'Worse Than Being Ghosted.' Job Seekers Slam Silent Hiring Freezes as Federal Reserve Says AI Now Replacing Entry-Level Jobs Across the U.S.

For occupation seekers slogging done months of interviews, callbacks, and follow-ups, there's 1 happening worse than being ghosted: getting the occupation — and past losing it to a hiring freeze.

"I got the job, and past didn't," 1 applicant wrote connected Reddit aft learning their connection had been yanked astatine the past minute. The interrogation was real. The recruiter was excited. The squad "loved" the candidate's background. But earlier the authoritative connection could land, the institution pulled the plug owed to a abrupt hiring freeze. "It's astir worse than being ghosted," the applicant added.

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They're not alone. One idiosyncratic said they were told their literal "dream job" was placed connected indefinite hold. Another went done a four-hour interview, met the afloat squad — lone to beryllium near with thing but silence. "This hurts more," 1 wrote, "because the occupation was real."

What galore suspected is present confirmed: companies are slamming the brakes connected hiring, adjacent aft making verbal offers. And this time, it's not conscionable anecdotal vexation — it's backed by authoritative data.

According to the Federal Reserve's latest Beige Book, a nationalist survey of concern conditions crossed the cardinal bank's 12 districts, "employment declined somewhat implicit the existent period," with astir fractional of districts reporting weaker labour demand. Hiring freezes were named explicitly, alongside strategies similar "replacement-only hiring," attrition, and reduced hours.

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In Kansas, portion of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City's 10th District, the Beige Book noted that assemblage contacts observed a softening labour marketplace and greater hazard aversion among employers. Layoffs successful some the backstage and nationalist sectors were starring to an influx of overqualified applicants for a constricted fig of unfastened roles, making it harder for displaced workers to unafraid jobs comparable to their erstwhile ones.

Rather than expanding headcount, companies were "investing much successful upskilling existent workers successful lieu of hiring," though that grooming often failed to effect successful advancement oregon higher pay. At the aforesaid time, workers were hesitant to prosecute outer grooming programs without a wide nexus to wage increases. And amid the uncertainty, "workers were little apt to permission existent jobs owed to the tighter occupation market."