When I started in the workforce you went to the newspaper classified ads and looked at who was hiring. Then followed the directions in the ad, call a number, mail a resume, etc.
A few years later, webpage listings became the norm. You usually had to physically mail a resume and cover letter.
Having to mail or deliver a physical resume naturally limited the number of applicants. It took time, effort, and a little money to apply to a position.
Then e-mails applications happened. Free, fast and very easy. A relatively small amount of the audience looking for jobs royally fucked it up for everyone. Say you have a job listing that gets seen by 10,000 people. 5 applicants who read the job description applied and 1% of the audience sends a generic resume and cover letter without reading the job description. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that this is an issue.
So companies started screening via algorithms, keywords, convoluted application processes etc. The more companies screened, the more people felt they had to spam applications to get a job.
Then to make matters worse some companies started posting bullshit jobs. Jobs that were going to be filled by internal candidates, creating “applicants pools”, and even some fake jobs that they continuously post to be assholes. This straight up fraud stealing people’s time.
The whole AI thing is the most recent bullshit in an ongoing broken system.
FireRetardant@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
I met or exceeded every single requirement for all sorts of jobs that were “urgently hiring” and after 8 months of applying to a few jobs a day, i still had 0 interviews. I eventually got a job at a small local business i discovered was hiring through some small talk. The days of a smile and handshake aren’t dead yet for some places.
dangling_cat@piefed.blahaj.zone 3 weeks ago
Local community is back! That’s what I’m seeing in the dating scene as well. Online dating is so hopeless; going to physical events to meet people with mutual interests is the way to go.
FireRetardant@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
I feel this. I refuse to use dating apps and everyone calls me weird. You go back 10 years ago the sentiment was the oposite, it changed so fast. I’m not a selfie guy, i don’t take photos of myself much, and imo my best qualities don’t translate great over texting. The couple months i did try to use them was exhausting. Spend an hour chatting with someone just to get ghosted. I’ve even caught girls I’ve been on dates with swiping while we met up. Already looking for something else before even giving me a fair shot.
onslaught545@lemmy.zip 3 weeks ago
Same. Several hundred applications submitted, no interview. Finally got hired at a place after getting in as a physical laborer and knowing someone to get hired in a position making 50% less than I was.
Mongostein@lemmy.ca 3 weeks ago
Yeah it’s not completely dead. I work as a freelancer and I haven’t applied for a job in years, yet I have… 8? I don’t even know any more. Most of my work comes from people that say, “hey I know a guy that need someone for such-and-such gig, are you available?”
Although, sometimes they’re all slow and o get an unplanned week off work every now and then. January is usually the worst.