The Job Search Process is Broken

Andy Jordan is President of Roffensian Consulting S.A., a Roatan, Honduras-based management consulting firm with a comprehensive project management practice. Andy always appreciates feedback and discussion on the issues raised in his articles and can be reached at [email protected]. Andy's new book Risk Management for Project Driven Organizations is now available.

  Career Development  

Traditional job posting and application processes have been challenged for some time. Candidates have taken advantage of evolving technology platforms to apply for hundreds of positions with a single click, without much regard to their suitability—or even interest in the positions.

And organizations have been using software to review those applications based on keywords and similar criteria, ensuring that the vast majority are never seen by a human.

And now we have artificial intelligence. Job postings are being crafted and posted by AI; candidates are applying using AI-created résumés and cover letters; those applications are being reviewed by AI tools; and follow-up screening questionnaires are being triggered, completed, processed, and scored by AI. It’s now a completely broken system, and frankly, I don’t see a way back.

However, if organizations are going to insist on continuing with this approach, candidates are going to be forced to use the same system. Regardless of how broken the system is, if your application isn’t in the mix, then you aren’t going to be hired.

At least for now, this is an AI-driven numbers game that doesn’t suit anyone—but that isn’t yet at the point where it is going to be abandoned.

Time to think differently
I have to believe that sooner or later, there is going to be …

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