Over coffee one afternoon, my friend, Jesse Kates, who recently landed an exciting new role with a company he is eager to join, lamented, “the front door is clogged.” Intrigued, I had to know more. He went on to share that, in today’s market, the “front door” – that is, a traditional job application submitted online – is clogged. Perhaps permanently. Why?
- Supply and demand imbalance. The job market is soft and many are seeking work.
- AI makes it easier than ever to apply to a role quickly. Nowadays, a cover letter is no barrier and resumes can be customized for roles in minutes by LLMs like Claude and ChatGPT. Plus, some applicants hire services to expand their reach even further, applying to hundreds of roles a day with little effort of their own.
The result? Positions that would have netted a couple hundred applicants a few years ago may generate more than a thousand in a matter of days. This massive increase in volume is magnified further for remote roles at major brands.
When recruiters begin to sift through the pile of candidates, things get worse. They can’t discern between a perfect applicant and an applicant who has done a perfect job mapping and inventing qualifications to suit a job listing using AI. The recruiter’s AI assistant and the applicant tracking system (or, ATS) can’t tell the difference, either. An honest candidate who has been conservative in their resume claims may score lower in a manual or automated evaluation than a candidate who fluffed things up inappropriately.
So, what’s a recruiter or a hiring manager to do? They leverage referrals. Jesse was recently told by an executive leader building a new team that applicants who network in via their own efforts or through others go “straight to the top of the pile.” Why? Networking shows initiative because it takes effort. And in the case of a referral, a candidate comes endorsed. Somebody is vouching for them. When we can’t trust a resume at face value, we have to trust the people we know – our networks.
So, what’s the takeaway? I know it sounds self-serving since Coffee Lunch Coffee is all about networking, but, the bottom line is that networking is more important than ever. And, if AI displaces large numbers of professionals in multiple industries over the coming years, as predicted, the dynamics clogging the front door will escalate.
Crafty entrepreneurs and startup teams may eventually invent new tools to transform the job-seeking process, but what do we do until then? If you need to find a role now, you must have an advocate on the inside who can tap the recruiter on the shoulder when you apply. That’s how you get a look and earn a chance to compete through the interview process.
With appreciation (and congratulations!) to Jesse for sharing his insights…
Happy Networking!