Executive Jobs: Saturated with Candidates

In 2018, I wrote an article predicting a wave of candidate shortages at the Director and VP Levels and an accelerated succession of employees, growing the corporate rates. Subsequently, in 2019 and 2020, you saw people getting promoted at one of the highest rates in over 2 decades. You saw new leadership climbing the ladder to take all industries to a new level of growth.  𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐧, 𝐂𝐨𝐯𝐢𝐝-𝟏𝟗 𝐬𝐥𝐚𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐤𝐬.

First, we need to understand why 2019 and 2020 happened. The top of corporate leadership in 2018 was the baby boomer generation. A generation that grew to almost 76M people. Behind them was an eagerly waiting Generation X which is comprised of only 65.2M. There are 10.8M fewer workers in Generation X than the baby boomer generation, so fewer people to fill the jobs of the “working generation.”  In addition, during those years, we saw an acceleration in job growth across the globe, and we started to see a major exodus of baby boomers retiring, with them to be fully retired by 2026. 

When you combine too many new jobs with a lower population of working employees, companies will fight for employees to fill their roles. The result of this was employees seeing rapid increases in salary and compensation and the acceleration of people being promoted through the ranks.

Why did COVID-19 and the subsequent rapid inflation change the game?

·        𝐁𝐚𝐛𝐲 𝐁𝐨𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐬 – The retirement rate of baby boomers has slowed significantly because they can’t afford to retire. We have even seen a growing rate of baby boomers coming BACK to work since they have retired. The projected timeframe for baby boomers to retire has gone from 2026 to 2030, leaving them in the workforce longer. This means a higher number of senior and executive-level leadership employees. Unfortunately for the younger generation (people in their 30s) this will make it that much  more challenging to grow until the exit continues.

·        Tech Industry – An industry which expanded at a 5x faster rate than any other industry in 2019 and 2020, yet after Covid-19, we have seen 263K laid-off employees in the global tech industry with a significant loss of employment amongst executive-level, sales/customer success, and engineering roles.

·        𝐄𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐜 𝐔𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐫𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐲 – Ongoing global economic fluctuations post the COVID-19 crisis, including potential recessions, heavy inflation, and financial uncertainty caused by COVID-19, are leading companies to be more cautious hiring at the executive level.

·        𝐆𝐥𝐨𝐛𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐳𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 – due to the surge of remote workers and companies becoming more flexible in people’s ability to work remotely, this opens up the global pool of candidates, especially with global companies where people can be virtually anywhere.

·        𝐀𝐈 𝐅𝐚𝐥𝐬𝐞 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭 – When news broke of artificial intelligence becoming the new wave of tech changes, we saw companies hiring at a far too fast rate expecting the world of AI to take off like a rocket shit. Unfortunately, because of this, we saw major concerns from global companies on the ethical concerns of AI and a sudden shift towards higher regulations and governance to control the damage AI could cause. Companies started spending millions of dollars to prepare for what appeared to be a rapid surge in AI. Subsequently, AI has been hampered with a lot of questions and vast uncertainty in the proper use of AI. We have seen a 62% failure rate in new tech startups entering the market and sustaining solvency after the initial proof of concepts. Given the changes over the past 6 months, companies have realized they initially overspent on a technology that was yet to be proven and have started to cut those expenses at an alarming rate. 

Overall, we are currently seeing stagnancy while companies figure out the right moves to sustain and grow their profitability while trying to adapt to the changes yet to come. The good news is that new projections are showing the growth trends in digital transformation, technology, and AI to still rapidly grow in the next 5 years after this initial bump in the road. However, this doesn’t make it easier to find executive-level roles, which will continue to be in a holding pattern in the near future.

𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐒𝐞𝐧𝐢𝐨𝐫 𝐋𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐄𝐱𝐞𝐜𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐋𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐥 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐟𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐬 𝐝𝐨? 

1.        𝐏𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 – it will be a long road to getting hired. The quantity of applications will likely override targeted applications. Have the willingness to be flexible in the type of company, industry, and role you will take in the next few years. Executive hiring processes are becoming longer and longer, and with the growing competition, you should never stop applying till you secure an offer.

2.        𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐎𝐮𝐭 – As a resume writer and brand builder – 4 of the top 10 worst resumes that I have seen in the past year have come from Executives, including 3 of them being C-Level. There is a level of standard people expect from an executive leader, and that piece of paper can be a major roadblock. 

3.        𝐄𝐱𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐁𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐝 – Work on your external brand. This means cleaning up social media and managing how people perceive you in the public space. Getting involved in organizations, associations, and blogs where you are a speaker or an outspoken influencer that elevates your brand.

4.        𝐓𝐞𝐜𝐡𝐧𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐲 𝐀𝐝𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐚𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲 – Learn the technology that is taking over the industry and make sure your skills and knowledge stand out. We have seen a major trend where companies are looking for tech-savvy executive leaders who understand how digital transformations, tech automation, and SaaS will be a major part of the success of the organization.

While the road will be bumpy for the next couple of years, the long-term outlook for the middle GenX and Millennial generations will certainly be bright.