Job Boards Are Not Wishing Wells: Why do job seekers still believe in fairytales?

Dateline, May 2024, in a land of pretty places and abundant riches..

In the past month, one of our retained clients wanted us to expand our search parameters outside of the strategic sourcing approaches retained search firms utilize to identify qualified candidates for searches. OK, we'll test this out and agreed.

Here's the fable: (Spoiler alert: The ending is scary.)

Once upon a time, in the land of Illinois, a search firm posted the outside sales professional position for the Chicago area on Zip Recruiter and LinkedIn, and I listed my phone number suggesting candidates can call to learn more before sending their resume. (A test to see how motivated a candidate could be, you may surmise?)

Results?

-Over 220 people sent their standard-issue resume to us over a 2 week period, with no evidence that they had reworked the resume to reflect even the slightest evidence they had some experience in the field--or even sales experience.

-Of the 220 responses, only 2 people call me to ask questions about the role. Only two calls? And they are applying for a sales role?

-Resumes included sales VPs and CEOs, General Managers, as well as pizza store managers, Uber drivers, insurance adjusters, a farmer, a nanny, a carpenter, an actuary, a pastor, a physical therapist and many more that gave no indication they had sales experience or had been studying the profession to get into sales. Nor did they explain why they sent their resume at all. They all just tossed their resume into the wishing well and hoped something would happen. Wish I may...wish I might...

Outcome? Of the 220, we deleted over 200 within seconds of reviewing as there was no indication the person had engaged in any effort to showcase effort or experience even close. The remaining 20 we sent message to and 10 responded. The rest vanished or didn't know how to manage their LinkedIn accounts to get the alert we sent saying we wanted to talk with them. ( Hint: Get your LI working properly if you want a call back.)

1.Why do business professionals-- looking to make a job change to earn more, do more, get ahead more, change roles, change geography, change their lives for the better--believe that going on job boards and LI postings and hitting click & apply to every job they see is the way to advance one's career?

2.Why do job seekers not make the appearance of effort to call the recruiter or hiring manager to show urgency or learn what the job is about?

3.Why don't applicants do the research to justify why they sent their resumes to job postings that are so far off their experience? Are they hoping, praying, wishing that somebody will call them to give them a chance? Not gonna happen in this market.

Job boards are not wishing wells. They're not a job vending machine to put your resume into, cross your fingers and hit the selection button expecting a cool job pop out. This is real world, real money, real hiring managers that need a professional or someone smart enough to do the research. It is the applicant's responsibility to prove ability, research and preparation. This approach is the least effective way to secure a new job, research proves time and time again. The jobs posted are only a fraction of the jobs that are left open every day in America.

The majority of jobs looking to be filled come from referrals or from people first identifying what area of business and positions they are suited for, trained for or are studying to learn more about. Most jobs are left open because candidates are too lazy--yes, too lazy, to do the deep research, to understand how it works and commit to their quest to find a new career or job and pursue.

Excuses like: "too busy, traveling too much, family commitments, work gets in the way, not sure what direction I want to go, seeing what's out there, I feel guilty about looking for a new job while working (75% of resumes were sent during working hours), etc.," are excuses. And the classic response to why a person is looking for a new job, "To make more money," falters when that person doesn't show effort to showcase their value and commitment by tossing their resume into the wishing well. All these excuses mask the reality that you don't know what you really want to do, so click/apply a few times, wishing/hoping someone calls you convinces you that you're trying. You are not fooling anybody but yourself.

Are you find yourself tossing your resume down the wishing well without doing the research and deeper work to define your skills and your compelling reason to leave your job? Or if you're not working, are you able to prove to an employer you have done the due diligence to know you are qualified for the job? You will find a job eventually, but it may be far from the one that is the best available. Preparation is rewarded with better offers and interest.

As a longtime search professional and performance coach, I encourage careerists to study the game films, do the deeper work to study your skills and commitment before playing the wishing well game with your career path and risking your earning potential. And I coach hiring managers to watch, too, for the signs of effort when they are interviewing and evaluating talent.

We can't talk our way out of the behavior that got us here. Change and effort is proof.

If you are a parent, share this with your college and high school kids. If you are an educator, share this with your students. If you are a spouse or partner, share this with your mate. If you are a counselor, share this with your clients. If you are a friend, share this with another friend that needs a some tough love.

Commit to your career change and let go of the fairytales.

The End.