I’ve been watching the job situation in my region and field since 2008, when I had my own difficulties and had to shut my company down, took a job with a customer at a substantial pay reduction, but it’s worked out reasonably well.
What I’m seeing in the Piedmont region of North Carolina, in the advertising, marketing and graphics field, is a lot of fairly high end jobs going wanting and a lot of grossly underpaid entry to midlevel positions. Looks to me as if staff reductions have resulted in very odd skillset requirements that few would have had occasion to acquire, they’re wanting to hire three or four distinct disciplines rolled into one individual, right off the bat. Pay’s good, $60k on up to low 100’s, but they’re not getting filled.
Then, you have the bottom fishers, looking to hire marketing directors with a more realistic skillset, for $14.00 an hour. These disappear quickly, they’re being taken out of despiration, and imho being taken advantage of, just a weird employment picture here, sort of surreal.
Just as you say my experience in that is that they want some sort of magical jack of all trades type people, proficient in what are sometimes disparate skill sets and I wonder are they just overstating or do they really think these people exist?