Can be good or bad, it depends
➔ They say that “The more things change, the more they stay the same.” A clever turn of the phrase to be sure that has been attributed to 19th Century French educator and writer Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr. In the final analysis change can be good or bad. However, change for the sake of change, is usually not so good.
Perhaps nowhere is this more true that in the 21st Century job search. Much has been written about how much job seeking has changed over the past 10, 15, 20 and more years and much more will be written because more change is on the way.
No spare change
The migration of job placement to the digital world is probably the greatest change. Online jobs boards such as Indeed, Ladders, Monster, et.al. have forever changed the landscape.
Of course the big bug-a-boo for the job seeker is the ATS – automated tracking system. Does this make the HR staff’s job easier? Absolutely. They can process vastly greater numbers of applications in vastly less time. Good for them, but maybe not so good for the job seeker.
Have any of these changes benefitted the job seeker? Absolutely. With a few simple clicks a job seeker can send a resume across the country – even around the world in a matter of seconds. And the job seeker can create and maintain multiple versions of that resume so that a targeted, focused version can be sent to the right company at a moment’s notice.
Of course the downside for the job seeker is that, because it’s so easy to submit a resume, employers are bombarded with hundreds of resumes for each job – most of which are only remotely related to the job in question.
At the same time, employers are learning that virtually all ATS submissions results in many qualified candidates being screened out of jobs unfairly.
At the end of the day, there are pluses and minuses for both the employer and the job seeker. But the job seeking world has changed – dramatically. And those changes won’t be changing anytime soon, so the successful job seeker must learn how to plan that game.