To find or keep a job, it might make sense to become a specialist

Ger Doyle, head of Experis, a division of ManpowerGroup that focuses on staffing and technology services, said he sees employers demanding workers with more targeted skills than those who might be generalists.

“Where we still see demand is strong is in majors,” he told Business Insider.

Doyle said workers with solid experience in areas such as IT and data engineering, sales and marketing, operations and logistics, and manufacturing and production are often still in high demand by employers.

Knowing what many employers are looking for is always important, of course. However, now that the job market is a few years past the Oprah phase — Get a Job! You have a job! — it is important to look for ways to become or stay employed.

Mike DePrisco, president and CEO of the Institute of Management Accountants, a professional association, told BI that many employers are experiencing a “great need” for workers with skills in areas such as data science and IT.

He added that bosses are looking to attract people with analytical skills who can understand financial and accounting principles.

“Those are the skills they tell us they’re hiring for,” he said.

Not surprisingly, some areas in high demand are those involving artificial intelligence. Many organizations are investing a lot of money in technology, betting that it will remake the way most businesses operate.

Experis’ Doyle said part of the reason there might be less appetite for workers whose skills are broader is that bosses might assume they might be the first to be replaced by an AI bot.

Many companies are asking, “Will AI solve many of those more generic roles?” he said.

Doyle said that could hurt demand for entry-level gigs, which often include a bit of menial work. Employers may eventually need more of these workers as it becomes clearer how AI might rewrite job descriptions, but for now, some bosses seem to be on hold.

“The Great Waiting Game”

The caution of employers is evident, to some extent, in the number of open positions for each unemployed person. A few years ago, the ratio was around 2 open positions for every unemployed person. Now, that’s about 1.2, Doyle said. This is still a “very robust” job market, he noted, but it’s cooler.

“The moderation and then stabilization has been very evident over the last 12 months,” Doyle said. He also pointed to a “significant decrease” in the number of job postings in June and July.

The latest evidence of a slowing labor market came on Wednesday, when the government reported that US employers added fewer jobs over the past 12 months than data initially showed.

Doyle described some of what’s going on in the labor market as “a great waiting game.” More workers are lingering in their jobs, and some employers are shedding jobs that aren’t considered critical, he said.

“Postings are down. There’s more competition for roles and with that, people aren’t leaving their jobs at the rate we would have seen in the past,” Doyle said.

This, in turn, reduced the pressure on bosses to raise workers’ wages. He noted that wage growth inflation has fallen to where it was before the pandemic.

Tough times for Gen Z

Doyle said some employers’ preference for specialization among their workers could also be reflected in a drop in demand for recent college graduates. Even with a degree in a field, employers may want people whose major includes several years of experience.

This becomes difficult for some young workers.

“Gen Z is facing a very tough job market right now,” he said.

Doyle cited data from the National Association of Colleges and Employers, which projected in April that total employment for new college graduates would fall 5.8 percent in 2024 from the previous year.

And even when workers specialize in a field where demand remains strong, such as accounting, that doesn’t mean they can forget about so-called soft skills like communication, said DePrisco of the Institute of Management Accountants.

He said many employers he speaks to are willing to train the right workers on the more technical aspects of a role. This could, of course, benefit employers as well as workers by increasing workplace safety.

But for employers to be more willing to bet on them, workers need to show curiosity, innovation and a willingness to collaborate and solve problems, DePrisco said.

“They invest in those individuals who have certain capabilities, certain characteristics that make them a good fit for the organization,” he said.

Have something to share about what you’re seeing in the workplace or job search? Business Insider would like to hear from you. Email our team at work from a non-work device [email protected] with your story or ask for one of our reporter’s signal numbers.