“Be grateful I’m underpaid and under-worshiped, you say?”

Ten years ago, I wrote about how the job market had yet again changed — just before the IT bubble burst. Jobseekers were in ample supply as online job boards such as Monster and CareerBuilder took hold and changed how jobseekers searched for jobs and how employers filled openings.

Millions of jobseekers were looking for greener grasses, while online job boards seemed to spring up and prosper with little effort. Those with an updated resume were on the market; some were active jobseekers while others were merely passive seekers.

Fast forward to now, and well, the job-search landscape has changed yet again to almost beyond recognition. Major Job boards saw declines in 2008, and are seeing declines in traffic and revenues this year as well [i.e. Monster.com's 2nd Quarter revenue is down by 37% compared to last year], probably for one main reason: employers are seeing shorter supplies of money. They once gladly paid job boards for their job listings, but now with shrinking sales, these same employers are hiring less. It’s a ripple effect. Employers don’t pay job boards for advertising job openings they can’t afford to fill, or have purposely absorbed as part of a cost-cutting measure.

So, who should stay put? Unless you’ve been under a rock, you know the state of today’s job market — jobs [even minimum-wage jobs] are in short supply. The retail sector is feeling the pinch like never before, according to a NYTimes.com article entitled Retailers Report a Sales Collapse [based on holiday season 2008 financials].

In short, don’t expect to easily land a retail job these days either — as the retail industry continues to take financial blows.

Let’s put this in perspective: even a bad job is a *great* job at this stage of the game, so my overall advice is to stay put. Don’t make a job move unless you’re absolutely forced.

Tough it out if you can stomach it. =]

Yes, you may feel overworked, under-worshiped, under-paid, and abused on some level, but as long as those weekly payroll deposits keep showing up, well, how bad can that job actually be?

(Originally Written November 2008; Revised and Updated September 2009)

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