Why Am I Not Getting Interviews?
I’m Qualified! Why am I not getting interviews?
Have you applied to dozens (hundreds?) of jobs and gotten little or no response?
Feeling ignored by online applications is not only frustrating, but it can also badly impact a job seeker’s confidence.
The truth is, that while many job seekers don’t know how to effectively compete for jobs, a significant number of jobs posted on the web are not all that easy to get by applying for them.
This is why the best way to advance a job search is by targeting the hidden job market (see my December 2023 newsletter to learn more).
But this blog isn’t about what YOU are doing wrong. It is why EMPLOYERS make it so hard for you! These are the reasons why you may be awesome at the application process but still get nothing but crickets.
Employers are overwhelmed by candidates
LinkedIn and Indeed make it SO easy to apply that truly qualified job seekers can get buried under the deluge of marginally qualified ones. According to Glassdoor, a typical job posting attracts approximately 250 resumes. Only four to six of those will get called to interview, and one will get the job. On top of that, 37.3% of competitors are passive job seekers, meaning that they are not applying actively but are open to new roles.
You have applied to phantom (ghost) jobs
No firm numbers exist for this, but I estimate that over 30% of online job postings are not truly open. Myriad reasons exist as to why a company might be motivated to post a job with no intention of filling it with an actual applicant:
1. Internal candidate: over 50% of jobs are filled by internal candidates. But many major employers have a policy of posting all positions anyway. And many of those will take external candidates through the entire interview process only to reject them in the end. To wit, I am aware of companies posting a job and then pulling it down the next day to adhere to their public posting policy without incurring any work. I have seen an offer extended with a delayed start date to allow time for the vetting of “candidates” to take place in the meantime.
Building a talent pool: Companies often want to have a list of potential candidates ready for when a position does open up. This way, they can quickly fill roles without starting the hiring process from scratch.
Market research: Posting job ads can help companies gauge the availability of talent and the current market rate for certain skills. This can be particularly helpful to companies that are looking to build out a team but are not sure how to carve out responsibilities in a way that will make the jobs easier to fill. It can also help companies to determine whether outsourcing a function may make more sense than housing it internally.
This is also a way to learn about the relative health of a competitor. As a hiring manager I never posted a job for this purpose, but I did scan resumes for companies that may about to bleed talent that I could poach. I would also interview candidates from certain vulnerable companies for that purpose.
Creating an illusion of health or growth: Some companies post jobs to make it appear that they are expanding. The strategy here is to engender confidence from customers, vendors, partners, and investors that the company is safe to engage with.
Motivating existing employees: By posting jobs, companies can reinforce that everyone is replaceable. They may also want to build legitimate backup plans should an employee leave for any reason or want their overworked staff to think that help is on the way, even if it is not.
Compliance and diversity goals: Some companies post jobs to show they are open to all candidates even if they don’t have the need immediately. As with #5 above, they may also be looking for candidates from underrepresented populations in a genuine effort to find the best ways possible to develop a talent management strategy to improve representation.
The competition has an inside connection
Employee referrals are the most cost-effective way for companies to find the right people. But many job seekers are reluctant to optimize this because they think that the closeness of a relationship with an inside contact is critical. It is not!
Sure, familiarity is helpful (35 % of employees refer to help their friends). But many do it to help their employer (32%) a colleague (26%), or their pocketbook (6% for money and recognition).
It is interesting to note that some experts suggest that employees hired based on referrals may underperform vs. those sourced through a recruiting effort. On the flip side, candidates are more likely to gravitate toward employers that have hired their friends. This means that a referral is definitely a great way to get in the door, but, as a path of least resistance, it may be a mixed bag when trying to ensure a great match.
You are competing against candidates who are truly more qualified
According to a 2019 survey by Robert Half, only 58% of applicants are considered fully qualified. While skills gaps can decrease success rate when applying, the good news is that the same study shows that 62% of employers are willing to upskill a new hire (presuming that candidate can get around the ATS to get there).
While nearly every hiring manager I have ever met has stressed the importance of soft skills, most applicant tracking systems focus more on the hard skills that make for more concrete search criteria. As a result, candidates who are truly awesome team players and problem solvers in a HubSpot environment may get passed over in favor of a marginal person with the desired Salesforce chops.
Your resume isn’t built correctly
Ok, this one falls into the shared responsibility category. You can be the best qualified candidate in the world, but if an employer’s applicant tracking system can’t find you then it doesn’t matter. I place 51% of the blame here on employers who continue to prioritize automating the process over finding great candidates.
The other (nearly) half the fault falls on candidates who don’t present their qualifications well enough to be seen as a good fit. Any job seeker who doesn’t take the time to understand how the whole online application process works is likely to fail.
The only reason it’s not 50/50 is that employers started this back-and-forth game when they introduced technology to replace humans as the first line of screeners in the late 90s. The easier technology makes it for us to apply the more employers use technology to augment their filtering.
Last note to job seekers: please do feel empowered to whine about this for a moment. It is frustrating stuff. Then realize that you have no influence at all over what the employers or doing; you can only control what you will do to make the job search work for you.
That search strategy should include both networking and effective presentation on “paper” as centerpieces. I laid out the approach to build resumes to get past the computers in my February newsletter. Guidance for networking is laid out in the March edition.
Happy hunting!
