Everything else is happening at small companies. He predicts that as severance pay and unemployment benefits dwindle, more job candidates will downsize their expectations of getting picked up by one of the Fortune 400. Maria Thompson is feeling the benefits. Outside the executive suite and hot fields such as technology and sales, most small companies can't afford the salaries and benefits that corporate refugees are used to. In many cases, the salaries paid in the boom years weren't realistic anyway, say employment experts.
Some small companies fill the bill.
Although overall the corporate layoffs are good for small businesses, the job-market math remains tricky. The newly jobless don't always have the right skills, and some will live off union benefits, severance, or unemployment benefits while waiting for the downturn to improve. Others come from the ranks that would fill the thousands of openings at small companies for home health aides and retail clerks. For this reason, recruiters say, some businesses would still rather lure away someone who's already employed elsewhere. Also complicating the layoff-hiring equation is the fact that some small companies also are scaling back spending until the economic outlook becomes clearer.