The return of upward mobility Summary List Placement In the 25 years that Dawn Fay has been in the recruiting business, she''s seen a hot job market several times. But nothing, she says, comes close to the frenzy she''s seeing right now, as the economy begins to boom in the wake of the pandemic. "It''s just wild," Fay, a senior district president at the staffing firm Robert Half , told me. "There is so much movement in the market. The churn is amazing to see." "Churn" may be something of an understatement: It''s downright chaos at HR departments across the US. So many Americans have quit their jobs this spring that the resignation rate has skyrocketed to a two-decade high. And people aren''t just looking to switch employers. Many are taking advantage of the market to supercharge their careers, landing positions with higher salaries and better opportunities for advancement. Some are jumping into new professions altogether. Others are climbing the ladder at their current workplace, snagging promotions that wouldn''t have been on offer before the pandemic.