job fair last week and there were 5 companies. One had a line of maybe 500 people all waiting in line to drop off their resume. The one company that called me back was some bullshit 100% commission gig.

I had a phone interview today with some technology consulting firm. I’ll probably have to take the offer if they give it to me but I really don’t want to do that type of work anymore.

If your job is that boring, look around for another one, but don’t quit.

4

Bad all around, especially if you’re in the tech market.

And companies know it. So expect a lot less from them.

5

It’s not good.

Do not quit without having another offer. I work with networks (Cisco), have done so for almost a decade, I’ve got qualifications out the wazoo, enthusiastic references and I spent well over six months full-time job-hunting before I even got an interview for a position as part-time CCNA night class teacher.

I landed full-time employment - it’s networking, all right, but somewhat under my skill (and pay) level, and night shift - after sending out about 130 resumes.

It’s not nice out there these days.

6

Well TeleTronOne, it is tough going out there now. Take comfort in knowing that you aren’t the only one who feels trapped. Take heed that it probably won’t get better anytime soon.

I would advise you to get some additional training to set you apart from your peers and make contacts in any and every way possible, no matter how uncomfortable it seems!

And don’t forget that all it takes is one job to turn it all around, so don’t beat yourself up. Good luck!

7

The market is crap in London (as far as I kn0w).

In my area, IT audit & consulting, there’s very little out there in a historically free-for-all market.

Even temp agencies are refusing to take on new temps - it’s that bad, you can’t even get registered for temporary office work.

8

Yipes. To clarify - I got this job about a year ago. I knew from the outset that I wasn’t going to be in love with it, but was hoping things would have turned around a little more by the time it started to get unbearable. Looks like things haven’t improved at all since I was last unemployed.

I’ve recently become rather enamoured with the rocket scientist career path, but I’m hardly qualified and do not have the means to go back to school for several years in order to reach that goal. Additionally, after having dealt with unemployment and being a starving college student in the past, I’m not exactly eager to go back.

To all those unemployed still looking for work - good luck! Been there, done that, will avoid it like the plague in the future. You have my heartfelt sympathies.

And to everybody who has posted so far - thanks! And keep 'em coming, I’m still interested in all the little tidbits of information I can get. (I’m sort of keeping my fingers crossed that somebody will say “Hey! Down here in the Bahamas, there’s sooo many jobs we don’t know what to do with them! Why don’t you come down?” :slight_smile: ).

9

Frankly, the job market here in central North Carolina is shitty. I couldn’t even get interviews for crappy retail and food service jobs, much less any of the more skilled things I have qualifications and experience for.

One thing I really noticed was the degree of speficity employers were demanding. It wasn’t at all unusual to see postings demanding an incredibly specific degree and 5-7 years experience for entry-level jobs. To steal from my husband, if they’re looking for someone to shovel goat shit into barrels, you need a degree in manure management, and 3 years experience shoveling goat shit into barrels. The degree cannot be in animal husbandry or fecal technology. It must be in manure management. Your experience must include goat shit. Not horse shit, or cow shit, or rhino shit, or dog shit, but goat shit. Also, your shoveling experience should include barrels. Not shoveling into piles or wheelbarrows or wagons, but barrels.

My post-move job search was a long, bad time.

10

I think tech is bad everywhere. All kinds of places are cutting employees, moving positions overseas, or demanding 10 years of experience and the willingness to work for free.

11

Interestingly enough…

The economy in our state is horrendous…except in the Fargo-Moorhead area. For some reason, tons of people from other states are drawn to Fargo, possibly because the city legislature has been so adept at drawing hi tech industries.

However, the last six months have changed matters greatly. Every company in town is looking for entry-level employees while all the higher up spots either seem to be taken, or have catered to individuals who are given an “inside track” at receiving the job.

I was, too, stuck at a job where I didn’t see any career potential…at least in areas which I was interested. I stuck with my company, though, and let my supervisors know what my ambitions were (and my ambitions do not involve power).

About three months ago, a great job opportunity crossed my path. I put in my application, gave my interview, and waited with apprehension. I am still awaiting a response from the interview (I was told that it would take until mid-April until all of the interviews had been conducted).

I openly communicated the situation with my employer. Not because I respect the company…because I respect my immediate supervisors. Then, about two months ago (at the same time I went to the Twin Cities for my interview), I got a promotion opportunity. It was an opportunity that would not only challenge the skills which I have honed (typing/writing), but also offered a significant increase in pay.

I jumped on the opportunity as an effort to keep all channels open…and in the last two months, I have been well rewarded.

Furthermore, I was well rewarded in the fact that I pursued another avenue without giving up hope for the track I was already on.

I hope this works out…if I do get the other job, I’m not quite sure what I’ll do. However, as I stated before, it is good to keep as many choices open as possible. After seeing several of my friends laid off in teh past few months, I have come to realize how valuable my steady job is.

12

Tech? I don’t know.

Mrs. Z has been looking for a ad-min (administrative assistant) job for a while. She went to a flower shop that she knew was looking for someone. The placed a want in the paper ONE DAY. By the end of the next day they had over 300 applicants. That’s for a $17 an hour admin job.

Good luck!

13

I just hired a mid level manager. Ran the ad for one weekend. Got at least 100 responses. At least 5 of those were from CEO/CFO/President of company types. It scared the shit out of me.

I told more than one person that I am feeling more grateful about having a job I like these days.

The jobs are out there, but it is an employers market.

14

I’m glad to be riding this market out working part-time and working on my degree. All my friends who are just out of college are doing much worse than I am, ironically enough.

15

It’s crappy here in Denver. Jobs are only posted one day a week (in the Sunday paper) and temp agencies aren’t taking new people. I feel lucky to have had several interviews, as each job I’ve interviewed for has had between 200 and 500 applicants, sometimes IN ONE DAY. I even had two second interviews. Unfortunately, in both cases, I was the one not picked. I’m lucky that I got a temp job to help pay the bills while I look for full-time employment. Also luckily, my test scores for a state job I applied for 2 months ago were good, so they said they’re going to call me for an interview. I figure I have a pretty good shot at it, since there are 2 jobs and maximum 6 people being called. But I don’t want to count any chickens pre-hatching, especially since the state of Colorado is in such dire straits, financially.

My advice to you? Don’t try to look for a job out of state; no matter how qualified you are, they won’t bother calling you. Stay in your area. Make contacts with people in your industry. It doesn’t hurt to put feelers out. I wish you luck. Having lived in the Bay Area during the dot-com boom (and subsequent major bust), I knew a lot of people in your position.

16

Allow me to add some fuel to the no jobs fire.

The Bush Administration is doing its damndest to reduce the federal workforce. (Hooray some of you are saying.)

Keep in mind there will be no costs savings (it will get worse for taxpayers) and there will be no customer service benefits (it will get worse). Instead Bush will gloat he’s reduced the federal workforce and put tax dollars into his business friends pockets. Those jobs may be contracted out and replaced by contractors making less money, fewer benefits and little say about their jobs. In short, the contractor federal workforce will be beholding to politics to keep their jobs. No more duty to the taxpayers.

How many federal employees? The target is somewhere between 400,000 and 800,000 may lose their jobs starting between October 1 and December 1 this year.

17

Well, I can’t find jack shit in biology (which isn’t your field, teletron, but it’s mine), unless I have a graduate degree or several years of experience (which I don’t). So, like you, I’m suck in a mind-numbing job that I hate, desperately hoping the job market cheers up a bit.

Best of luck to all looking for work in an uncertain economy.

18

No, no, I meant I’m stuck in a mind-numbing job.

Not suck.

Though it DOES suck.

19

Unless you want to work in a lousy tourist-industry job, it’s bad in western North Carolina. Benefits? Living wage? It is to laugh. And since so damn many people want to retire/summer here, housing costs are crazy, too.

20

I’ve been looking for a software engineering position, and I just got back from a career fair at a local company. This is sad. They hire everyone at entry-level (even though I was a Principal SW Engineer), paying mid-20s to mid 30s. The justification for this is that you have to be “retrained” on their proprietary OS and language. The “positive” side is they promote from within, so within 3-5 years you could be making upwards of 50K. :rolleyes:

Cripes, I made their starting salary 10 years ago; no wonder I never hear back from them when they get my résumé! I’d actually consider working there, as it seems a nice place to work, but my wife would never let me work for that kind of money.

Sigh…this is all just so depressing…