The Purple Squirrel

New Job Skills Required: Unemployed Find Old Jobs Now Require More Skills: "Human resource specialists say employers who increasingly need multi-skilled employees aren't willing to settle for less. They'd rather wait and hold jobs vacant...

...A company might have had three back-office jobs before the recession, Altig said. Only one of those jobs might have required computer skills. Now, he said, one person is doing all three of those jobs – and every job you fill has to have computer skills.'...

...HR specialists even have a nickname for the highly sought but elusive job candidate whose skills and experiences precisely match an employer's needs: the 'purple squirrel.'"