3 Reasons the job market is challenging today: Does high-tech always lead to high results?

Earlier this week, a career coach asked on LinkedIn whether other coaches have been hearing from clients that jobs are difficult to find. Several other career coaches responded and said “yes.” But how can jobs be difficult to find when the economy is presumably good? The unemployment rate is low, and the stock market hit a record high this week, right? The answer, in my view, is that the metrics we are using are either wrong or incomplete. Here are our thoughts:

1. National unemployment may not matter to you,
2. Too many candidates are applying for the wrong jobs. and
3. Increased job market transparency may create unforeseen issues.

The observations below are based on experience as a career advisor, career coach, resume writer, and retired government economic analyst. Your results may vary.

The low national unemployment rate may not matter to you.

We have been reading for quite some time now that the economy is good. Unemployment nationally has been near 4%. The stock market has been near record high levels despite difficulties related to contentious trade negotiations and military conflicts.

So, why is it difficult to find work in this economy? The reason may be that the overall national unemployment rate has little bearing on your job search. Many industries and employment sectors have their own boom-and-bust cycles. The fossil fuel industry is famous for boom-and-bust cycles, but other industries have cycles, too.

Even worse, each metropolitan area has its own unemployment rate. The local unemployment rate in your city could vary markedly from the national rate, so take the time to research this on the US Department of Labor or your state department of labor Web site.

Monitor the local and industry unemployment rate that is relevant to you. It could be vastly different from what you read in the national press.

Too many candidates apply for the wrong jobs.

It is now incredibly easy to apply for many kinds of jobs. Just click links such as “apply now,” or “easy apply,” upload a resume, and then fill out an online application.

The result is that hundreds, or even thousands of jobseekers apply for every job. Many are not qualified, but why not apply for everything and anything when it is so easy?

The problem is that, when jobseekers apply for everything, they may make it more difficult for everyone to get anything. Hiring teams need to sort through all these applications. Although an ATS system may do much of the work, the most qualified candidate will have to work especially hard to differentiate themselves from the competition.

About forty-eight candidates applied for each advertised job in 1994, the year before Monster.com changed job search forever.

Apply only for jobs that match your skills, abilities, and experience. Every jobseeker could have a better chance to find work when unqualified candidates do not flood the zone.

Job market transparency could create novel issues.

Arguably, the job market is becoming increasingly transparent because of technology and legislation. First, there is a new degree of salary transparency because major areas such as New York City now require salary ranges to be included in many job postings.

Another trend is the wide availability of information about company leadership on LinkedIn. You can find out a lot about the people who will be interviewing you by looking at their LinkedIn profiles. Of course, they wrote the profile themselves, so you are only finding information they want to provide. But curated information is better than getting no information about your interviewers. Much of the time you have had little or no information—the default in the pre-internet era.

This sounds great for jobseekers, right? Wrong! You can get more information about your interviewers on LinkedIn, but they will also have more information about you. You can, and should, edit your resume specifically for each job interview, but your LinkedIn profile is a more-or-less public webpage. You cannot (or at least should not) change your profile or generate different profiles for each interview. Your prospective employer will see your headshot, side hustle, and even the year you finished school, if you included this information on your profile. This is information you normally do not place on a resume.

You are at a disadvantage, though, when you do not include a headshot on a LinkedIn profile because it will be found in fewer searches.

Similarly, while we urge clients not to place their years of school graduation on resumes, it can be advantageous to add the year of your most recent or relevant degree to a LinkedIn profile. LinkedIn can connect you with alumni in your graduating class when you give it the information. As a result, a prospective employer will have this information about you, too.

And do not forget that you and your prospective employer will look at each other’s social media in addition to LinkedIn. So, take those toga party photos off Facebook and Instagram!

The message here is that job market transparency is a two-way street. You can learn more about your prospective employers, but they can also learn a lot more about you.

Conclusion: Recent technology is not necessarily better for your job search.

The Internet and social media revolutions should be making job search quicker and more efficient. Instead, a LinkedIn survey suggests that jobseekers are less confident they will find new jobs, Job search should also be easier because we can apply for hundreds of jobs in the time it once took to apply for just a few positions. And we can learn more about our prospective employers than ever before. But, when everyone can apply for everything, and employers can find too much information, the results will not always be good. So, what can you do?

First, take the time to identify and apply for only the jobs you feel qualified to fill. When more jobseekers do this, employers will have fewer meaningless applications to sort through. Also, manage your social media to ensure prospective employers learn only the good things about you.

Last, but not least, make decisions based on job market analytics that are relevant to you. The national unemployment rate is not relevant to you, for example, if the rate for your metropolitan area is markedly different. And the unemployment rate for your industry and job function may be different, too.

And here is the most important thing to remember. As a coach who trained me once said, “you need only one job. So, it does not matter whether there are 10,000 open jobs in your relevant job market or 100,000 openings.” You will fill only one! Do not be discouraged.