It’s tough to get a job.
According to ModernCV employers are receiving around 280 applications per job role, up 124 per cent since 2022. Candidates are expected to complete three to four selection stages and 48 per cent of job seekers say they’ve been ghosted after an interview or late-stage application.
It’s no surprise to read in The Times then how hard it is for women in their 40s and 50s, who’ve had successful careers to date, to find new roles. There may be specific barriers facing midlife women, especially those looking for senior posts, but they are part of a much larger picture.
Meanwhile, employers are reporting how hard it is to find skilled talent. About 75 per cent say there is a mismatch between what they are looking for and what’s out there.
Multiple issues are coming together here.
1. Bias in the recruitment process
Those from under-represented groups are reporting a particularly negative experience of job hunting with many saying they were asked about personal characteristics during interviews that were irrelevant to their ability to do the job.
The Times article itself highlights the challenge for midlife women juggling care responsibilities, menopause and facing ageism, making it particularly challenging to land a suitable role.
Only 18 per cent of employers review job adverts to remove bias and 20 per cent of interviewers say they automatically reject candidates who sit with their arms crossed during interview.
These biases indicate lazy hiring standards, folks. And I will bet that most of the companies who are guilty of this say on their website and internally that they want diversity and that their people are their greatest assets.
While it may be gruelling work sifting through 280 applications, each one of those represents up to 10 hours of preparation by a candidate, plus the investment they’ve made in their interview outfit, the travel and taking leave from their current job.
Employers are spending around 3.6 hours reviewing and screening applications per vacancy. How much attention can you be giving to the subtleties of each candidate in such a short amount of time?
Only 18 per cent of employers review job adverts to remove bias
2. The poor use of AI screening
Which leads to the use of AI screening. I see the appeal. And I also experienced my intelligent, highly motivated daughter recently apply for a part-time retail job and fail the initial AI questionnaire.
She will not be entitled to apply for a role in that company for another two years as a result. I’ve been into that store many times. I don’t believe that the quality of shop floor staff is so high that my daughter couldn’t manage to get through the first stage.
Of course, I’m biased! But it gave me a peek into the way AI is being used. It feels unfair to 92 per cent of UK job seekers. It’s undermining your employer brand. And you are missing out on terrific candidates because you’ve abdicated a very human job to AI.
Employers say they are looking for people with great communication skills, high emotional intelligence and individuals who are a good fit for their culture. At the first hurdle your AI could be screening out the very people who would enrich your business.
3. Evolving skills needs
There may be a growing gap between the skills we’ve prioritised to date and those we now need as employers. You don’t need me to tell you how fast work is changing.
Companies in diverse industries are all after the same talent. For example, when you’re looking for people with AI capability for your construction firm or your pharmaceuticals company, you’re competing with Google and Microsoft.
The same applies to those ‘human’ skills: leadership, communication, client relationship management. As AI takes over the technical part of many jobs, those with great human skills are more in demand.
When a CV looks different to what we’ve expected or what we’ve sought traditionally, our recruitment practices may let us down.
And candidates with huge experience may not have quite adapted to this new world or know how to sell their human qualities in as compelling a way as their technical abilities.
Organisations need to see their role as educational as much as commercial. Increasingly, businesses will need to develop the skills they are hungry for internally. We can’t just expect to find them in the market.
We need to take people who look like they can grow and adapt and learn and then we need to support them in learning and evolving.
At the first hurdle your AI could be screening out the very people who would enrich your business
4. Outdated expectations
Finally, we all need to rethink the career ladder. The promise that you’ll work in a profession for 30-40 years getting ever more senior and an ever-increasing pay packet is over.
That’s not an excuse for companies to hire cheaper, less qualified people. But it does mean individuals dispelling the myth of inevitably rising up the ranks.
Each of us needs to see our career as a business we run. We need to be agile and able to pivot, to be ahead of trends and to adapt to the market. That might mean keeping our personal overheads under control even when our careers are on the up. Just because you’re on six-figures now and can afford that huge mortgage, doesn’t mean you’ll be able to in five years’ time.
Like any wise businessperson, keep cash in reserve if you can.
Develop yourself. Take courses, learn new skills, stay ahead of what the market is looking for. Anticipate what your profession will look like in two to five years’ time and either be ready for that or find an alternative way to make a living.
Be willing to scale back your life, reinvent yourself or take a job that gets you on a new ladder.
It’s for employers to fix many of the issues I’ve raised here and there’s a role for L&D in helping your people see how they can pivot, retrain and adapt to how their field is changing.
But individuals have to do their part too.
It’s easy to look at the case studies in The Times article and find a specific reason why one or other of them is either responsible for their situation or a victim of any of the issues I’ve mentioned here.
But we know there is a systemic problem that goes beyond individuals and their story. Whether you’re a hiring manager, HRD or recruiter, it’s time to innovate how we find and develop talent. Because, for sure, the current system isn’t working for anyone.
If you enjoyed this, read another article by Blaire Palmer: What your employees’ unused holiday says about your business
