How many times have I heard this in the last four months? At least 100!

Every week for the past four months I have been speaking to recruiters and the HR Departments at a variety of banks and they have all been telling me the same thing: "Things are slow now, but they will pick up".

Lets dissect this statement.

"Things are slow now..."

The job market definitely is slow now and has been for close to a year, ever since the Lehman Brothers collapse of Sept. 2008. Then we had the collapse of the financial markets which rudely followed, along with several other tumultuous events (Madoff, Mortgages, and Goodwin - aka Fred of RBS). So yes, the job market is slow because no one is hiring.

There are so many people looking for work who have held very good jobs at other banks that there is a glut of talent on the market now.

Hence, things are slow because there are too many people looking and not enough jobs.

"...but will pick up"

I cringe when I hear the rest of the sentence. How do these people know when the market will pick up? Do they have a crystal ball which tells them the job market will improve enough to give all the out of work people employment soon? When exactly will this take place? I want to ask them to give me an exact date so I can plan a holiday before all these job offers come my way once it picks up. And by the way, what exactly do you mean by 'pick up'?

Even my friends and ex-colleagues have started telling me the same thing: "It's slow now but will pick up."

Personally, I just can't wait until I start hearing the phrase: "Things have picked up but will slow down soon!"

Here Is The Writer : Tim Baros

Tim Baros has worked in the derivatives industry for several large financial institutions in both the U.S. and the U.K., and one now-defunct financial products company. Tim moved from New York City to London in 2003 to take advantage of the many job opportunities that London had to offer in the banking sector, easily qualifying for a Highly Skilled Migrant Programme Visa. Unemployed but now a UK resident, Tim spends some of his day looking for another job in finance and other parts of the day either at the gym, in the pubs, clubs, or just about anywhere, really.

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