As I reflect on the year 2023 during the holiday week, it is inescapable how much the world has changed in recent years. New technology has transformed business and the way we search for jobs in business.Those of us that began careers in the 1980s and 1990s (and earlier) may have found the changes especially unsettling. And those of us who entered the job market more recently may feel the advice we receive from parents, teachers, and seasoned co-workers is quaint and irrelevant.
Periodically, I encounter jobseekers that want to do things the “old-fashioned” or “old-school” way. While certain old-school approaches are still valuable, jobseekers will get better positions in less time when they embrace technology-driven job search strategies.
So, what lessons can we learn from recent history?
Technology has driven a job search revolution.
A business process known as digital transformation has driven revolutionary changes in the way we search for work. Tasks employees once did are now done via digital devices, AI-enabled software, and the World Wide Web.
For example, we once filled out paper job applications. A data entry person entered them into the company’s database and then someone put the paper in a file drawer. Now, we do the data entry ourselves via an online application form. The data entry operator is gone. So is the file clerk that put the paper application in a file cabinet.
Here are a few of the changes we’ve seen from the job applicant’s perspective:
- We printed and mailed out resumes and cover letters,
- Jobseekers could walk around and fill out job applications,
- An interview meant we received an appointment over the phone and went to an employer’s office.
The process was time-consuming. As a result, fewer candidates applied for each job. .
Digital transformation has changed job search.
Digital transformation has changed many business practices, including job search. We don’t fill out job applications on paper anymore, or send employers printed resumes. Instead, we apply for jobs electronically, and employer screening is electronic..
Now, computer software—perhaps AI enabled–scans resumes and LinkedIn profiles to identify potential candidates. Next, we may be screened via video conference app or on the telephone before anyone agrees to meet with us.
We used to wear out shoe-leather.
When my classmates and I finished college in 1979, we typed resumes, or had someone do it for us, and then took them to an offset printing service. They had to be printed on bond paper with the watermark up. We mailed out resumes in response to ads in the New York Times or local Penny Saver, or we walked around Manhattan dropping resumes off at banks, insurance companies, colleges, etc., and filling out applications in their HR or personnel departments.
A recruiter told me that in 1994, about the last year before job search started going online, employers received less than 50 resumes in response to their newspaper ads.
Typically in the pre-internet era, a few places called us on the phone in response to our resume submission and then we met with the HR or personnel representative for a half-hour interview. The staffer then passed us on to the hiring manager if she or he thought we qualified for the job based on more-or-less random questions.
Some of us walked around to temp agencies where we took paper-and-pencil tests and then got sent out on assignments.
When a client tried this “old-school” approach last year, he got disappointing results. Every agency he visited instructed him to apply online and take their online skills tests.
This trend started well before the Pandemic. A few entry-level clients have told me they were allowed to use terminals in the HR department lobby to complete an online application. They did not get an edge by filling out the application in the lobby instead of using their own computer at home.
Now we wear out our keyboards and smartphone screens.
Today, employers normally post jobs to their websites and online job sites such as Indeed.com. It is common, a recruiter told me, for employers to receive more than 290 resumes in response to a posting. As a result, the best way to process them equitably is to receive the resumes in electronic form for processing and storage.
All of those resumes are processed through an automated applicant tracking system, or ATS. Recruiters and HR staff search using keywords to cull the resumes they will read. In other words, there’s a good chance no one will read your resume unless it has the correct keywords, even if you are qualified for the job.
Experts estimate that about 25% of electronic resumes submitted get through automated screening. Once a candidate gets through the ATS, an HR rep will probably send an email to screen the candidate via Zoom, Skype, FaceTime, or telephone. I’ve even received automated emails with interview appointments, or instructions for the next step.
There is often an intermediate step before the interview appointment. My clients frequently receive emails asking them to take skills tests online first. Then, the recruiter or the automated system will schedule an interview.
The interview itself may not be a free-flowing conversation anymore, either. Companies and public agencies often conduct structured, “behavioral” interviews with specific standard questions to elicit comparable responses from each candidate while reducing the risk of bias.
Some old-school approaches will improve your results.
The recruiters I’ve spoken with agree that one aspect of job search has not changed much in the past half-century. About 80% of the jobs that are advertised do not exist. Perhaps 80% of the real openings are not advertised. Openings that do not exist are posted for a variety of compliance reasons and internal company needs.
A job may be unavailable to you even if it is advertised and vacant. For example, I once applied for a college career counselor job that had more than 270 applicants. After two interview rounds, I was one of two finalists. The career office hired the other finalist–an acquaintance that already worked there as a consultant.
A strategy that can avoid nonexistent jobs, or jobs that are not available to outside applicants, is to get referred for a job, the same way many of us found jobs before the 1990s. According to a 2013 New York Times article, employers are also most likely to hire based on referrals from current employees. In other words, your peers may refer you in.
But apply a modern twist to your old-school networking. Search your LinkedIn connections for friends, acquaintances, former co-workers, and schoolmates that work for companies you want to work for. Take advantage of the holiday season to get in touch with them and start a conversation! If you don’t have a LinkedIn network, use the holiday break to build one. Start your New Year off by combining online job search with 20th century in-person networking to land work faster in 2024!
Guide to the Post-pandemic Job Market
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