What should American job seekers expect with regard to employment opportunities in 2021? According to a recent survey commissioned by Pitchbook and conducted by J. Thelander Consulting in January, prospective employees will find plenty of opportunities to either get their old jobs back or find new ones starting in the spring. It is estimated that 90% of employers will direct their hiring managers and recruiters to fill positions across all sectors and industries. In fact, some companies will initially expand their payrolls because they expect plenty of competition throughout the year.
At the government level, analysts predict that the unemployment rate in the United States will return to what it was in late 2019. It should be noted that one of the salient points of the previous administration was the high level of total employment reached before the World Health Organization declared the coronavirus pandemic. The goal of the new administration is to stimulate the economy to the point of maximum employment, and one of the keys to achieve this will be through solid vaccination campaigns.
An Expansion of the Digital Workforce
Pandemic restrictions during 2020 resulted in an explosion of the work-from-home trend. Employees who never thought their careers would have them telecommuting had no other choice but to set up a home office. Those who prevailed and were able to handle working from home will be in a good position to remain in the workforce; in fact, this kind of experience will be in high demand.
In 2020, consulting firm PwC sought out the opinion of employers who had shifted the majority of their operations to telecommuting situations. About 80% of those who responded to this survey were very pleased with the outcome; moreover, they stated that they were willing to consider the possibility of extending this capacity in the future.
Business news headlines in 2020 also showed that large companies such as Twitter, Facebook, Amazon, Google, and a few airlines were leaning towards having as much of their workforce work on a remote capacity. That, however, didn’t seem to negatively affect the companies performances as initially suspected; Google stock, for instance, registered a 45% increase in its price in 2020. Even business owners who operate small call centers, and who used to outsource this process overseas, are more interested in hiring Americans who can set up a small home office.
If you have experience working from home, you should certainly mention it as part of your personal branding for finding employment. Recruiters who have been tasked with finding telecommuting staff are going to be paying attention to those who have already worked from home, In your resume or personal biography, you should highlight any accolades you have received as a remote worker.
Tech Skills Will Translate Into Higher Salaries
Companies across all sectors expect to continue their ongoing implementation of technology into their operations; for this reason, we can easily understand why job seekers with tech skills will likely be in high demand in 2021. At the same time, it is important for IT workers to understand how their career field is being transformed. This field requires individuals that are eager to learn new things and get updated with the latest trends in technology. And while startup jobs in DC, and other states will continue to grow, you should also know how to grow your career in this industry. Although business owners are willing to pay top dollar for IT experts, competition is bound to be fierce in this regard.
Let’s say you are a junior JavaScript programmer. If you think you are going to be earning the same your peers did a decade ago, you have not been following job trends over the last few years. You will undoubtedly get a job in 2021, but you will be paid a salary that is a far cry from the time when JS programmers were hard to find. Nonetheless, if you have managerial skills plus work experience on top of your junior JS education, you can pivot this into a supervisor or management position where your IT skills will be called upon as a secondary job duty, thus greatly increasing your salary potential.
