Surviving an Ever-Changing Job Market

Alphabet and more. It's definitely a thing. It is a thing. So the question is what's an employee to do if they've been laid off? How do you land your next job in an ever changing job market. We've got with us this afternoon. Dr Mona Moreshet, founder and CEO at Generation. This is an independent nonprofit. It was founded a few years ago by McKenzie to help prepare people for jobs. She joins us via zoom from Washington, d C. Dr morshad, good to have you with us this afternoon. I want

to talk more about Generation just a second. But first of all, I want to get your thoughts on on what we're seeing in terms of layoffs. And I want to look at this in the context of you know, we're still in a jobs market that's you know, really really tired. I mean unemployment rate, it's historically low still absolutely, UM. So there are a number of things happening right now. UM. Obviously we're all waking up to headlines every day where

there are slews of job cuts which are being announced. UM. That has a couple of ramifications. UM. First of all, obviously it means adversity for those individuals and those families. But what we're also saying is that there's a slowdown in new higher vacancies as well, UM, in addition to the job cuts. And so there are two forces happening at the moment um. For those individuals who are to a slowdown in new higher vacancies, what does that mean?

So for postings for new hires, there's a slowdown in those. So there's both cuts as well as a slowdown and hiring. So it affects two populations, those currently in jobs who are losing them and those who are applying a fresh to new jobs. And so we are starting to see data, at least in the US of UM it taking three to six months for people to find jobs in certain pockets. Now that's a certain picture. Now important to recognize the headlines that we see in the US do not apply

equally across the world. So we're also seeing other geographies where there's been no slowdown at all in terms of hiring. And we're also seeing that um although for tech jobs in particular, you might find slowdowns in tech companies, but there are other companies and other sectors. So it might be in the financial sector, it might be in manufacturing who are looking to hire for tech roles, and so

that's another area of opportunity. Well, right, I mean, does this remind you at all of another job cycle h two thousand and eight? My seriously, seriously, Well, hopefully we don't reach that. I mean, so look, I think that what's what's important is to recognize this is all cyclical, right, and this cycle will take about two years to work itself out if if history is any indicator. Um. So we're seeing a crunch and then again slow hiring, um.

But then it will open up again. And and very importantly for job seekers is looking for those pockets where there is continued hiring and and that may not be in the tech sector. So it could be tech roles

in other sectors. So is it safe to say, and just to kind of a little bit of a conclusion here, when we look at the data points that come from the government and elsewhere on the on the job market, which continue to show strength in the job market, are you saying it's really not the true picture or the full picture. It's a partial picture, right you know? So again there is a partial when you look at which

sectors are hiring versus where is there a slowdown? It's partial in terms of is it a global phenomena or is it a us phenomena? Um. And then there is also a question I would say of demographics um, because one thing that I will emphasize is that age matters when it comes to hiring. Um. We've done research and others have done research as well when you look at what happens when when you are aged forty plus, it

becomes much harder to find a job. That is why the majority of the long term unemployed six months or more are age forty plus. And that's across the O E c D. So age matters here too and will impact unfortunately due to pervasive agism that we consistently see across employers and across geographies of how fast can you get yourself back into a job. So what's the focus for you at generation in terms of the types of

the people who find themselves without jobs placing them age range? Yeah, So at Generation we support adults of all ages UM so from eighteen years old to plus UM and our learners are typically so first, they typically have a secondary school degree background UM over half our female the majority

have dependence UM. And they we are either placing them into their first job or we are supporting those who are aged forty plus and who may, for example, have been spending the last ten years working in retail or in logistics and supporting to put them into green jobs or into tech jobs or whatever it might be. UM. So what we do is train and place learners into careers that otherwise would have been inaccessible. So I want to go back to something that you said earlier about

this being reminding you of of two thousand eight. In you know, if we go back to two thousand and eight, the unemployment rate was right now it's at three point six percent. So what else about the environment right now that you're seeing out there tells you that this is similar to back then. I'm just not seeing it. There's um an element of what I'll just call copycat behavior UM, which is when employers start to see that some companies

are doing layoffs, it starts to make everyone much more conservative. UM. And that is and that is with regards to new hires. And so the question for us is because we are often placing people into entry level roles irrespective of which profession it's in, and so you start to see it taking longer to get people into rolls. So it's not that they will not make it, but you know it. Whereas before we could support someone within three months, it

might now take six months, um. And so, and we're seeing this also in the reticence of employers to also commit to saying, you know, these are the vacancies which we're going to have the month or that month. Everyone is watching and waiting to see what happens. In addition, the I M F recently came out to say that you know, a third of the world's economies are going to go into recession this year, which is a big deal. UM. So twenty three is very much a watch and wait

and observed. You know, mona earlier you said the government date, it's a partial picture of what's going on in the US labor market. So having said that, based on what you're saying, it sounds to me that very soon we might see some of this show up. Is that your expectations. The expectation is absolutely that over the coming months we're going to see not just for the U. S economy, but for the world, how resilient is the hiring going to be. And it will obviously nothing will ever be

true across the entire world, but it'll be in pockets. Um. So you'll find some sectors. You know, clearly the tech sector is heavily affected right now, um, But you and not see that same trend in green jobs or in healthcare. And so this is why it's so important to look at the picture sector by sector and not just economy wide. Older workers. Do we need them? Absolutely, we need them? Um. You know, I think the age forty plus population is a remarkable asset that should be much more employed than

is the case. You have a bunch of people around the news room and our kids who are listening to the like when did forty five become old? Because when you look at the when when you look at government stats the majority of the long term unemployed or age forty five plus? What it? As soon as you know, I say this to you as a fifty one year old. I recently had a birthday, Um, and so thank you. It's interesting because you know, we talk about aging demographics

and the impact it can have on a country's economy. Right. We've talked at it, certainly with Japan, We've talked about it with the US. Increasingly we've talked about it even with China, who's seeing an aging population in the costs that that has in in so many different ways. Um, I don't know. I'm not pretty sure what the smart question? I mean, should we be putting these people to work? Isn't that better for the global economy? Or tim What do you think? Well, I have one question for m

on a ten seconds. Okay, if somebody really young is listening right now, thinking about what they're studying in college or studying in trade school, what should it be? Uh? I get this question frequently now, so look, I'm going to give up practice to answer, which really very quickly. It's about how quickly you learn. It is often not about what you learn. I's how quickly you learn, Like that interesting alright, some really thoughts in terms of today's

labor market. Dr Monamore said, founder and CEO of Generation via Zoom from Washington, d C.