Here are several reasons why the high-tech job market is so difficult as of 10/01/23:

1. Many candidates are happy and understandable do not want to risk leaving due to Covid
2. Some candidates are locked into stock vested periods and can’t leave
3. More people in software are retiring making the candidate pool smaller
4. Some people are considered over qualified (100M people are older than 50) and are disqualified prematurely
5. The passive candidates will only leave if the opportunity is far superior (quality culture and compensation)
6. LinkedIn is offering candidates many more job opportunities leading them to evaluate fewer companies
7. Good candidates are passed as they don’t have the correct related software domain making the job profile more difficult since the parameters are slim
8. More companies are well funded by VCs ($100M+), so they are consuming many applicates from the available pool
9. Why there are so many job hops, which lead to many quality people being passed:
   1. Millennials are fine with changing jobs frequently as they are seeking the best employment for themselves and quality of life
   2. Many companies have laid off workers in the past 18 months creating the appearance that a given candidate has many recent jobs
   3. Many private equity companies control software firms and laid off people as a means to enhance profits and sell the corporation

What is the Solution:

• It is recommended to broaden the job profile to include more technical backgrounds
• It is recommended to increase employee product training programs so people from other domains can transfer into a new space quickly
• It is recommended to interview people that have short job durations (past five years) to determine their unique situation that led to their tenure
• A company needs to have excellent marketing materials to attract the candidate throughout the interview process, i.e., slides
• A company will need  to streamline their interview process so it last no longer than 4 weeks.
• Employees need equity to leave and to stay long term
• Offer the best benefits and quality of life possible