Supply & Demand of Job Market

Supply & demand factors influence market dynamics, & the job market is no different. In the services sector the dynamics vary by experience level.

At the entry level (0-2 yrs), it's largely an employer's market as people without experience don't have much choice in terms of joining company A or B, or working in industry X or Y. Of course, the top 2%, may have more of a choice.

At the intermediate, 2-15 yrs, it transitions to the employee's market. People have some functional & sectoral experience, and are wooed by companies trying to outbid each other with better titles & perks.

At 15-25 yrs, it again becomes the employer's market as there are many people competing for limited senior jobs. Those that have a specialist skill set or those that maybe in the sunrise sector (keeps changing) hold an edge.

At 25+yrs exp, few people have persisted in careers they had started their journey with. Most have pivoted to different careers, driven partly by personal situations and partly forced by the rapid pace of change. For the 20% that have persisted & scaled or become SME or found their niche at the confluence of two different skills (say coaching + product owner) it’s an employee’s market, while for the remaining 80% it remains an employer’s market.