Help Wanted – The Roots of Online Job Postings
Before the Internet Age, newspapers were an important source of information with multiple sections (news, editorials, features, sports, etc.). But job hunters would search the Help Wanted section ‒ many pages in large newspapers. Some of these ads clearly identified the company with descriptions of the job and contact information. Others were ‘blind’ ads ‒ there was a only a job description and a PO Box for your reply.
If you were interested in applying, you had to (1) print your resume, (2) maybe write a cover letter, (3) put it in an envelope, (4) add a stamp, and (5) drop it into a mailbox or bring it to the post office. The process took some effort, and you weren’t going to crank out a bunch of applications in a day!
Click! . . . Click! . . . Click!
The Internet Age now brings everything right to your computer. Instant communication, video conference, work from home ‒ a world of information ‒ from accurate and trustworthy to intentionally misleading. Newspapers have been shrinking ever since, and Help Wanted has disappeared. But . . .
The 21st century version of Help Wanted is now the Online Job Postings. Zillions of postings, from the business down the street to positions across the globe. Anyone can apply. And it’s easy. You just dump your resume into the morass, look for postings that interest you, and Click! . . . Click! . . . Click! . . . Click To Apply. You can apply to any or all of the postings that remotely interest you with almost no effort. It’s easy!
Indeed, even when you’re LinkedIn, it’s a Monster looking through the Glassdoor, wanting to be a Career Builder, and get Simply Hired.
This no-effort application process was brought to us by tech entrepreneurs who started the digital Help Wanted era in the 1990s. These sites have been multiplying and expanding ever since, and there are thousands of them out there. The most notable job boards are now owned by international companies and/or private investors. Just do a little internet research – should take you all of 10 minutes. You hear about this handful every day through a never-ending barrage of advertisements. So many ads ‒ it must be a big money-making business!
Likewise, there are tons of articles about the Top x Job Boards. Which ones are easiest to use? Which will get you the highest paying job? Which one will get you hired in only couple of days?
So, what’s going on?
Somewhere along the way, companies and their HR departments bought into the process. No need to network, to attend professional meetings and meet the people who do the jobs you need to fill. Just subscribe to the job board program, and they’ll deliver the best-qualified candidates right to your door. You’ll be able to find someone and hire them right away. But guess what?
Top-performing professionals don’t plaster their resumes all over the internet.
But millions of people do, and Click!, Click!, Click! they’re applying to any posting out there.
Now the companies are flooded with applications, but they say they can’t find anyone! [They complain that there aren’t any applicants out there ‒ but you are, aren’t you?] Now the tech people can sell Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) that will weed through the chaos (that they created) and find the ‘good’ candidates. In response, candidates are now filling their resumes with keywords in the hope that the ATS will pick them! On, and on, and on it goes. It’s a mess, and everyone is being ghosted.
My Experiment
One of my Recruiter colleagues and I did an experiment a few years ago. A sales person from a very well-known job board approached us with a trial offer. Obviously the goal was to get us hooked, like so many others, and add our firm to their paying client list. Well, let’s see what happens? We gave it a try.
Our experiment would not pass statistical muster, but it gave us our answer. We posted a few of the positions we were trying to fill. We received many responses, but Click! Click! Click! very few were even remotely qualified for the positions, despite the very clear job descriptions we had written. We went back to our tried-and-true networking process.
Tried and True — An Example
As an executive recruiter, I placed people who had the exact skill set and experience my clients needed, and the companies were willing to pay the recruiting fees for this undertaking.
Two placements stand out. In each case, the company had been searching for OVER A YEAR for their candidate! Why? Because the people I found for them didn’t have their resumes posted everywhere ‒ they weren’t wasting their time looking in the job board dumpster. I had to network through multiple layers of people to locate these candidates and show them the value of this new career opportunity.
Final Thoughts
No doubt, there are applicants who have found positions in the online posting dumpster. And it may make sense for companies trying to fill hundreds of hourly roles. But ghosting is the norm for those seeking career growth opportunities, so stay out of the dumpster!
Tired of Being Ghosted? Give Us a Call
At The Resume Constructor, we aren’t recruiters, but we can guide you through your networking process. We can show you how to find the many jobs that are never posted. Give us a call: 774-612-3104, or visit our website: TheResumeConstructor.com
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