Looking for a new job is usually not a fun process, but it seems to have gotten harder since the global pandemic turned the world of work upside down in 2020.
Recently, Founder and Strategic Talent Partner at IKR Enterprises, Julie Reed, shared a post on LinkedIn calling out why it feels extra weird at this moment in 2025, and people are really resonating with what she has to say.
In her post, she wrote, “This is the strangest employment market I have ever recruited in. The mismatch between expectations and qualifications is an enormous gap.”
On the employer side, she wrote that she’s seeing companies “looking for rainbow colored unicorns based on specific companies or universities when their company doesn’t have the reputation, funding, or excitement to pull those candidates.”
But she says she’s also seeing more job seekers who do less than the bare minimum to get hired. “I’m not asking for cinematic productions and creative outreach. I’m talking read the job description that I sent you before our call, actually show up for your call, respond to emails. This is a really low effort ask.”
Even more frustrating, Julie noted that she’s seeing great candidates get passed over for lacking specific qualifications that don’t really say much about their ability to do the job, like a degree from a specific university or experience working at a top tech company.
On top of all that, she writes that the insistence on returning to the office is also making things harder. “And the onsite requirements are reducing the candidate pool to handfuls of people. Meanwhile the runway is closing on both sides. I am really just trying to make connections but this is freaking exhausting.”
In the comments, frustrated job seekers shared their experiences in this weird and confusing market. One person described it as “a hallucinatory wilderness of mirrors.”
Another commenter shared why they think so many people seem less engaged in the hiring process, writing, “Regarding the candidates you mention — on my search, I hope I was never that bad, but I could get close. It comes from mass applying on the one hand (so you literally may not remember who you applied to) and burnout and trepidation on the other (not having the energy and also not wanting to get emotionally invested in a process that will likely end in nothing). It’s not a good thing to do, but I see how people get to that point.”
Another person shared, “I had one company contact me to schedule a one-hour interview with their hiring manager. I shared my openings and they completely ghosted me.”
Julie’s post also found its way over to Reddit, where it was posted in r/RecruitingHell by a user who wrote, “Saw this on LinkedIn. I think it’s a good summary of the situation.”
One top comment brought up the prevalence of “ghost jobs” as another factor in the weirdness, writing, “Recruiters really be posting jobs that don’t exist just to build their pipeline. Meanwhile, actual qualified people can’t even get a callback. The whole system is broken.”
Another commenter riffed on Julie’s point about unrealistic employer expectations, writing, “Toddler wanted. No more than 2 years old. Must have 7 years experience.”
And someone else called out the seemingly never-ending job listing scams that litter our inboxes. “Doesn’t help when your ‘open to work’ and 99% of the shit you get are scams.”
Add all these things up, and it’s no wonder the current job market feels uniquely off.
Julie told BuzzFeed that she’s been in recruiting for about 15 years and has never seen anything quite like what’s happening now. “I’ve seen candidate markets and employer markets, but nothing like this, where there is a shortage of jobs AND fully qualified candidates, resulting in a weird sort of stalemate with both sides digging in their heels. It is really understandable, but employers and candidates who are willing to come to a mutually beneficial compromise will win, and the others are going to have a long uphill road ahead.”
And she thinks there are a few reasons why the job market feels so mismatched at the moment. In addition to in-office requirements and some employers focusing on pedigree more than ability, she also pointed out that the hiring process is taking much longer than it used to. “Time-to-hire has stretched to ~6+ weeks in many orgs, so candidates restart searches mid-process and pipelines get stale.”
Additionally, she feels that the old job-search etiquette has broken down. “Ghosting is up on both sides with job seekers and employers reporting ghosting, which fuels distrust and churn.”
Finally, she shared a few quick tips for job seekers that may help to cut through the noise. First, she suggests making sure your résumé shows your “impact with numbers (e.g., ‘reduced infra costs 28%,’ ‘cut cycle time from 12 to 4 days’).”
If a job lead suddenly goes quiet, she suggests reaching out in a way that shows your continued interest. “If the process stalls after 10–14 days, send a short status note and one new proof point (metric, link, or work sample).”
And finally, she suggests approaching your job search from a few different angles at once. “Run three to five targeted searches at once so any single slowdown doesn’t derail your whole process.”
Have you been in the job market this year as either a candidate, hiring manager, or recruiter? Tell us what you’ve noticed about it in the comments.
