And in the tight market, supply of workers is high: Some 780,000 registrations were submitted as of July 31 for this year’s H-1B visa applications, the visa used by foreign workers to secure tech jobs in the US. That’s up more than 60 percent from the year before—leading the US Citizen and Immigration Services agency to suggest that some people may have submitted multiple registrations to game the system. There is an annual issuing cap of 85,000 H-1B visas.
Younger workers are also having to leap over additional hurdles to get a job. Rachel Sederberg, senior economist with labor market analytics firm Lightcast, has seen a downward trend in job posts seeking entry-level workers, and more skewed toward experienced employees. That has led the median salary for job postings in the US tech sector to jump from $61,000 a year ago to $79,000 this fall, Sederberg says. Companies “right-sized, realigned, and readjusted,” she says. “They started hiring back up. They’re likely hiring for different profiles.”
Then there’s everyone’s favorite new toy: ChatGPT. People are using the chatbot or other AI tech to help them write résumés and cover letters, which allows them to apply to more jobs in less time. But that can also give recruiters more noise to sift through.
All of these obstacles mean that looking for a job is a full-time job. Kimi Kaneshina, a San Diego-based product manager, says her 9-5 is spent applying for jobs, and she is even networking afterward or making videos for TikTok to document her process. Kaneshina has been looking for work since July, and while she feels like the process picked up speed in September, she hasn’t found a new role yet.
Still, the shift may have brought positive changes to the tech world: People are posting openly about their layoffs on LinkedIn and TikTok and connecting with each other and people employed at desirable companies. With so many people laid off, it’s become more acceptable to talk about it. “I’ve had recruiters tell me, ‘Half of the candidates I’m interviewing have been laid off,’” says Kaneshina. That stigma, she says, has almost been removed.
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