The job market is in shambles. Too many folks on LinkedIn saying the same thing, “I’ve applied to 1,000 jobs and have gotten 3 interviews.” 

What is happening? Why is this happening?

This situation wasn’t present pre-pandemic. 2019 was a banner year for hiring, even though unemployment numbers were a bit higher than they are now. But it’s not the unemployment number that you need to look at. It’s the amount of jobs on the job boards that need to be examined.

As we moved through the pandemic, companies laid off hundreds, if not thousands of employees, completely based on poor economic planning from companies who never thought they would be in the position they were in.

What a position it was. Employers were forced to send employees to work from home, and employees loved it. Employers were forced to break their leases, and their bottom lines loved it.

Now we are here. After 2 years of companies saying they weren’t bringing employees back to the office, they are returning in droves. Google, FaceBook (refuse to say Meta) and Twitter (definitely refuse to say X) all started this campaign, and now advertising agencies and media are following suit.

NBC, CBS and others are slowly bringing back their employees, and employees aren’t happy.

This is just one perspective on this topic, but the advertising world is one that doesn’t require a human being to be in an office to get their job done. Rough estimate here, but about 95% of the advertising world is done through email and the other 5% done through the phone and instant messanger. Nowhere in there does it require someone to be in the office.

As more and more people enter the unemployment world, and companies start to bring people back to the office while making the work from home movement a dead one, the advertising world should start to think twice about telling their talent that it’s important to have those “butts in seats.”

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