5 Myths You Can Safely Ignore During Your Job Search, According To A Recruiter. Great Read!

Navigating the post-pandemic job market is really tough. Trying to make sense of the avalanche of seemingly contradictory advice on social media doesn’t make it any easier. Although most users of LinkedInLNKD 0.0% and TikTok likely believe they’re doing a public service by re-sharing hacks and tips, they’re actually helping to perpetuate myths that are not helpful to your job search.

Here are five of the most persistent job search myths, with explanations of what’s actually happening.

1. The Hidden Job Market

The term “hidden jobs” can be traced all the way back to the 1950s, when it was coined in relation to a summer jobs program for teenagers in Iowa. In 1974, Harvard sociologist Mark Granovetter developed a theory describing the importance of “weak ties” in job searches, which gave rise to the oft-quoted statistic that “80% of jobs are not advertised.” These concepts were fused and popularized by Richard Bolles in his 1980 book, “What Color Is Your Parachute?”

Much of the advice circulating on LinkedIn and TikTok today centers on this notion that 80% of jobs are not advertised, and that you need to invest time networking to get access to these “hidden jobs.” Whether or not that was true in the 1980s (and even then, it would have been difficult to prove, because by definition the jobs weren’t advertised) it is definitely not true today. At both the Fortune 500 companies where I led talent acquisition, non-advertised jobs were always <1% of our total activity, and typically would only happen for c-suite roles, or when we were actively trying to replace someone that was currently in-seat.

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2. There Are Bots Inside the ATS

There is no question that we have entered a new era of Artificial Intelligence, and that it will have a transformative effect on how companies recruit. However, despite widespread claims to the contrary, we have yet to see large-scale deployment of AI inside applicant tracking systems. Furthermore, once we do see broad adoption of AI tools for recruiting, unless existing legislation changes, then those tools will be used to “opt-in” candidates, and not to reject them.

The only currently permissible automatic rejection of candidates is via the binary questions some ATS systems feature, for basic role qualifications. Examples include “are you at least 18 years old?” and “do you have the right to work in the country you’re applying to?” Beyond that, any rejection of your application requires the intervention of a human recruiter.

3. You Should Customize Your Resume For Every Role

The idea that you should ask AI to rewrite your resume based on the specific job description you are applying to is predicated on a fundamental misunderstanding of what a job description is.

In large enterprises, job descriptions are typically owned and managed by the compensation team, because they are closely tied to pay bands and leveling and are at best updated annually, but typically even less frequently. Occasionally HR business partners take an ownership role, and depending on the guardrails inside the organization, recruiters and hiring managers may or may not be allowed to make minor changes to them.

As a result there is usually quite a bit of difference between what a job description says, and what a hiring manager (and therefore the recruiter) is actually looking for. All of which to say, customizing your resume to a job description that may or may not closely match what the hiring manager needs is almost always wasted effort.

4. The LinkedIn ‘Open To Work’ Banner Makes You Look Desperate

It is particularly upsetting that this myth gained traction after a former recruiter made the assertion in a CNBC article, which ultimately went viral. It is important to note that this “ex GoogleGOOG +1.6% recruiter” handed in their badge in 2015, and yet the OTW feature wasn’t released until 2020.

LinkedIn released the OTW feature in response to the first wave of pandemic layoffs, specifically to help reduce friction for folks that found themselves unexpectedly looking for a new job. There are two different ways for LinkedIn members to use the feature, and, as LinkedIn’s own data shows, both deployments yield significantly positive results. Members that indicate to recruiters that they’re open to work typically see a 40% uplift in outreach, while members that use the green banner visible to all users typically see a 20% increase in messages.

The feature is working in exactly the way it was designed to, and as a job seeker, you would be wise to avail yourself of the benefits it delivers.

5. Jobs Are Getting Thousands Of Applications

LinkedIn recently adjusted the applicant count feature on their job postings, and now you will just see “more than 100,” although other job boards are still showing the total count. It is crucial to know that this number represents the number of people that hit apply, which is not the same thing as the number of applicants inside the applicant tracking system.

In the United States, the average drop-off from external media (i.e. LinkedIn, Indeed) to completed applications is 84%. The vast majority of folks that hit apply do not end up completing their application. It is also true that at the most aggregate level, for fully completed applications inside the ATS, typically 75% will not meet the minimum criteria for the jobs they have applied to. You can safely ignore that alarmingly high number of applicants, because your competitive set is nowhere near as large as it might first appear.

There’s no question that finding a new job is more complex than it’s ever been, and it’s taking longer (Bureau of Labor statistics show unemployment is currently averaging 21 weeks) to find a new role. While it can be tempting to turn to social media for answers, it’s always a good idea to verify the professional background of folks making bold assertions about what’s happening in the hiring process. Unless someone has worked in an HR team at a reputable organization, it’s unlikely they’re able to offer much more than conjecture, or clickbait.

Forbes.com | April 4, 2024 | James Hudson

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