Tom Smith M.Sc.’s Post

Please stop underestimating how brutal the 2024 job market is. I've talked to thousands of people and this is what they go through. Agree? #jobsearch

You spend 20 minutes uploading your resume, then re-typing everything in. Many employers only spend a few seconds reading it. You spend 50+ minutes answering the employer's questions in an interview. They give you 5 minutes at the very end to ask yours. You’re asked to share your specific salary expectations. But many employers say “that’s confidential” when you ask for their budget. You spend weeks going on 4-6 interviews so the company can decide if you're a fit. Then they give you 24-48 hours to accept their offer. Maybe it's just me... But this seems like a broken system that needs to change.

For people who have taken career breaks, four little words can provoke dread: “What do you do?” It seems to conceal a bundle of judgments: What’s your social status? What’s your income? What’s your education? Are you worth my time to talk to? This has long been an issue for professional women who leave the workforce to raise kids, Joanne Lipman writes. But the dreaded question is now affecting a wider swath of people: stay-at-home fathers, career-changing young people, gig workers, baby boomers forced into retirement and laid-off workers. For many of us, work isn’t just a way to pay for our lives; it’s how we define ourselves—and others. We are what we do. Psychologists have a term for this: enmeshment. If you’re suffering from career “enmeshment,” read these suggestions from experts on how to separate yourself from your job—and how to stop judging others: https://lnkd.in/gdZGjqyC