You may have heard the news recently. The so-called Great Resignation. But it isn’t just people voluntarily leaving companies for a new role, new responsibilities and a significant pay rise.

There is also a rise in redundancies.

I’ve been fortunate to not be affected by the latter, but I had an entire squad quit over the last year plus more. And the one thing it got me thinking about was if I was prepared to get job hunting again.

And how would things be different?

Well, things seem to be very different from what I am hearing:

1. Interviews need to be streamlined. If your company is still dawdling on job offers, ghosting a candidate until the last minute or spending months dragging out several rounds of interviews then any possible candidate will have been hired elsewhere.
2. The dreaded C-word is back. Yes, counteroffers. Once upon a time I would have said anyone who accepts a counteroffer from a company that they are trying to leave will be making a huge mistake. But now things are changing and recruitment is taking the hit. First, you have the risk from the candidate’s original company if they are still hired. Whether they decline your offer as they accepted the counteroffer as soon as they handed in their resignation (if the company can react that fast, which seems to be quite common!); or the company gradually wears them down over the course of the usual three month notice period. Recruiters are finding that there is a risk of being declined for a counteroffer right up until 9am on the start date is very much a nightmare. Secondly, companies needing to act fast on promising candidates has meant that candidates are usually courting multiple offers. And declining one doesn’t mean that that will be the end of the conversation.
3. Candidates are not wasting time are hours on tech tests. See above, the demand is too high.

Have you been through a job interview recently and noticed how much things have changed? Or not?