Dear Job Seekers,

I feel your pain. Looking for a job totally sucks. I wish I knew why the process takes so long. I wish I had the magic answer to help you get past the black hole aka the online job board aka the applicant tracking system.  I wish I knew why a company would post a job, remove that posting, repost it without contacting the applicants and letting them know that they aren’t a fit. I have heard about candidates “ghosting” on recruiters (that means that they do not show up for interviews or call to cancel or explain themselves) but recruiters are ghosting candidates too.

And what’s with the average time to finding a job creeping up from 30 days to about 60 days now? Why so many interviews? I can understand 2 or 3 interviews but when you have 4 or 5 or more interviews that is a little much. And why interview someone only to tell them that they are overqualified? I mean, you should know that based off the resume, right? Also, what’s with the low ball offers?  I have had 3 clients in the last 90 days to be courted by great companies but offered really low salaries – am talking about $10K to $15K below market value and asking price.

It’s very frustrating – maybe since the unemployment rate is so low and most candidates are passive (meaning they already have a job and are not looking for work full-time) and since companies prefer to poach talent from others rather than taking a chance on someone who is really looking for an opportunity, that employers feel they can offer lower compensation.

I don’t know the answers to those questions. I have some clients who find work in a matter of days and others who take weeks or months to find the right job. I do know this, the application process is ridiculous. Just last week one of my client’s called me and said, “I’ve been applying to this same fricking job for 2 hours… I need a break.” And later that same say another client called me and said, “Why does it take so long to fill out an application on line?” and then she said it took her 45 minutes to apply to a job. She’s lucky I guess.

Why does the online systems force you to create an account? And many of the companies used different online portals so the applicant has to create an account for nearly each job they apply? And why do you receive 4 to 5 emails from that online system and job board as soon as you enter your email address?

It’s all so cumbersome and exhausting.

Again, to the millions of job seekers, I’m sorry yall.