Richmond's brutal job market: AI, ghost jobs and fierce competition
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Illustration: Gabriella Turrisi/Axios
It's a brutal time to be looking for work in RVA, job-hunting locals tell Axios.
Why it matters: Fewer real jobs, more fake ones. AI is driving down job postings while Richmonders chase "ghost jobs" — listings that companies don't plan to fill.
- On top of that, competition is increasing with more laid-off federal workers, as some businesses consider hiring pauses due to the government shutdown.
By the numbers: Active job postings in metro Richmond are down 21% compared to this time last year, per data from Richmond-based economic firm Chmura Economics & Analytics's JobsEQ software.
- Jobs are still being added, but at a slower pace than a year ago, Christine Chmura, the firm's CEO and chief economist, tells Axios.
- Meanwhile, around 26,000 people in metro Richmond are unemployed, per Chmura's latest stats, up 12% from last year.
State of play: Axios spoke with a half-dozen Richmonders who are out of work or were recently unemployed.
- All described an increasingly competitive labor market and shared frustrations about a largely virtual job hunting process that feels more like one is "shouting into the void" — in the words of one job hunter.
- And AI isn't just taking jobs — it's sometimes even running the hiring process.
Zoom in: At least that's how it seemed to Jack Goodall, who was laid off from a local real estate firm in May.
- Goodall was surprised to discover AI is being used to write job postings, parse resumes and set up interviews.
- He even had a full job screener — via video — with an AI agent, which appeared as a "pulsating ball," asked follow-up questions and gave feedback like, "That's really interesting."
- "It was a pretty bizarre experience," Goodall says. He did not get that job, but did find one last month after interviewing with humans.
Meanwhile, Paul Burford — a federal employee of 17 years who lost his job in February — would spend hours writing tailored resumes and cover letters for jobs he felt qualified for, only to not hear back or worse:
- Get an AI-generated rejection saying his application was thoroughly reviewed and found lacking, seconds after hitting submit.
- Burford spent eight months on the hunt before landing a new job in September.
Geoff Zindren — who was laid off in May from Kings Dominion, one of the "unspecified number" of full-time park workers let go this year — found irony in AI's use in the process.
- Specifically, that job ads are increasingly asking candidates to verify they didn't use AI for their resume — postings written by AI for roles requiring AI familiarity at companies using AI to screen candidates.
The bottom line: The three job hunters collectively applied for more than 300 open roles over the course of multiple months.
- And collectively they landed roughly a dozen interviews.
What we're watching: Richmond and Virginia's unemployment rates have been hovering below the national average this year, Chmura notes.
- But a just-released economic forecast by UVA's Weldon Cooper Center projects that rate will rise through the rest of the year — and surpass the national average by next year.