The Hiring Process is not Broken

By Soozy G. Miller, CPRW, CDCC, CDP

Ladies and Gentlemen:

The hiring process is not broken.

Companies are not looking for unicorns.

AI has not taken over hiring.

Recruiters are not inhumane narcissistic sadists.

A lot of people are feeling frustration, stress, and anxiety about the job search.

Millions of people are out of work. Some have been job hunting for years. This is very stressful and leads to people posting misleading comments and spouting myths on social media. And when some people repeat a lie enough, the masses start to take it as truth.

The actual truth is a bit different.

The hiring process is not broken, but it feels like that because the marketplace is overflowing with candidates. As a result, many job seekers are so stressed that they are applying for jobs that they don’t qualify for, even to jobs that aren’t in their field. Everyone is trying to land a job using their skills, responsibilities, and self-descriptions (e.g. I am passionate about this work!). When 5,000 people apply for one position, it’s going to take a while to get to each person, because 98% of those applications are from unrelated fields and the remaining 2% of resumes all look alike.

Companies are not looking for unicorns, they are looking for people who have the basic skills required to do the job. As discussed above, 98% of applications will NOT include those basic skills, but the hiring team has to go through them anyway, sometimes with search parameters or key word searches, sometimes not.

AI has not taken over hiring, at least not yet. Some companies will use an AI component to filter out unqualified people. Some companies have started to use AI to interview candidates. There have been articles in Forbes, The Wall Street Journal, and CEO Magazine that say companies are adding more AI to the hiring process, and others that say in response to candidate feedback companies are avoiding AI.

And finally, recruiters are people, too. Remember that their priority is filling the vacant position for the company, not giving you resume feedback. I assure you that recruiters are being pressured by the hiring manager to find someone that they don’t have to train. Recruiters have to weed through the thousands of resumes that come into their hiring dashboard every day, and they might do skill searches multiple times per day with no success.

These are examples of conversations I have almost daily with frustrated job seekers:

Client: They didn’t pick me! I was perfect for the job!

Me: They are located in Chicago and want someone in office. You live in Miami.

Client: Oh, oops I didn’t see that.

Client: The recruiter ghosted me! So rude!

Me: You made an appointment for a meeting?

Client: No, 3 days ago she said she would call if any positions became available and I never got called.

Me: That means no positions have become available for you in the last 3 days.

Client: [Sigh] Yeah.

Client: AI has taken over! I spent hours on my resume, tailored all the right words to the job posting, and then got a rejection within seconds! These companies are robots!

Me: They don’t know that you spent hours. This is not personal. Nobody should spend hours on one resume, that’s too long. And the job you applied to calls for expertise in Advanced Excel. You don’t have Advanced Excel on your resume, because you’re a lawyer and they’re looking for someone in sales.

Client: This is so hard! I just want a job!

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Better job. More pay. More control.

For a free resume review, please contact us at Control Your Career!