4 ways the 2024 hiring market is different from the 2023

tldr we’ve already bottomed

There’s 4 reasons why the 2024 hiring market is different from the 2023 hiring market. And why this isn’t truly an “Employer’s Market.”

The job seeker frustration on LinkedIn may not look much different. But keep in mind: companies already cut deep.

Many can’t really cut any further without disrupting operations. More importantly, they need to hold onto whoever is left. Which is why we’re seeing an uptick in counter offers to retain employees who are entertaining offers elsewhere.

The misread of the 2024 market goes like this:

👉Folks that are unemployed are (wrongfully) being labeled as damaged goods in the minds of some employers. (This is another rant for another day.) But they are simultaneously being used by employers to signify that there are “a ton of candidates out there.”

In other words: companies see the doom and gloom on LinkedIn and think it’s still a great market for hiring. But they thumb their noses at the same people forming those perceptions. 

👉Every company wants passive talent, i.e. people who are currently working and aren’t currently looking for job.

The continuation of the above. The Catch 22: that talent is being held onto by their current employer with a death grip.  They’re the ones keeping the boat afloat at this point.

👉The salary an unemployed person will accept is not the same as a salary a happily employed person will accept.

You may to pay up to convince people to leave a good spot. Lateral offers won’t cut it.

👉Finding these happily employed candidates requires dedicated, active headhunting. And many companies cut their internal talent teams to the absolute minimum.

Few companies have the bandwidth to attack the passive candidate market, without assistance from a well networked external recruiter.

There’s a lot to unpack here and it admittedly doesn’t apply universally across every skill set.

The good news is: this always happens when the job market has already bottomed out.

Full episode of The 10 Minute Talent Rant, Episode 93 “The Fallacy of the Current “Employer’s Market”” here.

James Hornick

Partner at Hirewell. #3 Ranked Sarcastic Commenter on LinkedIn.