Rick M is based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He is a CCXP, has worked on the CXPA’s Book of Knowledge and he’s been searching for a full time CX role for five years.
“I was looking at online job ads this morning. When I see ones that say 300 or 600 [applicants], I don’t think much of it, to me that’s like, ‘okay, whatever, it’s only 600 people’,” Rick told Customer Experience News.
“But when I see it’s into the 800s, or 1,000s — I saw one that had over 8,600 — I don’t even bother,” he added.
There is no data available on the number of CX roles being cut, but anecdotally, there’s broad agreement that roles are being culled – certainly within US corporations. Many practitioners fatalistically expect cutbacks in marketing and CX at the first sign of economic uncertainty.
“We’re just one of the first ones cut because companies look at us and we don’t bring money in,” said Heather S, a CX job seeker.
Heather, who is 40 was made redundant for the fourth time in December last year.
Laura C, an experienced CX professional, who was let go from her position with a car maker in 2023, after 16 years, agrees that businesses in the US don’t all see the value of CX.
“In CX we haven’t always done a great job of demonstrating our worth to the organisation. We don’t talk in a language that aligns with the business, so the expertise isn’t valued.”
Prepare for a brutal job market
The job market for unemployed customer experience pros is often “brutal” warned Rick. Entrepreneur Magazine noted last year that high-value knowledge worker roles could become obsolete.
Jerry Seufert, CEO of Fresh Air runs a weekly drop-in group for job seekers on the Customer Experience Professionals Association’s (CXPA) open forum. According to Coach Jerry (as he is better known), landing a CX role is getting “harder and harder”.
“The number of purpose-built customer experience functions is declining. The functions are being sent to other places in organisations,” explained Seufert.
“In some cases, it’s outsourced to consultants. But even there, you’re not seeing the large investments of a couple of years ago,” he added.
CX pros spilling onto the job market are finding that job hunting has changed massively in the last five years.
Keywords are all important
The use of artificial intelligence and applicant tracking systems (ATS) to screen job seekers, almost makes the narrative information on a CV irrelevant. Now keywords matter as much — perhaps more — than experience.
“I could fill two pages and hit every keyword, but it would be meaningless,” Ken T, an attendee of the weekly drop-in group, told CXM.
“I’m not saying that some of those keywords don’t relate to the job, but it is not going to get them the best candidate,” he added.
It’s not just AI. Using job platforms like LinkedIn is becoming less productive. Rick has almost abandoned applying for roles online due to the high rate of ‘ghost jobs’, and a low success rate. “I just thought, why am I spending all this time on something that I’m not getting results from?”
The “spray and pray” approach to job applications encouraged by ‘easy apply’ functions on job websites also makes it harder for even good CVs to cut through the chaff.
People applying for CX jobs are being ghosted
It’s not worth pointing out the irony of people applying for CX jobs, being ghosted by HR departments.
Coach Jerry has seen all these challenges and more, while running the drop-in group for the last two years. Partly in response to the loneliness and isolation during COVID, Seufert, a superlative networker, started a small support group in 2021.
The first rule of the drop-in club is ‘never search alone’. It gives job hunters an opportunity to plug-in for ideas, emotional support and opportunities.
It’s a “no prep, no homework, no money, drop in and share, and be at home, kind of a thing”, explained Seufert.
The group also has a private LinkedIn chat, where members share job openings or ask for connections at particular organisations. “One of the powers of the group is that there is almost always someone who knows somebody,” he added.
Perhaps ironically, for an online support group, Seufert recommends that members stop spinning their wheels online and switch to personal networking.
The group has hosted several closed-door meetings designed to develop networking skills for members.
Never search alone
The sessions provide the “space to explore and talk through” the issues they have with personal networking. “More than half [of the group] will tell you that before this current period of job searching, they’d never done personal networking,” commented Seufert.
It’s easy to imagine that Coach Jerry is never at home. “We talk about the different ways you can network. It’s not just going out for a coffee with somebody. It is volunteering, it being active with your local CXPA chapter,” he added.
With the job market getting tougher and roles changing, CX practitioners need to adapt to thrive. That could mean broadening job search parameters, shifting industry-verticals, or falling back on previous career experiences. It may even mean taking a pay cut.
“If you haven’t altered your tactics, [since] last time you got a CX job, you’re probably falling flat on your face,” warned Seufert.
“Instead of pure CX roles, perhaps it’s 80% CX and 20% marketing communications. That’s OK — you’re just following changes in the market,” he added.
Laura C, a regular with Coach Jerry’s group, is following that advice. She is now looking at project management positions.
Pivot to survive?
Michelle K, has been a model of flexibility since taking voluntary redundancy from a major US auto-maker. After 27 years with the same firm, she took a short sabbatical, before starting her own consultancy.
Michelle recently pivoted again, accepting a role with a bank. She took a substantial pay cut to join the bank.
“For me, culture is the most important thing. I don’t need a title, I don’t need a huge salary. I just need enough to get by for the next five or six years,” she added.
Michelle has been aided in her job quest by a career coach. For Michelle the drop-in group and her career coach have formed a vital support network that’s guided her job hunt.
Others have had less success working with a career coach. Heather S spent $200 with a career coach, but “didn’t learn anything” that she didn’t already know.
Decisions about navigating the career marketplace come down to personal choice. Some will take a step back in salary terms, if it opens up opportunities further down the line. Some will tough it out, hoping to secure the perfect job.
Regardless, everybody in the CX world needs to be prepared for change as corporations reassess customer experience strategy.
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