I received an email over the weekend from a Recruiter on the West Coast who heard in advance that CitiGroup would be laying off 23,000 workers. Ouch! When the news of the layoff arrived yesterday, the number had swollen to 53,000! Now, according to the BusinessWeek article below, the numbers are 23,000 PLUS 52,000!
Aiming for 300,000 Head Count
Any way you slice it, the number of jobs Citigroup is shedding is huge. Chief Executive Vikram Pandit has already cut 23,000 positions, bringing the number of employees to 352,000 as of Sept. 30. With the Nov. 17 announcement, the bank says it is aiming for a head count of 300,000 during the first half of 2009—an additional 14% reduction. Citigroup’s executives are racing to match expenses to its declining business: Over the past nine months, the company has lost $10 billion. http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash/content/nov2008/db20081117_319455.htm
We are also hearing of deeper cuts at DHL as they effectively close their US ground delivery service. This combined with the continued negotiation for a bailout of the Big 3 Automakers, and several other newsworthy layoffs, the local job market is in a sluggish state.
From the Recruiters chair, the job requirements are fewer, and the feedback from hiring managers is hit or miss. The typical responses we get are: ‘we are busy and still reviewing resumes’; ‘the manager is off for a few days and will get back to you’; etc., ad nauseum. Overall, many Employers are stalling in their hiring decisions, while others have just stopped releasing new requirements.
In the past, employers traditionally ramp up hiring post-major election, but 2008, with all of the economic woes, has not seen the same return to normalcy. Hopefully this will be a very temporary lull in hiring, and as the Holidays approach and managers finalize staffing numbers for ’09, the job orders will come flooding in!
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