What was that job I just applied for?
One-touch job application
Since LinkedIn rolled out their ‘apply with’ button couple of years ago other job boards and search-engines have followed suit with their own buttons. Then they added the ‘revolutionary’ mobile app with ‘one-touch-apply’ technology. Now you can apply for jobs during your morning commute or while waiting for the elevator at your office. It only takes a second to send in your resume. Job sites promote their breakthrough button as a solution to ease the pain for job-seekers. We know that looking for a job mostly sucks taking up so much time and effort. How exactly is this helping?
First, lets take a step back. We all use the one-touch button on a daily basis and we all know very well, exactly how much thought goes on, before we tap that button. I mean really… how many times do you tap Like, Retweet, Pin, Share while you wait for your coffee fix in the morning? And how many of those taps have deep thought and or real meaning?
For most people, work is an important part of their lives. For some it’s food at the table, others it’s their livelihood, and for some lucky ones it’s their passion. So when it comes to sending your resume, one-touch-apply on the go just doesn’t match the gravitas of such an important part of life. It diminishes the discretion needed to be interested, let alone be excited in a new opportunity, the next step on the ladder, or the coolest gig ever.
I once received over 300 resumes within 6 hours of posting a job (it was a small startup and not a well known one). I spoke to a few of them on the phone, and the majority couldn’t recollect the role or the company (most candidates asked me to email the job posting to them). My biggest problem with the button is that it makes us lazy and in the long run it is counter productive. It makes the search worse for everyone on both sides of the process.
If you are on the hiring end, you get more resumes to sift through to find the qualified candidates, taking a significant amount of time. Last year TheLadders reported that recruiters only spent “6 seconds” on the first pass of a resume. Six seconds of evaluation creates a sad situation for the applicants and the companies. For the most part this a reflection of the high response rate to jobs and the pressure on the recruiters to fill positions. Given the sheer volume, your resume must stand out in those 6 seconds. On job search sites success is determined by one statistic, that is the quantity of resume submissions. Some have the button on the very top, to make it super easy to apply without even scrolling to the bottom of the posting. I mean who needs to read the whole posting before submitting the resume… right?
But let’s not forget, the one-touch-button is working great for job sites. Easy application means higher conversion rate from visitor to applicant. Check out this blogpost from ZipRecruiter to see proof of the button sauce working superbly well. Interestingly the success of job-sites are measured through traffic and rate of applications (it’s worth mentioning that these are self proclaimed barometers). The button is great for job-sites to brag about who is on top of the analytics charts of visitors and applications. But it sure ain’t solving any part of the job/talent-search challenge. Just adding more pain to an already difficult and frustrating process.
The 6 second statistic is detrimental to both sides of the process and is best relegated to the past. No matter how experienced one is at hiring, no one can make a qualitative assessment of your professional life in 6 seconds. So my suggestion is, next time you are ready to hit that button:
- read the job posting from top to bottom (it’s kinda important)
- google “what is it like to work for Company X”
- talk to anyone in your network with current/past association to Company X (best insight into company culture)
- check out the company’s social media presence (this is their brag-sheet on customer service)
If your excitement builds with every step, then apply for that job, but find a unique aspect to bring attention to you, your skills and your interest in the role. Your chance of landing a job does not increase with the number of jobs you apply to. The only way to beat the odds is to find a way to turn the spot light on your self, have the skills to do the job, and a good fit with their culture.
Few days ago, I was talking to a friend who has just started looking and he had a great line worth sharing “while I was hiring it was so noisy and I could hardly hear anything, but now that I am looking the silence is deafening.” If you turn the noise down, you may start to hear back.
