Harry Joiner launched his e-commerce recruiting company in 2005. Since then, he has witnessed predictable market fluctuations. Early 2008 was bad, he says. Apparently no e-commerce companies were hiring. The emergence of Covid was equally bad.
But in 2023? “It’s a zoo,” he says. “There are probably two or three times more applicants than jobs.”
Joiner and I last spoke in December 2022. Given the current upheaval in tech employment, I asked him for an update. Here is the interview.
The entire audio of our conversation is embedded below. The transcript has been condensed and edited for clarity.
Kerry Murdock: What is the state of e-commerce employment in mid-2023?
Harry Joiner: It’s a zoo. Great candidates complain that their job search is taking too long, and I think that’s because companies use LinkedIn’s Easy Apply feature in their postings. It’s easy to apply for a job with this feature and companies receive hundreds of applicants – 300-400 within 72 hours. And this is leading to paralysis by overwhelm.
It’s a very messy space now, with full-time and part-time executives, temps, and fractional, project-based consultants. There are probably two or three times more applicants than jobs.
Murdock: Are all job postings flowing through LinkedIn these days?
Town hall: LinkedIn has 900 million individual profiles. That’s about 13% of the world’s population. I see candidates being hired without a resume rather than a LinkedIn profile. I haven’t seen a single candidate hired in the last 10 years without a LinkedIn profile. Not a single instance.
Murdock: Are employers looking for a specific e-commerce skill set?
Town hall: With eCommerce resumes, we look at three areas of expertise on behalf of our clients. There is direct-to-consumer marketing and demand generation. Then there is DTC technology and operations. And the third is the experience of Amazon and the third-party marketplace. I am looking for candidates with significant achievements in at least one of these areas. I can usually tell from their LinkedIn profile if they can bring value to my client.
Murdock: What about working remotely versus in the office?
Town hall: Fewer positions seem to be remote because everyone is applying for these roles. Everyone wants to work from their kitchen table. There are many jobs suitable for remote work. Search engine optimization is a good example. Customer acquisition, for the most part, can be done remotely.
But general management positions typically need to be in an office, given the number of interactions and tasks.
Murdock: You started your company in 2005. Has there been more of a zoo than there is now?
Town hall: The first six months of 2008 were worse. The first period of Covid was worse. But the situation now is madness: a kind of chronic madness that probably won’t go away. There is remote work, part-remote work, contract work and a dynamically changing economy. We are starting to see the effects of artificial intelligence, for example.
But conversely, there has never been a better time to start an e-commerce business given the available and affordable tools and online shopping habits of consumers. But ease of entry means there’s never been more competition.
Murdock: You mentioned AI. Can you elaborate?
Town hall: Many e-commerce companies are experimenting with this, but I have yet to see AI displace anyone. However, I have seen companies pull back from hiring to adopt a wait-and-see attitude.
Murdock: Are ChatGPT message operators an emerging profession?
Town hall: There’s no substitute for human insight—it’s what separates A-players from everyone else in the market.
ChatGPT is a miracle. But you can’t take the first thing he gives you and take it to the market or present it to your boss. Everyone goes for that easy answer. But easy answers make no difference. In the future, money will be in reflective differentiation.
Murdock: Where can listeners catch you?
Town hall: They can visit EcommerceRecruiter.com or EcommerceJobs.com. HarryJoiner.com redirect to my LinkedIn profile.
[ad_2]
Source link
