Re: Is just me, or is the techwr market abysmal right now?

[Bruce Byfield <bbyfield -at- axionet -dot- com>]

Johanna wrote:
> 
> Any other freelancers experiencing the same thing or
> is this dark cloud only hanging around my neck of the
> woods?
> 

I'm not actively looking right now - just starting to turn a vague
eye on the market to hedge my bets. However, my impression is that
the job market has slumped, but is still fairly good for experienced
writers. That seems especially true if you're not in Silcon Valley
or any of the high-tech hot beds: just as outlying regions didn't
have a big a share of the dotcom mania, they don't seem to have too
big a share of the slump. 

For example, I'm living (but not working) in the Vancouver area.
Headhunters have contacted me 8 or 9 times since Christmas. By
contrast, in the same period last year, I had at least three times
that amount. Had I been looking for work, I could almost certainly
have been continually employed, since I figure that it takes 3 to 6
interviews for me to land a single job. However, it's equally
certain that I wouldn't have had as much choice as a year ago.

So, the market certainly is worse than it was. But "abysmal" seems
too strong a term. I don't think that the market is any worse than
it was in 1996 or 1997. Of course, considering that I hung around on
the fringes of academia for half a dozen years hoping for a tenured
opening, my idea of "abysmal" may be far worse than most people's. 

However, February and March aren't the best times for job postings
in any year. I think that a clearer picture will emerge in April and
May, when hires could be expected to rise after year end.

-- 
Bruce Byfield 604.421.7177 bbyfield -at- axionet -dot- com

"I never felt myself along, nor truly felt afraid,
Until the hour I understood, by friends we are betrayed,
Whose precious mouths are stopped with food, who cannot meet our
eyes,
Who laugh abut their principles and brush them off like flies."
- Oysterband, "Moving On"

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