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Is it even possible to find a good company these days?

Image created via Midjourney

This job market is exhausting. Whether you were laid off, burned by an employer, or just seeking something better, it’s a market unlike anything we’ve ever seen.

I was talking to some people and comparing it to the 2008-2009 financial crisis. I have had a hard time comparing exact numbers (like what’s included in a “layoff” number versus a “job loss” number, etc). But I was working during The Great Recession. Some industries were hit really hard, mine included. My employer at the time laid off 1/3 of its employees since the clients served were banks and they had been hit hard.

Some of my friends, who graduated from college around that time, talked about how hard it was to find a job — another thing that’s hard to compare. Were layoffs lower, but companies weren’t hiring because they were stressed/squeezed?

But it feels worse now. Maybe only because many of the companies laying people off are also seeing record profits. It feels punitive, like executives are fighting back after all of the worker empowerment seen during The Great Resignation. Or they’re tightening their proverbial belts because they can. Or they’re sheep, following the lead of other companies that have laid people off.