BBC News Reports on the Future of Job Search
Simply Hired Staff
A little over five years ago, BBC correspondent Peter Bowes visited Simply Hired headquarters in Sunnyvale, CA, where he interviewed several employees, including CEO James Beriker. The main topic of the sit down was the predicted impact that technology would have on the future of job searching. By 2013, the internet was finally reaching the point where browsing, communicating, and consuming media were regular, mainstream uses of your computers and mobile device.
Fast forward to 2019 and our use of smartphones, tablets, and portable laptop computers has become so ingrained in our daily lives that many of today’s younger generation couldn’t imagine ordering a physical DVD from Netflix or going 24 hours without instant access to Instagram and SnapChat. In short, Simply Hired’s predictions for the evolution of job searching has more than come to fruition. By way of update, below we delve into our predictions for the next five to ten years along with a few pointers for how you can get ahead of the trends and capitalize on tech to help find a job, grow your current opportunities, and network your way to career success.
Bringing Everyone Together
Much like Bowe’s predicted initially, the internet has made it easier than ever to connect recruiters and hiring managers with the best in quality candidates. This has been both a blessing and a curse to those in the business of locating talent.
As of late 2016, over 50% of job applications were initiated online. You can only expect that number to continue to grow as older generations age out of the workforce and the remaining decisions makers become adults who have grown up ingrained in the technological era. The benefits to the increasing use of mobile technology are obvious. Gone are the days when paper resumes and applications could be lost, misplaced, or hidden amongst reams of other would be applicants. In addition, those looking for jobs can locate and apply to a wider variety of available positions. Recruiters can also now search through widely posted and shared resumes with just a few clicks of a mouse.
In short, connections are being facilitated more easily and employers and prospective employees alike are able to connect to find just the right job fit easily and quicker than ever. All of these traits sound positive, right? Like most great advances in culture, however, there are big downsides to the over accessibility and ease of access.
The Fallout of Being More Connected
As with most things in life, it turns out that technology’s impact on the job recruitment game can turn into too much of a good thing. From the job seeker’s perspective, the ease of shooting out online applications and ability to locate a wide range of opportunities via a few keywords and hitting a search button isn’t exactly yielding more and better opportunities. Recent studies suggest that the ability to apply for a greater number of job positions has led to a decrease in overall interview success rate. This can frustrate would be job-seekers as they see their time and effort yielding fewer results.
In addition, employers are slowly moving away from the wide-ranging “apply today” approach as they become inundated with resumes that aren’t a great fit for their open positions. Recruitment firms are often hired to actively locate quality resumes which may or may not benefit candidates most in need of locating full-time employment. In addition, employers that still offer online applications are having to commit time and resources to up their keyword game, employing applicant tracking and automated resume reading software, and further streamlining job listings so as to attract a more narrow crowd of still qualified individuals.
In short, Mom’s childhood advice about that second helping of ice cream still contains universal truths: you can indeed have too much of a good thing.
What Can Tech Enthusiasts Do?
All in all the upsides to the use of technology in job searching have a net benefit to both employers and employees. With a little diligence, both sides can make minor, incremental changes that will help set them up for success both today and as technology continues to adapt and evolve in the coming years.
For those looking for a job, stay away from the approach where you pepper your resume to any and all company that may be hiring. Spend some time using Simply Hired’s streamlined job search tools to narrow down the potential opportunities to those that will be fulfilling and that fit your requirements for job and life stability.
Potential employers will also benefit from the reach and full integration of SimplyHired.com’s platform for job listings. The fully updated online portal allows companies to not only post jobs but also offers options to initiate the application process, prescreen resumes, and track your applicant process.
Interested in taking the way-back-when time machine to the original BBC interview? Read the article here and watch the video below to see how our past predictions stacked up to today’s realities. Whether it’s 2013 or 2019 or five years from now, you can count on Simply Hired’s approach of staying on top of the biggest trends in social media, mobile device usage, and technology to help connect more applicants with quality employers than any other job search platform.
Article Updated from the Original on January 16, 2019
