Looking for work online, especially in the IT industry is pretty brutal in 2024. Assuming you do find roles that match your criteria, over 100 applicants have probably already applied. Using tried and tested techniques you tailor your CV and cover letter to the job description in the hope of moving to the front of the pile. Fingers crossed!
You hear nothing.
LinkedIn will usually provide information on the agent advertising the role along the lines of “This person generally responds within X number of days”. Yet they never do. You hear nothing despite all the time you took to research the role and craft your application.
It’s not rudeness, it’s a combination of inefficiency, a lack of automation, and unprofessionalism. Don’t take it personally. Assuming the job is real (more on that later) chances are that there were too many applicants and the agent did not have enough time to respond to all. Automation would help here, but not many agents use it, or use it well. Then there’s the unprofessionalism. A lot of agents are young, college graduates, or fell into the role after their intended career path didn’t lead them where they wanted. Recruitment is not their passion. Don’t bother remembering their names, next month they’ll be doing something else. The recruitment sector has a high turnover rate. Combined with mad incentive schemes and recruitment targets it’s all just a fast-paced game that many fail, and you, unfortunately, are just a pawn on the board.
Then there’s the jobs that don’t exist. Or might, possibly, in the future. Some recruiters like to predict market trends and monitor local news to guess who may be hiring and what kind of jobs. So they create fake job profiles to bring in candidates so that they are ready to go should the roles actually materialise. Most don’t and your data has now been harvested into a recruiter database.
You did read the terms right?
Chances are they may put you forward for roles without your permission just to prevent other recruiters from doing the same. It may be worth requesting your data be removed from recruiters that have not successfully sourced you a role. They may even sell your data on. Or if they are swallowed up by a bigger firm your data may be merged into another database that you did not consent to.
Between being ghosted, ignored, and harvested, you may become somewhat depressed. Don’t be. Its just a game and unfortunately in 2024 it’s brutal. But there are ways of taking back control, one of which is to become your own agent. One with a single candidate: you.
Look for potential employers or clients yourself. Tap your network for leads. Promote your candidate at every opportunity. Sell sell sell!
Go give it a try. You might find it fun. You’ll definitely learn what it’s like to be a recruiter, and about self promotion. Just don’t take being ignored, rejection, or being ghosted personally. It’s just a game.
See you in 2025!