Some Post-COVID Era Jobs Are (Not) Here to Stay  

Looking for a new job? Hold that thought.  

Across the nation, many professionals are noticing an alarming trend where, after nailing a job interview and securing a lucrative job offer, their career move is cut short due to employers changing their minds.  

It’s not that simple, however.  

Despite the U.S. economy being hit with inflation and burgeoning recession-related problems, it’s bouncing back due to over 6.5 million jobs coming online that are already boosting the financial trajectory of people across the nation.    

Even U.S. President Joe Biden took notice and said during the State of the Union earlier this year that more jobs are being created now than before in the history of America on top of the economy growing. “The strongest growth in nearly 40 years, the first step in bringing fundamental change to an economy that hasn’t worked for the working people of this nation for too long,” Biden said.     

Yet, despite corporations and companies being more employee-minded by setting up remote working, creating accommodating work schedules and boosting morale, there are some lingering problems many are taking notice of.  

The Wall Street Journal reported that businesses in various sectors rescinding their job offers (made only months earlier) is a telltale sign that the “tightest labor market in decades may be showing cracks.”  

Twitter Inc., real-estate brokerage Redfin Corp. and cryptocurrency exchange company Coinbase Global Inc. have also changed their minds in recent weeks.  

Also, numerous companies like Netflix, Uber Technologies and Carvana Co have begun hiring with more rigorous procedures in place to nab only the best candidates.  

The tech industry is also impacting job offers due to supply chain issues and more.  

While the national unemployment rate is at 3.6 percent according to reports, the jarring new job-hiring trend is leaving a mark on what the future labor market could be for weary job candidates.   

“I just couldn’t believe what I was hearing—like it’s a job I had lined up for months and I really was counting on it,” said 24-year-old Franco Salinas, in the article.  

Salinas discovered over the summer that a data analyst position he planned on starting in July was canceled. “This just made me realize how fragile things are.”  

Julia Pollak, a labor economist at ZipRecruiter, an online employment marketplace in Santa Monica, Calif., in a report for the Society for Human Resource Management, said that the pandemic has created unexpected ripple effects for good, too, when it comes to the workforce.  

“This pandemic has been an unprecedented shock to the labor market and has created a need for new jobs and new skills very quickly,” Pollak said. “Here we have a public health disaster that’s created a wide range of roles needed to contain the disease and increase the confidence of American consumers. So, they are very important jobs. Many are related to other jobs, with a lot of transferable skills.”    

Other recruiters agree and said that job offer cancellations are at a bare minimum and many employers are looking for more workers to fill open positions.  

Brian Kropp, vice president of human resources research for advisory firm Gartner, said in the article that having job offers rescinded was not a thing half a year ago, and just like the pandemic, pivoting is inevitable.  

“If we’ve learned anything from the last couple of years, it’s that things can change quickly,” he said.   

Steven Pope, 32, was set to begin a new job as the data director at a retail marketing firm in early June. Now, however, he is still searching for a job because the firm is keeping his start date in limbo due to funding delays.  

“I’m looking at how are these companies backed up or paid,” he said in the article, adding that his friends in similar fields are catching up and handling their own moves more strategically. “I see there’s a little bit of a shift already where security is going to come before comp.”    

In the end, employers also need to step up and give ample alerts about job opportunities and changing priorities every step of the way.  

“It’s critical for business leaders to understand that large-scale shifts are changing how people work and how business gets done,” said Kropp. “Leaders who respond effectively to these HR trends can ensure their organizations stand out from competitors.”