Beyond ‘One Click Applications’: What Actually Gets You Hired Today

The Atlantic recently came out with an article titled, “The Job Market Is Hell”. Feel free to read it here.

This comes on the heels of the recent release of Canadian unemployment rates, which have hit a 9-year high following the loss of 65.5k jobs in August and 40.8k in July. What sticks out to me the most is the youth unemployment rate sitting at 14.5%, the highest it’s been in decades.

The subheading of The Atlantic article reads, “Young people are using ChatGPT to write their applications; HR is using AI to read them; no one is getting hired.”.

AI has unlocked incredible possibilities in its infancy, but somehow, it has widened the gap between applicants and job opportunities.

At first glance it’s easy to read this and feel discouraged about the current state of the job market. That is why I’ve tried to put on my optimistic lens on and offer real solutions for those going through issues finding a job.

Unfortunately, I often hear a negative sentiment around the youth job market. In fact, back in January I wrote an article on this exact topic: “Navigating the Job Market: Strategies for the Rising Generation”.

Feel free to read it in depth, but the TLDR is that getting hired today comes down to three things:

• Build relationships, not just resumes
• Focus on quality over sheer volume
• Stop sending blind applications. Instead, put your effort into intentional outreach

The Atlantic article puts a face to the problem by introducing Harris, a recent grad with a solid resume who applied to 200 jobs(!), only to be rejected 200 times. Or as he puts it, “I didn’t get rejected, a lot of businesses never responded”.

In an age where it has never been easier to *One Click Apply,* I’m not impressed by seeing someone mention the quantity of jobs they have applied for. By the time you read this entire article, you could have either posted a new job on LinkedIn or applied to 10.

Instead of completing 200 blind job applications, send 100 messages to professionals in the field you are looking to enter and ask them if they’d be open to having coffee with you. Achieving only a 10% reply rate on your messages will lead to you chatting with 10 people who could actually help you find a job you’re interested in. Even if none of these conversations lead to an immediate job opportunity, you still now have 10 relationships with people currently working in the field you want to get into.

In my opinion, both employers and applicants have become blinded by the instant gratification of applying to/posting a job online. You may feel like you are being efficient applying to this many jobs, but it's critical to remember if it's this easy for you, it was that easy for someone else too.

On the flipside, crafting a strong and personalized message asking someone to have coffee with you takes real time and effort. You must spend time finding, researching, and then writing a message that will resonate with them. And a lot of times, that person will end up being busy and not respond to your message. But as noted above, if you send 100 of these and get 10 meetings out of them, you’re still way ahead of where you were when you started.

Do your best to increase your chances of getting “lucky” and build real relationships. Go to the networking event, reach out to people that work at firms you could see yourself working at, stay curious and confident, and I promise you will have a better success rate than aimlessly applying to jobs on LinkedIn.  

The job search may feel tougher than ever, but those who stay intentional, curious, and persistent will stand out. Opportunity is still out there; you just have to approach it differently.