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If a company doesn't call you for an interview after applying for a job, it may not be about your qualifications. It could, however, be a comment on the sheer volume of applicants. A recruiter at a well known technology company told me she receives over 10,000 applicants (yes, that's four zeroes) for each job. Even if your resume checks all the boxes for essential skills and qualifications, this tidal wave of candidates can overwhelm your chances of getting a look by the recruiter. If you want to improve your chances of getting noticed, it helps to tweak your resume's keywords and terminology to better align with the job posting, and to network with key decision makers at the employer.
Find the recruitment process exasperating? So does the recruiter. As companies push to do more with less, recruiters have increased responsibility. The typical recruiter works on filling 30 open jobs simultaneously. That's includes managing the process for 300,000 candidates (30 jobs x 10,000 applicants) from the initial job posting, filtering resumes, screening candidates, arranging and conducting interviews, preparing and negotiating the offer, and ensuring the person they hire shows up to work, as well as balancing the needs, demands, and biases of hiring managers. Recruiters spend as much time on customer service and internal negotiation as they do on recruitment. While there's no excuse for sloppy followup, bear in mind that it's incredibly stressful work and it's inevitable that things will fall through the cracks from time to time.
There's a positive bias for "Passive" job seekers. There are two types of candidates considered for job opportunities – Active job seekers, as the word implies, actively apply to job postings online, while Passive job seekers are individuals who aren't looking tochange jobs and wouldn't have considered looking for a new position if someone hadn't tried to recruit them. Passive job seekers are believed to be more valuable – hiring managers often (incorrectly) rationalize this as, "If the person is actively looking for a job, how successful in their current job can they truly be?" Which is why companies pay dearly for premium subscriptions to LinkedIn, which they use to reach out to presumably Passive job seekers (just take a look at LinkedIn's marketing materials if you need further proof). It's absolutely in any job hunter's best interest to have a highly polished, keyword-loaded LinkedIn profile that increases the odds of a recruiter viewing their profile during searches.
Companies often post internal positions for the whole world to see - because they have to. Many people think of these as "fake jobs," but they're really not. Company policy, union rules, or local law may dictate the practice of posting internal positions. While this can be frustrating to outside job seekers, the intention to provide current employees additional opportunities for growth and development should be considered a positive in terms of fostering employee engagement. Bear in mind that while the hiring manager may intend to hire an internal candidate for the specific role, a better qualified external may change their mind. If you're interested in a role and you have the qualifications, by all means apply; the intended internal candidate may fall through, and at minimum your resume will be in the company's database for future opportunities.
Employers don't hold back on providing interview feedback out of arrogance or laziness. It's usually because they're crazy busy, and because they're afraid of offending by providing negative feedback in a potentially inappropriate or illegal manner and don't want to get sued by a disgruntled candidate. Human Resources departments often advise employees against providing feedback on these grounds. The lack of feedback may leave you feeling unfulfilled and disappointed, but it's important to preserve your professional brand to an employer, so don't push the issue.
Scott Singer is the President and Founder of Insider Career Strategies Resume Writing & Career Coaching, a firm dedicated to guiding job seekers and companies through the job search and hiring process. Insider Career Strategies provides resume writing, LinkedIn profile development, and career coaching services, including a free resume review. You can email Scott Singer at scott.singer@insidercs.com, or via the website, www.insidercs.com.
