The greatest challenge all job seekers face is a job search process that is inherently flawed and rigged against their success and sanity. Every step of the process, from finding a job to submitting the application, to even hearing back after an interview, is notoriously frustrating and unnecessarily demoralizing.
From the very beginning it’s easy to feel discouraged about applying to jobs, especially since postings seem to ask for an absurdly unrealistic requirements. In addition to entry level jobs asking for several years of experience, the laundry list of “required” and “nice to have” skills and attributes can dissuade job seekers from applying since they immediately notice the requirements they don’t meet and think they’re not good enough for the position. Meanwhile, vague descriptions like “wear many hats,” “work in a fast-paced environment,” or “navigate ambiguity” can often be red flags for a toxic and stressful workplace.
Sometimes a job seeker will see a position that stands out, take the time to customize their resume and cover letter, and spend lots of time on the application, only to learn that the posting is no longer valid. Sometimes, a position has already been filled and the employer left the job posting up, or the job may not even exist, such as if it’s a fraudulent posting or a company is “fishing” for future candidates and collecting resumes.
Sometimes applicants will spend too much time in the application and hiring process for a job that they will most likely get rejected for or not even hear back at all. A job application will require a resume and cover letter, which the applicant will usually need to tailor to the position by highlighting relevant skills and experiences, and then they may need to enter some of that information, like their past job and education experience, all over again in an application form.
Job hiring processes are also getting much more longer and convoluted, with applicants having to perform a ridiculously high number of interviews. For instance, it’s not uncommon to see six or seven interviews before being hired (or rejected), in addition to performing skill evaluations or sample projects to test their competency. In worst-case scenarios, candidates sometimes end up doing “free work” for employers by completing entire projects for them and aren’t hired. After spending weeks completing rounds of interviews only to be rejected, it’s easy for candidates to feel that they’ve wasted time and got their hopes up too high and have to start all over again.
After all the time and effort to find a job posting, submit an application, and possibly interview, many candidates get “ghosted” and have to start their search all over again. A term originally related to dating and relationships, “ghosting,” or cutting off all communication, is now just as prevalent in the professional world. Some candidates do not hear anything back after applying to a job, and in even more egregious scenarios, don’t get a response after one or several interviews. Not informing candidates that they’ve been rejected is not only the lack of common courtesy, but is also demoralizing to the candidates who invested a lot of time and resources to applying for a job.
Links:
https://www.themuse.com/advice/spot-toxic-culture-in-the-job-description
https://empireresume.com/what-are-phantom-job-postings
https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20210727-the-rise-of-never-ending-job-interviews
