LinkedIn’s chief economic opportunity officer, Aneesh Raman, advises job seekers—especially recent graduates facing record-high unemployment—to focus on skill-building and crafting a compelling ‘story of self’ to stand out in a slowing job market shaped by AI and hiring declines
BUSINESS INSIDER
LinkedIn’s chief economic opportunity officer is familiar with the challenges facing job seekers, from slower hiring to AI, but he also sees opportunity.
Aneesh Raman told Business Insider that he believes job seekers can build meaningful careers by identifying their strengths, continuing to learn, and creating what he calls a “story of self.”
This is especially important for young people. In the New York Fed’s analysis of 35 years of jobs data, the unemployment rate for recent college graduates between the ages of 22 and 27 hasn’t exceeded the broader US jobless rate by as much as it did in March, the most recent month available: 5.8% of recent graduates were unemployed, compared with 4% of workforce ages 16 to 65.
However, recent grads aren’t the only ones struggling to find work. Excluding a brief pandemic-related dip, US businesses are hiring at nearly the lowest rate since 2013, per the Bureau of Labor Statistics data. Layoffs remain low by historical standards, but for many who need a job, the market is considerably tougher than it was a few years ago.