Fewer jobs or increased competition?

The job market in the past couple of years has been very tight. For those who are re-entering the market fresh out of an MBA or those wanting to change jobs the prospect is not bright. A lot has been said and written about job shedding leading one to believe there are less jobs out there. Having gone through a job search recently I feel slightly differently about it.

There aren’t as many jobs as in the golden early 2000’s, that’s a fact. But I haven’t seen a drastic reduction in job posts especially in the past quarter. What I have seen is an exponential increase in competition for the same spots. Consulting firms and banks are back to hiring again and they are advertising a decent number of job posts. However, nowadays there are loads of talented people fighting for the same spots.
Having gone to some interviews I feel it is a lot harder to get the offer now then it was 3 years ago. Nowadays it is not enough to have a good interview. You need an outstanding performance to get that offer. The reason? There will always be someone out there who will have more years of experience than you, better or similar education than you and will be willing to get paid less than you. This is the direct consequence of all the job shedding, especially  in financial sector.

Even if recruiters really like you it won’t be uncommon to hear “we really like you, but there is this other person with 15 years experience in this particular area”. And we can’t really blame then, they are going for the risk free choice since they are spoiled for choice.

The job market is not stagnant. The problem is that there is too much supply of talent in the western economies and that shouldn’t change at least until later next year.