Some degree of this has been going on a long time. I remember this from @1991-92, the days of the “peace dividend”.
The best response is not to hold out for the perfect fit, but take a lower level position of any sort and either try for promotion, get hired by a vendor or business partner, or just keep looking all the while.
I remember this from @1991-92, the days of the “peace dividend”.
Yes, those years were rough for me.
Good advice. I witnessed what you described happening at that time (post 15 above). More than 200 applicants with college degrees applied for a job I already held without a degree after working my way up.
Good luck with that. A friends daughter graduated in May with a masters degree. She's applied for well over two dozen roles marked as "entry level" in her field and interviewed for about a dozen of them.
Keep in mind, these are ENTRY LEVEL! Each time she was turned down, she was told she didn't have enough experience.
WTF is entry level for then?!
I once interviewed for a job in a small company as the bookkeeper. Owner was a hyper type-—who was all over the map & hard to please-—especially when he didn’t know squat about accounting. (AND he was an expert at interrupting me over nothing when I was working.)
I wanted $XX for an hourly pay. He didn’t want to pay that much. I said: I will work for you for ONE week.
IF at the end of that week, IF you think I cannot handle the job-—I will leave & you do NOT owe me anything.
IF you want me to stay-—I get what I am asking & I get a raise of $1 an hour—at least—in 60 days or less.
I did stay-—He gave me raises before 60 days-—
Then the fool kept badgering me to get involved with his “PYRAMID” schemes. I was the only holdout... He finally fired me in a fit of anger when I told him NO for about the 70th time.
He didn’t get as good a bookkeeper after that.
I didn’t go back, either.