The Great Job Hunt Lottery
Welcome to the era of algorithms and ghosting — it’s not pretty
With the change from December to January we think about fresh starts, renewed efforts, and new beginnings — maybe more than ever once this year is over. If you’re one of the millions of Americans looking for a job, you may be considering a resume refresh; maybe you’re even giving thought to paying someone to help you get the attention your experience deserves.
It hasn’t been that many years since looking for a job meant writing out a resume, printing multiple copies, and sending them off snail-mail — taking them straight to the post office to make sure they would get to the intended destination as soon as possible. Then you’d wait by the phone, hoping for that call to schedule an interview.
The odd thing is that much of the time you would actually get a call. The typical job posting would net a couple of dozen applicants at the most, except in the most extreme times. Someone at the employer would actually read your resume, and if your qualifications were close to the requirements, you’d get a call to come in for an interview.
Then progress happened. Jobs are now posted online: the company website, LinkedIn, numerous job boards. Postings that might have gotten 20–30 applicants now get 200–300. Since COVID-19, they might get 1,500.
No one reads those resumes anymore. Applicant tracking software (ATS) now does the initial triage work, looking for keywords, skills, and education matches. If any of the required criteria are missing, then it’s off to the discard pile, never to be seen again. Don’t expect a phone call. Or an email. Or even an acknowledgment that your resume has been received and rejected. Welcome to the new systematized job search.
No one reads those resumes anymore.
It’s a time-honored human tradition that as soon as there is a system, there will be attempts made to game that system. Do a Google search for ATS and you can get lost in the myriad options for slipping through the ATS filter and being seen by a real human. Many of these suggestions are free (and worth every penny). Many are pay-to-play options — LinkedIn is full of folks who have “discovered the secret” of getting past ATS.
From format to font to filename, the experts will unlock the secrets of ATS — for a price.
But even if you get past the dreaded ATS gatekeeper, you still must compete with a massive number of applicants all vying to get the job for which you are uniquely qualified. The next stop is HR, who will look at your resume, Google you to see if you’ve been in prison, and maybe add you to the “call” pile. If you’re not too old, or too something else.
For many job applicants, the search becomes a numbers game. They send out hundreds of resumes, post on every job board, tweaking keywords and background for each. And getting that job is still largely a matter of luck and who you know. The best way to get an interview is still via a recommendation from someone who knows someone who can get you in.
We’ve come a long way since the days of posting a help wanted sign in the window or running an ad in the paper. But it hasn’t all been progress. Today’s job search is little more than a lottery, with success rates being slightly better for job hunters.
In this scenario of bots, massive applications, and ghosted responses, both job seekers and job posters lose out.
Employers may gravitate to ATS for its ease of use, but in doing so they are ceding their ability to find a rose among the thorns to some AI bot that sees only what it’s told to look for. There is no chance of standing out with a unique format (rejected) or offering a different perspective (rejected).
In this scenario of bots, massive applications, and ghosted responses, both job seekers and job posters lose out. Finding employees shouldn’t be an exercise for algorithms. Doing it right requires effort, time, and a willingness to look beyond keywords.
