The Causey Consulting Podcast

"This job market is NO JOKE."

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Transcription by Otter.ai.  Please forgive any typos!

Welcome to the Causey Consulting Podcast. You can find us online anytime at CauseyConsultingLLC.com. And now, here's your host Sara Causey.

 Hello, Hello, and thanks for tuning in. In today's episode, I want to talk about the harsh realities that people are finding on the job market. I know, I know. Supposedly, we have a 3.9% unemployment rate one of the lowest we've ever had turnin and burnin doing great, resilient consumer robust labor market. Things are just sunshine and roses. If you can't find a job, it must be your own fault. You must not be trying very hard because to open jobs for every one unemployed person. Meanwhile, those of us in reality, no, that's a complete load of bunk. It's tough out there. Just the other day I was telling a friend that 2024 has been more difficult for me than 2020. And think about that 2020 We have the stay at home orders, you had people being told that they were non essential. There were small to medium size businesses and mom and pop shops that were closed down. The huge global conglomerates got to stay open. Because apparently the Rona wouldn't follow you around and Walmart and it wouldn't ride on any packages that were coming from Amazon. But if you were to go into a mom and pop grocery store, well, Rona was everywhere. Makes no sense. And unfortunately, some of those small businesses that were hit with stay at home orders and that closed completely down. They've never recovered. Some of them are not ever going to come back in business again. I wrote an article on the job market journal about how small and medium businesses and banks are being targeted. You've already had Jerome Powell say quite clearly, this time around the bank failures will not be too big to fail, it will be small to medium and regional banks. Here's the deal. I know that typically, the audience doesn't like it when I record episodes geared towards prepping. If I got on here and said, quit your job FOMO and Yolo F that boss F that job F that company, it's whatever, you'll find something, everything will be alright, you'll make away 1000s of downloads. People love to hear that they want to hear you're not trapped. You're not living in feudalism. 2.0 If you ask us up and walk off the job, well, don't worry about it. Because you'll be able to find something quickly and easily. I'm not going to sit here in good conscience and tell anybody that I remember what it was like during the great recession. And it very much felt like that meme, or that photo of the cat that has its claws dug in the curtain. Whatever you had to do to hang on to that job is what you did. You didn't ask up and quit. You didn't back talk your boss. Even if you got home at night and thought I really hated up there. It didn't matter. You had a job. You had a paycheck and you wanted to keep it you didn't want to be out on the ice of Gotham with everybody else that trying to pound the pavement calling, slinging out resumes left and right and being told over and over again, we don't have anything, we don't have anything, we don't have anything. You didn't want to be in that position if you could possibly avoid it. So I'm not going to sit here in the midst of what I believe to be a silent depression until you quit your job. FOMO YOLO. And it's whatever you'll find something easily as if by magic, you'll be the one person that's not impacted by all of this economic turmoil. I don't tell you what to do or what not to do. I opine for your entertainment only if we were sitting and having a pint at the pub, and the topic came up, I would say me personally No way in hell that I would just walk off from a study full time job with a benefits package. Not right now. Whatever I needed to do, personally to hang on to that and to try to make it through whatever this nightmare scenario is. That's what I would do. If you have been listening to hot air hopium nonsense and Bs, I would cordially invite you to stop doing that. Honestly, in my opinion, which could be wrong completely could be wrong. And frankly, I hope it is wrong. In my opinion. If you have still been listening to idiots, it's too late for you. ipso facto by the very definition of a problem. When you're in a poop hits the fan situation. It's too late to prepare it There's no more planning ahead, you're in the thick of it, you're in crisis mode and you would better live on your wits. Because the time to get ready for the crisis has passed back in 2022. In fact, September 30, of 2022, strong about almost two years ago, there was an article on CBS News, I have linked to it across platforms, umpteen million times. There's no telling how many referrals just for me this one article has gotten. And it's titled Buckle Up America, the Fed plans to sharply boost unemployment. The agenda is not hidden. And I've said this many times, I know that I sound like a broken record, I get it. Probably this episode will get, I don't know, maybe 30 downloads, if I'm lucky. Most of you will not listen, you'll tune out Oh, she's on her soapbox about preparation. Again, I don't want to hear that. It's your choice. It's completely up to you what you want to listen to and what you don't want to listen to. But that was back in 2022. The problem is not presenting your information, presenting your evidence and saying ABCD here's why I believe what I believe the problem is getting people to listen. Nobody wants to give a toss about the job market until they're on it. People want to sit back and well, things will be better. It's an election year, maybe come November, things will change. You don't know what the hell was about to happen in November. The things that I'm hearing the whispers on the wind are not good. And it doesn't matter who you're talking about winning doesn't matter if it's the orange MAN, or if it's the senile old man, or if the election is called off. And we're under martial law at the time, world war three. It doesn't matter what scenario you want to game out in your mind. What I'm hearing whispers on the wind across the board, not good. There's no way in hell that I would go anywhere, or be far from home, the closer that we get to November. We're pretty much going on lockdown and being prepared for any possibility. And hopefully it's quiet. It's no big deal. The Whispers on the wind turn out to be false. But the intelligence that I have gotten from the people that I trust implicitly, has never been wrong. Not one single time. So when they tell me keep your acid home, the closer we get to November, it's gonna get dicey. It's going to get scary, bad things are going to happen. I'm inclined to believe them. So if you're sitting there going, Well, come November, that's when we will all be saved, miracles will happen. Or come the January inauguration of whoever it is. We will all be saved and everything will be fine. Like 2018 prices will come back. The cost of living will go down. The lion will lay down with the lamb. There will be peace on earth, goodwill towards men, and everything will just be fine and dandy. I hope you're right. Honestly. I wouldn't bet my life on it. I think personally that you're crazy. I don't buy it. So I came across this YouTube video. Jobs are no longer hiring. And I thought well, no, duh. Welcome to the party comrade. No, they're not hiring. And in this video, this man says outside of only March and April of 2020 hiring in the US economy hasn't been this bad in six and a half years now. I'm sitting back here with deep expertise in the job market and a deep understanding of how the job market and the broader economy relate to one another going near. mean none of this is a surprise to me. It's what's a surprise to me is that it's a surprise to other people jobs are not hiring. What do you think? Where have you been when you've been listening to? In the comments of this video? One person writes, this job market is no joke. I'm a Talent Acquisition Manager with 15 years of experience. I was laid off in August 2023 and haven't been able to find work today, even while being open on relocation. I couldn't tell you how many apps I've put in, but my job search is literally an all day everyday kind of thing. Interviews are scarce. I'll blow an interview out of the water and have them tell me to be on the lookout for the next interview in a few days, only to be ghosted. It has made me question my entire existence. What am I doing wrong? Who are they ghosting me for? Why is it so hard to get an interview to begin with? This can't be what life is all about. I was a top performer in my My last role, and that still wasn't enough to survive a wave of layoffs. I don't even care to live at this point. Everything I've done up to this point has all been for nothing in quote. That's heartbreaking. But let me tell you, I'm hearing similar things every single day.

 

In this post on the job market journal I've written my heart hurts for this person. No, this job market is not a joke. Many companies are not hiring talent acquisition or recruiting professionals because as you might suspect, and let's let's play them with a drumroll. These companies ain't hiring period. You don't hire the people who hire people when you ain't hiring people. I don't give a damn what the mass media tells you. We're in an election year. I don't pretend to know what will happen in November. The fat cats believe Orange Man is going back and they are fine with it. Are they telling the truth? I don't know. And I don't think it matters much. But in the interim, the mainstream media is going to tell you that inflation is abating. The job market is great. The Fed is doing its job with flying colors. Sit down, shut up and let the overlords manage your life. We're in a dumpster fire. Please do not wait to be officially told. Please do not wait for someone with an audience 100 times larger than mine to stumble out and say Here he goes. I think we're all in trouble. No. As Lynette Zang says, it's better to be 10 years too early than even one second too late. If you have left your career on autopilot and ignored the job market before I beg you to make changes now and pay attention. But even with that said, I feel like if you've had your head up your backside, or you've listened to the hot air and hopium crowd on social media, it's too late. If you don't already have a game plan, it's too late. I'm reminded of the proverb, The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago, the second best time is today. It would be better to do something in the way of preparation and having a job loss survival plan than to do nothing at all. But man, you're behind. You're so far behind at this point. I wish that I could tell you otherwise. I know that I'm supposed to get on here as a content creator and tell you sunshine, roses and lollipops. Okay, maybe you've been a bit of a goof, listening to other goofs. But that's okay. You can turn it around. And maybe you can maybe you can't I don't know. Maybe you'll get lucky. I hope you do. This is the question that I always ask whenever I get some viewer mail, somebody says hey, I stumbled upon a podcast episode or I've been reading your blog. Thank you for telling the truth. Who were you listening to before? Where were you getting your information? I don't want anybody to wind up in a situation like that where they feel like they don't even want to live anymore. And they're having a dark night of the soul. Been there done that. I know what it feels like to go down in the abyss and to feel so alone and empty. I remember having a suicidal depression. And the way that I felt was completely hollowed out. And I just thought the outside needs to match the inside because what am I living for? Nothing. There's nothing here. That was a rough experience. When you have that kind of deep crisis, a true mental health crisis, a true Dark Night of the Soul where you are so bereft and so empty.

 

That's a tough place to get back from. It is I don't wish that on anybody. As I always say I don't give you advice. I cannot give you advice. If it were me.

 

I would really really really want to have a firm plan be in place in case of a job loss accompany closure. If you're out freelancing or you own and operate your own business. If your typical way of making hay while the sunshine disappears. Have something else. Start getting your mind right start doing some A B testing figuring out what you can do if you still have money. If you're not flat broke, if there's some way that you can start trying out additional business ideas without bankrupting yourself, brainstorming it cost none thing to get out a sheet of paper and a pencil and start brainstorming ideas or to make that list of the five first phone calls that you would make in the event of a job loss. This is really not the time to play games and assume that what you're being told in mainstream media is true. Stay safe and stay sane. And I will see you in the next episode.

 

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