Hey fam, as I sit here in my Airbnb attempting to find work, I can't help but think and realize that for all the greatness that technology has given us, it has made the entire process of finding work far, far worse, and more difficult. Given that work is essential for a functioning society, the existentialist in me often wonders if this will be our demise (lol). Bit of a rant, but let me explain.
The first issue is the total lack of standardization across the board. For starters, there are dozens, if not hundreds, of different job-board websites (Indeed, CareerBeacon, etc). Every site has different jobs, different formats, different user experiences, different application processes, etc. Not only that, but sites like LinkedIn, Facebook, as well as employers' own sites, also have their own job postings and format. You could spend literally DAYS just sorting through all the different websites and familiarizing yourself with the different formats, creating profiles, and so on.
Next, is the lack of using technology to actually make it easier to apply. In the year 2022, you would think automation and form-filling would be pretty good right? WRONG. You think you have a perfectly formatted resume, only to upload it and realize you need to re-write everything over again. Honestly, most of the time I just choose not to. If I am uploading my resume file, then I shouldn't need to fill out all my job history again. It's redundant. Pick one or the other. Not to mention that in 2022, many people have non-traditional employment (freelance, Uber drivers, content creators, etc) and oftentimes, the formatting of these intake forms does not allow for proper documenting of these types of jobs, putting those people at an automatic disadvantage.
Lastly is the issue of overly broad accessibility. Now, this isn't inherently anyone's fault, but given that jobs are all posted online now, and once you've gone through the living nightmare I've explained above, it's actually very easy to apply for dozens and dozens of jobs literally from your bed. It's not like the old days when you would physically have to take your resume to the place you wanted to apply to. This creates a huge problem for recruiters and HR departments. There are simply too many applicants, and it makes it wildly difficult to actually stand out if you are serious about a job. I've heard stories of recruiters receiving quite literally thousands of applications for some roles. Good luck getting noticed.
Honestly I'm sure there are a lot of other issues as well that I'm missing, but this has been what's stood out to me. And I can say for certain it's made it much more difficult for me to find employment. I really do miss the old days. This is a disaster. And I fear it will only get worse. Perhaps this is part of the problem on why employers can't find workers? Nobody wants to deal with this ridiculousness.
Hope ya'lls thursday is going better than mine. Cheers