7. Job posts at many big companies are increasingly for compliance / "fairness" reasons: there may be no intent to hire anyone from the outside as their intention is for internal career growth only for existing employees

6. Operating budgets have become very conservative. Roles are highly questioned in every org - big and small, and this impacts stability of roles in-process as well as overall comp. Sign-on bonuses are a thing of the past

5. Hybrid/Remote conditions are being reconsidered: at least 4 positions I've talked through have changed their requirements mid-process this year from Remote to "Hybrid", narrowing candidate pools to local regions only. This unfortunately only further narrows jobs for candidates

4. It's a buyer's market; focus has narrowed - companies are looking for something very specific out of role and have an enormous pool of candidates to choose from. If you don't have exactly what they won't, they will move-on quickly

3. Time to decision is drastically increased - there is often an enormous amount of time spent on interview rounds and between takes so the process could take weeks or months where only a year ago it make have taken a week or two

2. Communication is poor due to that high volume. Of the hundreds of positions I've reached out to, easily 2/3 to 3/4 of them have fallen into a "Black Hole" category where you never hear anything back from them at all, not even a rejection

1. Visibility is non-existent and it's like shouting and waving your arms and expecting someone to see and hear you at a 50,000-person concert. Competition for roles is incredible high - positions on LinkedIn having hundreds or thousands of applicants