Sara Causey’s Search for Job Market Truth

Finding the truth about the job market these days is no easy task. Is it still red hot or has it cooled?Are employers posting fake ads? Are job seekers ghosting? To answer these questions, we spoke with Sara Causey, a Staffing & Recruiting SME, to discuss what she’s seeing and to learn more about her recent publication, the job market journal.

You recently launched the job market journal. What inspired you to do that?

For me, it’s both a labor of love and of frustration. On my podcast, I regularly talk about the job market and what I see happening in real time. Yet in mainstream media sources, the information we’re given is usually contradictory, nonsensical, and not a match for what people truly encounter. I got angry about this and looked around for a publication focused on the job market specifically that at least appeared to not be influenced by corporate sponsors, red versus blue, neocon versus neolib, and so on. Unfortunately, I came back empty-handed. So, like other experiences in my life, I decided someone needed to do it and it would have to be me.

What’s the goal?

Ultimately, the goal is to ferret out the truth. If the market is good and job seekers have leverage, they should know it. If the market is bad and people are better off staying at a job while they wait for conditions to improve, they should know that as well. I don’t give people advice but rather information that can be used for their own decision making. It’s tough to do that if the information you’re given is just elephant versus donkey propaganda. Or worse yet, something that benefits Corporate America but not working-class folks.

A natural question then is: how’s the job market now?

I was one of the lone voices – if not the lone voice – in HR-related work sounding the alarm bell that The Great Resignation for white collar work was over. I did that back in 2022 when other people imagined the band would play on forever. In my opinion, we’ve transitioned from the Opening Prologue of this mess into Act I. We’re not in the thick of how bad things could become, but we’re on a downhill slide. I think in the same way that the housing market was artificially pumped up into a bubble, so was the 2021 job market. But what happens to a bubble? It pops. I think the air is coming out of the job market and candidates are a bit confused after a layoff because they typically aren’t finding work as quickly as they’d imagined. It’s like, “Wait a minute. Where are all of these supposedly open jobs?”

Do you think it’s true that some companies post fake job ads?

Yes. Full stop. Some companies do exactly that.

Why?

For some, they are hopeful that someone amazing will apply and ask for pennies on the dollar. Others are doing it for optics only. They want to give the appearance that the company is healthy and it’s growing when, in reality, the postings are phony, and no one will be hired. Some managers are so incredibly picky that a genuine job can stay open for months and they can interview every person in America who’s qualified and still not want to make an offer. Generally speaking, I feel like a plethora of long-term open jobs going unfilled is not a good sign.

Is ghosting still a problem?

Yes, sadly and surprisingly. I think part of that is because disappearing has become part of the culture and people don’t worry as much about doing it. More interactions are transactional rather than longterm relational. Another facet of this problem to me is that too many people still think we have this robust labor market with plenty of open jobs and hiring managers just waiting by the phone. News alert: we don’t. By the time people wake up and get serious about not burning career bridges, it might be too late.

What happens next?

That’s always the million-dollar question. I hope I am wrong on this, but I think it’s entirely possible that we could see a Great Recession 2.0. I see so many familiar signs of 2007, 2008, and 2009 brewing up. We add to that the amount of inflation that’s still in the economy and a job loss in the middle of a broader financial crisis could be completely devastating. I feel like the smart move is to be prepared ahead of time and to stay aware of changes in the market, changes at your company, changes in your industry, and so on. There are times in life when ignorance is not bliss.

For more information, you can visit Sara Causey at https://causeyconsultingllc.com/ and read her
content on https://thejobmarketjournal.com/.