Why Is It Still So Hard To Find A Job During The Great Resignation?

𝗪𝗵𝘆 𝗶𝘀 𝗶𝘁 𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝘀𝗼 𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗮 𝗷𝗼𝗯 𝗱𝘂𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗚𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁 𝗥𝗲𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗻𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻?

First, let me just say that the times we’re living in are very unprecedented. I mean like literally I (career coach, resume writer, etc) and HR employees have never seen this before.

Having said that, I think a few reasons are responsible for some difficulties that may exist in some companies’ hiring circles.

1️⃣ Hiring managers are more selective since there are a lot of talented employees on the bench right now looking for new opportunities.

2️⃣ Hiring teams and HR are being more committed to lengthy vetting upfront to ensure they aren’t wasting time or money on sourcing, vetting, interviewing, hiring, background checking, and training just to have someone quit after a month or so.

3️⃣ Recruiters are being more selective narrowing down pipelines to clean up the clutter that’s been building up to better position the right talent for the right jobs now that they have more to choose from.

4️⃣ Companies are shifting their culture since the pandemic begin and exposed numerous issues or deficiencies within the candidate experience, staffing cycle, and overall HR function.

5️⃣ Quite frankly, the job seeker isn’t gaining any attention. Maybe their marketing collateral isn’t cutting it. Maybe they have too many bells and whistles on your resume (no infographics! Only send those as an addendum AND if you’re in the creative world in some way) that are hurting the ATS from parsing your information. Maybe the resume isn’t selling their key value offerings and skills as they relate to the targeted role. Maybe it’s written sloppily. Maybe their LinkedIn isn’t up to date. It’s mandatory the job seeker has their house in order, so to speak, before applying to roles and networking with decision-makers.

6️⃣ The job seeker’s message may fall victim to the perception of possessing red flags, which sucks, but it’s true: ageism, sexism, job gaps (which are slowly becoming acceptable, BTW), job-hopping, sporadic background, etc.

7️⃣ The budget isn’t improving due to scare resources or other variables brought on by the pandemic, and thus, the salary offerings aren’t as high as the job seekers would like.

🏃 Chief Human Resource Officers (CHROs) are scrambling to implement improvements, such as AI and automation, work-life balance, mental health benefits, remote workforce management, pronoun identification, DE&I, etc.

With cultural shifts, so do the talent acquisition preferences.