(TNND) — These aren’t the easiest times to find a new job, and an influx of federal workers to the applicant pool might make it even harder.

LinkedIn says about 1 million more people signaled they are “#OpenToWork” last month on their profile, bringing the total to nearly 40 million in the U.S.

Hiring in January slowed across all industries by 4.2% compared to last year, LinkedIn said.

And the professional networking site said it saw a spike in applicants in the capital region who are government workers.

LinkedIn career expert Andrew McCaskill said the site’s data clearly shows a very competitive jobs market.

“It’s more competitive than it’s been in a long time,” he said.

Federal layoffs should add more pressure to the system, McCaskill said.

“And it’s really going to require job seekers to have a different level of strategy and a different level of networking than they ever had before to break through in this particular moment,” he said.

Recruiters, meanwhile, are fatigued from too many applicants, McCaskill said.

“They’re getting people who are just applying to everything, and they’ve got to figure out how to sift through that and get to the people who are actual, viable candidates,” he said.

He said the private sector might not have the capacity to absorb an infusion of public sector labor.

“That’s beyond just your typical supply and demand,” McCaskill said.

Labor economist Aaron Sojourner said there’s plenty to like about the current labor market.

The unemployment rate remains low at 4%.

Employment rates are very high for working-age people.

Layoff rates are low.

Wage growth has been relatively strong, although it’s been coming down.

“But there are definitely signs of weakness,” Sojourner said. “The most problematic issue in the labor market is that it’s been really hard for job seekers to find jobs.”

Hiring rates started falling after the Federal Reserve started raising interest rates a few years ago as a lever to tame inflation.

Sojourner said the hiring rates are now at about a decade low.

McCaskill said LinkedIn is seeing about 2.5 applicants for every job, up from about 1.5 applicants for every job a year ago.

“For most people who want to be working, they’re working,” said Sojourner, who is a senior economist at the W. E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research. “Their jobs are pretty stable. They’re getting some wage increases. The layoff rates, the firing rates have been at record lows … but there is a small group of people, of job seekers, who’ve been kind of stuck.”

Sojourner said it’s too soon to really know the impact of federal layoffs on the wider jobs market, but he said there are sure to be negative effects.

And he said it might not just be federal workers who are out of a job.

Canceled government contracts or grants might ripple through the economy, decreasing business in some sectors or companies and forcing private-industry layoffs.

McCaskill offered some advice to federal employees who need new work.

Professional services, manufacturing, hospitals and health care, and education are industries where government workers have typically found a home after their public service.

Education and health care are hiring at prepandemic levels, he said.

Government workers might need to learn the cultural differences in the private sector, though.

“Many people who have spent their careers in government, they talk about their skills in a very different way than how people talk about their skills in the private sector,” McCaskill said.

For example, what a government worker might call “constituency services” might translate to “stakeholder management” or “consumer engagement” in the business world, he said.

McCaskill urged every job seeker, including government workers, to research how they need to refer to their particular skills on resumes and LinkedIn profiles in a way that they’ll be picked up by recruiting tools.

“Most recruiters are using skills and skills language to search for talent,” McCaskill said.

Talk about skills language with people in your professional network, McCaskill said. Look at job postings to see the skills language they are using.

And include soft skills, or human skills, that are coveted across industries.

LinkedIn’s most in-demand skill two years in a row was communication, McCaskill said.

And he said recruiters are looking for teamwork and leadership skills in applicants.

“I know people sometimes leave those things off, but they’re really important in terms of what recruiters are looking for,” McCaskill said. “Hiring managers want to know that this is someone who I can put on a team and they can adapt. They can pivot and not panic.”

Rehearse your interviewing skills with colleagues or others rooting for you to succeed.

And McCaskill said his most important tip for any job seeker is to “be adaptable.”

But, he said, “It’s a strategy play, not even a volume play at this point.”