I've been a professional IT consultant for real close to 20 years. Never had a problem getting work lined up. Great references, great skills, willing to travel to where the job is to get work. DOZENS of people calling me with IT jobs when i was between contracts. Resonable salary.
Don't even get calls in the single digits now. Sent out hundreds of resumes and paid services to send out thousands more. I got back a handful of responses for jobs that I'm not qualified for. Done everything i've done for 20 years and can't get people to even talk about interviews, let alone getting hired.
Don't believe the ones above who tell ya that employment numbers aren't important and that outsourcing isn't importan and H1B "GUEST" visas aren't important.
They're ALL important. I'm coming out of denial now that I'm on the verge of losing the house that I've been putting my sweat and labor into for 7 years now. You bet its hurting the economy.
The ones who are denying that its happening are the ones who's employers simply haven't figured out how to outsource their jobs yet to find a way to get it done cheaper by some foreigner.
I'm looking at going from $45/hr to $10-15/hr. Thats going to hurt the taxbase and the economy since I'll have FAR less disposable income to spend and far less money to save. And with my skills and qualifications a job or consulting contract should be a slam dunk. I doubt I'm the only one in this situation. www.dice.com ran a survey of its IT pros and found that in the year post 911 the IT industry lost 630,000 jobs.
Godspeed
What? You mean you're not buying new cars, paying a gardener, going to movies, eating out, having your shoes shined, your car washed, your house remodeled, and vacationing in the Hamptons???
Doncha think you should be doing something for the economy?
Me? I did my first experiment at home canning the day before yesterday. Hope it doesn't kill me.
For the extra bonus round, try getting a job in retail. Wally World won't even hire you as a greeter, under the theory that as soon as the job market picks up, you'll dump your minimum wage part time job for a real one...
Indeed you are, and you know what, why not consider a whole new trade, something you've always wanted to do? As an analyst, why not solve problems outside zeros and ones? or credits and debits?
I made the mistake of quitting a $25+ IT job in early 2001- by the time I was ready to get back again a year later the industry was in tatters.
Good luck, and don't be afraid to do something completely different.