The Amply team is constantly researching, brainstorming and writing about the latest trends in all things workplace and human capital. That’s why we were particularly pleased to attend a recent roundtable event at Indeed’s London HQ.
With a room filled full of senior recruiters and talent managers as well as experts from Indeed, Stack Overflow and Glassdoor, we picked up quite a few things about the state of play when it comes to hiring and job-seeking in 2024.
If you’re looking for a new role now, these are four key considerations to keep top of mind.
1. Be careful with generative AI
Advice to live by in general, but when it comes to getting a new job, don’t be tempted to leave it all up to generative AI tools such as ChatGPT.
Put simply: recruiters will know.
Monica Berry, talent acquisition at Pets at Home, the UK’s leading pet care business, told us at the event that, “You can really tell when somebody has done an AI CV. I’ve seen it mostly within finance [roles] but it’s fast becoming the thing to do.
“Candidates are being pushed to use AI to come across as more professional, but what you end up with is people with minimal experience using AI to bulk up their CVs,” she says.
“It’s probably working for them in terms of getting interviews but then you get to the interview and they’re not as good as they say they are. I’m asking respectfully to send your pre-AI, real CVs because it gives a truer reflection of what you’ve done and what you’re like.”
2. Hybrid working is now the norm
Tech workers argue that their roles can be done remotely, and in the case of many software jobs, that’s true. But management and leadership feel differently and post-pandemic, many organsations have enacted return to office policies.
According to Scarlett Fisher, a senior tech recruiter at Entain, some candidates are rejecting jobs where they have to go into the office. “There are definitely a lot of people I’ve spoken to who, because of the type of tech roles they are in, they don’t need to go to the office. So they feel like, why should they have to go into an office just to meet certain expectations?”
Job seekers would be wise to adopt a measured approach to this, especially at the interview stage.
Fisher thinks hybrid working is the best approach. “It’s definitely nice to have the hybrid option. It’s good to be able to talk to people face-to-face. Having certain meetings is a lot easier, because someone’s always dropping off a Teams call. Someone’s not unmuting. It’s a lot of things that go on. So I think it is definitely beneficial––I just don’t think it needs to be every week.”
3. Tech workers should look at non-tech companies
If you’re involved in the tech industry, there are always those gold-standard, household name companies you’ll likely want to work for.
From the “FAANG” quintet of Meta, Amazon, Apple, Netflix and Alphabet (formerly known as Google), to Microsoft, SpaceX, Adobe and many more, there are a lot of big names out there with great jobs and salaries on offer.
However, here’s the kicker: because those companies have high recognition and desirability among job candidates, that means that they don’t have to try all that hard to attract you.
But these days, because you’d be hard pressed to find a company that isn’t a tech company––even if they don’t fit into an accepted industry bracket. For example, Domino’s Pizza CEO Patrick Doyle calls it “a tech company that sells pizzas”.
That’s why experts from Glassdoor told us at Indeed’s recent tech roundtable event that candidates who are looking for new jobs should look outside of those big names. Supermarket and large retailers and aerospace are just two industries hiring tech candidates–and paying handsomely for the privilege.
4. Take control of your own career path
It can be easy to fall into a rut at work, especially if you have been there a while. Assumptions can be made about career progression, and who is responsible for progressing an individuals’ career path, for example.
The truth is that personal responsibility has to be accounted for when it comes to your own career. It is wonderful to have a supportive manager and caring leadership, but at the end of the day, it is your career––and you should have a say in shaping it.
According to Denise Hayes, who is CPO at DigitalWell, creating a framework around leadership matters. “The point of this framework is everyone should have something they’re working on, we’re all learning. But there’s also an underlying principle that we all own our own destinies so we all have to be responsible,” she says.
“No manager is going to come to you and say you need to work on your presentation skills, we should be owning it ourselves.”
Find out more
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