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The Employment Market – A Supply and Demand Market

There is a basic economic principle that applies to just about everything, including the job market. Supply and demand.

When more people are competing for the available jobs, finding employment becomes considerably more difficult.

That sounds obvious, doesn't it?

Yet the conversation surrounding today's job market often puts the problem squarely on the shoulders of the job seeker. It doesn’t matter if you are entry level, a recent grad, a manager, a vice president or the guy or gal in the corner office.

Applicants are told to improve their résumés, strengthen their LinkedIn profiles, develop additional skills, network more aggressively, and apply for more positions.

All good advice but that still doesn’t change the math. X amount of jobs = X amount of jobs regardless of how many applicants.

When 200 qualified people are competing for one position, 199 of them aren't getting hired.

That doesn't mean those 199 people have poor résumés, inadequate skills, or unrealistic expectations.

It means there was one opening. ONE OPENING. ONE PERSON GETTING HIRED. That’s it.

And that's an important distinction that often gets lost in discussions about why people are struggling to find employment.

Of course, the employment market isn't the same everywhere. Conditions vary by occupation, industry, geographic location, and level of experience.

Some employers struggle to find qualified workers. Others receive enormous numbers of applications for a single opening. Both conditions exist simultaneously, and both are perfectly valid.

A candidate with an excellent professional background will still find themselves competing against dozens of other people with equally impressive qualifications.

The employer only needs to select one.

There is no need to doubt yourself or your qualifications. Sometimes the competition is simply that intense.

When employers have large numbers of qualified applicants to choose from, the smallest differences in experience, industry background, or specific skills can easily influence the final decision.

The hiring industry needs to be more realistic about this when discussing the difficulties applicants face.

Stop blaming the applicants, their skills, and their qualifications, their presentation.

Be realistic, it all boils down to numbers. Only so many jobs, only so many hires.

That's why rejection emails could stand to be a little more thoughtful and explanatory, rather than so cold and impersonal. Just one additional sentence acknowledging the competition and the difficult decision could help applicants better understand the outcome without questioning their own qualifications and confidence.

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Maureen McCullough is a veteran resume writer with over 25 years experience in the field, serving clients nationwide. With a deep understanding of hiring, job searching, nationwide job markets and candidate needs - she offers resume writing for all levels from entry level to executive and C-Suite.

In addition, she offers candidate value proposition services which improve what candidates bring to the table. These include career strategy, career transition, career development, executive coaching and consulting, interview preparation and LinkedIn profile optimization.

She is the creator of the exclusive FAR → Foundation → Accomplish → Rebrand™ executive career strategy framework which gives executive clients our best possible flagship service for their career advancement.

She is also the creator of the Resume Job Match Review, a sophisticated yet extremely practical structured analytical framework based on her own proprietary software which compares your résumé against job descriptions you wish to apply for, helping you cut down on mismatches.

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