The Tinder effect

When I started in recruitment (prepare yourself for the old man war stories of yesteryear) it was a simpler time for job seekers and employers. Job boards, ads in the industry press, phone calls, meetings.. ah the good old days.

Fast forward to today and there are a few (negative) behavioural patterns that are trending up that also mirror the behaviours and frustrations of some of my friends and colleagues that have or are currently, Tinder users. Now, I may be unfairly pointing out Tinder as the standalone reason when really, it's a combination of lots of factors but I have always compared dating and job hunting as similar processes.

What am I talking about?

The basics of using Tinder is to upload your profile, define what you're looking for and then swipe yes or no on matches and hope/wait for them to reciprocate interest. After that point, it's up to both parties to chat, organise to meet up and take things from there. Not that different to searching for a job when you think about it, you search, send a CV to the ones you like (swiping right) and wait for a response (a match), have a chat (flirty texts) and then organise an interview (first date).

The stories I've heard over and over again from Tinder users is about frustrations of that process rarely getting past the matching and texting phase. The majority - sorry fellas you seem to be the worst at the Tinder but that could be from working with more females - have a very lazy attitude to the process. Can't be bothered having a real conversation? Send nudes. Meetups get rescheduled and are replaced with late night texts "you up?". Everyone wants to skip the dance and go straight to the "end result" - as crude as that is.

What does this have to do with job hunting? Well, I've found a HUGE increase in the number of applicants who then "ghost" during the interview (dating) process. As I am a recruiter, you may be thinking these people never wanted to look for a new job and I headhunted them and/or talked them into a meeting or a job on the spot, which they later changed their mind about. These aren't the people I'm referring to.

The "ghosts" are people that approach us or a company, apply to an advertised job, even come in for a meeting with us (a first date) and then PUFF!! A cloud of smoke and they are gone, a phantom into the night. Calls are not returned, texts are read but not responded to, promises of not standing us up this time are made but we're left sitting and waiting, wondering why we let ourselves be fooled again. Nudes are replaced with a CV that is fired off like a Gatling gun across town, waiting for a hit back.

Many people forget that recruiters are doing this all day every day and remember/record the time you stood us up 4 times, or bailed on an interview with one of our clients 5 minutes after the interview was due to start. Sending us a CV or the equivalent of a "you up?" text is going to result in that message being left on read.

"Hi, I'd like to apply for the position"

My philosophy is this behaviour is linked to the mentality of the Tinder generation - and that isn't age specific - this behaviour has been from young and old. As I said, I don't think it's just Tinder though, people are now used to doing 90% of life stuff from their iphone, which I refer to as Thumb dependancy.

Need a lift? Want to apply for a loan? Buy a new pair of jeans and have them delivered today? Want to find a life or one-night partner? All done on your phone and easily, without seeing or speaking to a human.

So fair enough, why would people differentiate looking for a job as needing more effort than looking for someone to love?

Unfortunately for the Tinderers, many of the people who are making the hiring decisions don't share the same Thumb dependancy and need more than a resume fired off to decide on who they are bringing into their business.

And like many "Tinderers" will testify, the good ones aren't on Tinder and the best jobs aren't always on job boards. It's no problem to change your mind about a company or position or find a better one but a simple "thanks but no thanks" is enough to stop a bridge being burnt down that you'll want to cross in the future.

Cut off your thumbs (figuratively) and work on your in person-real life skills - having a conversation, returning calls and you may find your dates (interviews) turn into a loving, long-term relationship.