Relax: You Aren’t The Only Applicant Jerked Around By Employers

Numbers of job openings has increased to levels not seen since financial crisis

It’s frustrating. You interview for a job, it goes well, and the employer tells you they’ll call you back for an additional interview. And then they actually follow through! You go in for interview numbers two, three and four. By meeting number five, you’re starting to feel like they’re just jerking you around. Washington-based video editor Paul Sullivan, the brother pictured above, knows all about it. “After they call you back after the sixth interview, there’s a part of you that wants to say, ‘That’s it, I’m not going back,’ ” Sullivan, 43, told the New York Times. “But then you think, hey, maybe seven is my lucky number. And besides, if I don’t go, they’ll just eliminate me if something else comes up because they’ll think I have an attitude problem.” It’s like the ultimate catch 22 for young professionals, right? It turns out that Sullivan probably isn’t being purposely tortured. The number of unfilled job openings has increased to levels not seen since the height of the financial crisis, but vacancies are staying unfilled for much longer than they used to. According to a new measure of Labor Department data, openings go unfilled for an average of 23 business days today compared to a low of 15 in mid-2009. John Sullivan, a management professor at San Francisco State University, explains: “There’s a fear that the economy is going to go down again, so the message you get from C.F.O.’s is to be careful about hiring someone… There’s this great fear of making a mistake, of wasting money in a tight economy.” So, you young professional, take a breather and keep on looking. (NYTimes)

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