When big layoffs began in tech last year, accountants everywhere justifiably celebrated for having chosen a career that may not be the most prestigious (or exciting or lucrative…) but will always be in demand.
While their employees were quietly boasting about not losing their jobs, it seems EY leadership was waiting in the wings hoping to snap up some of the newly-liberated tech talent. Hilariously, that didn’t work out for them.
At the World Economic Forum in Davos this week, EY CEO and future King of Advisory Carmine Di Sibio told Bloomberg that “it’s business as usual” when it comes to hiring, which means the firm is having trouble finding talent though he didn’t say as much. In fact he said the opposite. Gotta keep up appearances for that consulting IPO after all.
“We’re not struggling to source talent, but it’s not like we’re seeing a rash of talent that’s all of a sudden available,” he said. “If you just read the headlines around what’s going on, you might think, there’s all kinds of people who know technology out there.”
According to layoffs.fyi, 1035 tech companies laid off 15,8951 employees in 2022. This week, Google and Microsoft laid off 22,000 people between them, making the total 55,863 for 2023 so far. That’s a lot of talent! Talent that isn’t running to EY.
The firm said last year that it expects to sift through three million resumes this year and is on track to hire 220,000 people by its fiscal year-end in July. We were hearing some grumblings of hiring freezes at EY in the last few months so who knows, maybe they really are the only accounting firm on the planet not having big hiring problems (other than when it comes to tech talent, that is).
Perhaps tech workers aren’t desperate enough. Wrote WSJ only a few weeks ago:
Most laid off tech workers are finding jobs shortly after beginning their search, a new survey shows, as employers continue to scoop up workers in a tight labor market.
About 79% of workers recently hired after a tech-company layoff or termination landed their new job within three months of starting their search, according to a ZipRecruiter survey of new hires. That was just below the 83% share of all laid-off workers who were re-employed in the same time frame.
Nearly four in 10 previously laid off tech workers found jobs less than a month after they began searching, ZipRecruiter found in the survey.
“Despite the widespread layoffs, hiring freezes, and cost-cutting taking place in tech, many tech workers are finding reemployment remarkably quickly,” said Julia Pollak, chief economist at ZipRecruiter. “They’re still the most sought-after workers with the most in-demand skills.”
Do these tech workers know about the unlimited PTO?? Tell them about the unlimited PTO!
Jobs Market Is Still Tight Despite Layoffs, EY CEO Says [Bloomberg]
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