Job seekers and their quest for a level playing field
➔ Most job seekers in their heart of hearts believe that they are perfect for most any job. OK, that’s rarely true. But when rejected, job seekers first look for someone to blame and there is plenty of rationale for that floating around.
Yet, down here in the real world, there could be 101 reasons why you weren’t selected. Some may be of your doing, others can only be blamed on the cosmos.
All of which leads job seekers to try to find a “level playing field” where they can compete on an equal basis for the job(s) of their choosing. A fine and noble pursuit, albeit not likely to happen in any time soon.
The upper hand
Ultimately, employers have the upper hand. They make the final decision on who to hire and on whom to pass.
In recent years, in their attempt to streamline the hiring process, employers have turned to technology to implement the ATS – automated tracking system where a computer will “weed out” the obvious mismatches for any given job opening.
This put job seekers at a distinct disadvantage and, as such, many talented and qualified candidates have been passed over. The employers don’t know that because they’ve never seen their resumes and/or cover letters.
Of late, many techno-savvy job seekers have begun to figure out how to “game” the system. Ways have been discovered how get around the ATS, ensuring that their resumes land on the hiring manager’s desk. We’ve discussed many of those in previous postings.
Also on our radar, a new player has emerged lately to aid in that game of wits. ChatGPT and other AI (artificial intelligence) programs offer job seekers a way to beat the ATS at its own game. Using AI, job seekers can conform their resumes (and/or cover letters) to match the ATS-driven job descriptions creating levels of matching to enable them to burst through the system.
In effect, AI has leveled the playing somewhat for job seekers. For the past several years, employers have held the technological upper hand. Now the playing field has been leveled.