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Paige Miller quit her job as a global director of people experience in early 2022, thinking she’d take some time off to explore new opportunities before hitting the ground running in a new role by 2023.
Two years later, she’s still looking for a job. And she’s not alone. In recent years, many HR teams have downsized or faced layoffs. That, coupled with the cooling labor market, has made it harder for people pros to land jobs.
“At this point, I’ve probably applied to close to 1,000 different roles, and, of the feedback I get, most of it is an automated AI written letter…which basically says, ‘Thanks, but no thanks,’ and the only thing personalized about it is my name,” Miller told HR Brew.
Miller and Liz Bronson, a former VP of people who quit her job last May, shared with HR Brew their job-search experiences and advice for other people pros weathering this labor market.
It’s not you. It’s society. Miller and Bronson said societal shifts are affecting employment in the people profession. Artificial intelligence, Miller said, has pushed humans out of human resources. At the most basic level, this has made the interview process more difficult for candidates, because they most likely never communicate with a recruiter.
“The people are not part of the process, and that’s really sad when we were talking about people and culture, and human resources. Human equals a person, and there’s no person doing this anymore,” she said.
Slumps in HR hiring are normal, Bronson told HR Brew, pointing to the dot-com bust in the early 2000s, the 2008 financial crisis, and the pandemic in 2020, when companies cut hiring and recruiting teams, and overworked the people pros left behind. But 2024 posed some unique challenges, she said, as more candidates were ghosted, sometimes after several rounds of interviews.
“The job search experience is mirroring something more societal,” Bronson said. "It’s easier not to treat people like other human beings because they’re behind a screen, so they’re not really human to us.”
What you can do. Despite the topsy-turvy market, Miller and Bronson have kept busy. Miller has taken on some consulting, while Bronson has turned to freelancing and fractional work.
Talent pros should always prepare for “feast and famine,” Bronson said, noting that, despite the turndown, hiring will increase again. For those also on the hunt, she encouraged patience.
“Know that it’s not going to happen quickly. Give yourself a timeline, but it’s something that you have to do every day,” Miller said. “You have to track your applications. You have to follow up, and the essence of follow-up being as quick as possible—as soon as you hang up the phone [or] close the Zoom.”