The 2024-25 layoff cohort is being reabsorbed unevenly

Absorption of engineers displaced during the last two years has been uneven: senior specialists in security, data and infrastructure are placed quickly, while generalist mid-level candidates report searches stretching past six months.

A visible share of candidates have moved into healthcare, defence and industrial employers, where technology teams are still growing.

Employers who accept adjacent-industry experience are filling roles faster than those insisting on direct domain matches.

In technology, the practical consequence is that briefs written a year ago no longer match the market. Roles defined as broad, generalist engineering attract volume without depth, while narrowly specified senior roles attract almost nobody through advertising alone. We usually recommend splitting the requirement: define the two or three capabilities that genuinely cannot be trained, then treat everything else as developable.

Across the US, the pattern is regional rather than national. Aggregate figures hide markets that are still extremely tight, so we benchmark by metro and sector rather than by country-level averages.

If you are hiring in technology right now, the practical takeaway is to shorten your process and be explicit about what is genuinely non-negotiable. Fewer, better matched candidates almost always beat a longer list — and in a market moving this quickly, speed of decision is itself a competitive advantage.