The Modern Job Application Process: The honest thoughts of a Millennial

22/02/2023 - Oxford.ing

FYI, none of these feet or torsos are mine. I dress worse and probably sit a bit worse than these people. I'm probably more like the guy on the far right, although I'm probably thinking more about where I might have left that really long spoon that's good for stirring the teapot, I'm always losing those spoons somewhere...

In truth, the modern job application process is strange, scary, confusing, annoying, and in most cases, outright disrespectful and a waste of everyone's time. Especially when the employer's idea of a 'competitive salary' is actually just that of the median average plus an extra £100, or defended by saying something like 'but you can get a free breakfast once a week', or 'there's a really cool bunch of beanbag looking chairs where you can chill out on your breaks'. Does that stuff ever really work?

Speaking as a millennial who's seen their fair share of different job applications, interviews and work environments, I can safely say, with my hand on the heart and swearing allegiance to the recruitment fairies of old, that job hunting now is absolutely nothing like what it says on the tin. The tin of which had an expiration date of march 2014, the last time I think anyone actually told me what to really do in an interview when they themselves actually knew too.

In today's world of online everything, I'm finding applying to be the least of my worries, besides the plethora of jobs available, are there any jobs that people want to do anymore? I don't mean it in a cruel way, suggesting that all the good jobs are taken or anything, but can we really expect to fill job roles when we set the standards and bars so confusing high and low at the same time? Do you really want a 'junior planner' or do you want a person who fits the essential requirement of '3 years minimum experience as a planner'? Well, which is it, employment person? Do you want the opportunity to help nurture a junior talent, who could potentially go on to be one the best employees your company has? Or would you prefer somebody who knows what they're doing completely, who'll just crack on, but will leave the job after a year because they realised they could get paid an extra £5K at your competitor?

That's not really the big issue I have though with the modern application process though, the big problem for me always has been, and will forever be the impressive amount of time wasted by employers who want to fill a role. Undoubtedly it must be a very complicated balancing act of being able to correctly judge the candidates against one another, and see who is the best fit. I fully understand this part, and I mean it. From a basic point of logic, it makes absolutely no sense to rush the process, find a random candidate who sort of looks like they know what they should be doing, sort of knows how to communicate, and is in no way bad, but just not as good as someone 'could be'. Only to find this person is entirely unproductive, uncommunicative, incapable of developing from criticism and hasn't really gelled with any part of the team they're supposed to be on.

It's true, employers really do need to know about you, interview you, let others interview you and then debate it a little before either saying yes or no. But the problems I see from the side of being the one who really genuinely like the company, the ideas it has, the people within it, and the projects it's involved with, are from a completely different perspective to that of the hiring team.

So far this year, after going back through my diary of many things (designed to keep me doing things instead of doing things that are actually nothing in disguise), I have found that I've applied to a good 32 different jobs. 32 jobs applied to in 53 days. Pretty good inning's if I may say so myself. And I've found the one thing they all have in common. Employers don't want their time to be wasted, but they're more than happy to waste ours.

The majority of the job opening and application processes that I've applied to, or for depending on how you read that last bit, have mostly revolved around three key components, Strategy, Creativity, and Planning. If you're feeling really cheeky you can throw in the little 'management' ball into the mix too, but let's face it, who wants that responsibility seconds after entering a new work environment?

No, the reality that I've observed from my own experiences is one I imagine a lot of younger people are also finding, that no matter even if you've just uploaded the entirety of your academic studies, curriculum Vitae or resumes, you better damn well be ready to type the whole thing out again into lot's of little separate boxes and not get anything done for the next 3 and half hours, because a process that should have taken at best 30 minutes and at worse an hour, is now a total completely and utterly useless drag of everyone's time.

Just a thought on this, if you're an employer and you want people to fill out the boxes, please just get them to fill out the boxes, and if you're really not fussed about the boxes, just read their CV or Resume. In all honesty, people who want the job will put a great deal of effort into formatting, editing and rewriting their Resumes and cover letters to maximise their chances. I know this because every time I found a job opportunity that I was genuinely passionate about and interested in, I really tried to put in as much effort as possible, only to become deflated and annoyed when I then had to take everything out of the 4 hours of edited and well-presented documents and put it into generic, Yes/No HR requirement boxes.

If I'm being honest with myself, which is basically why I started this blog, I just want to be treated like a human. Or even just a bit human.ish would do better than what most young people feel like nowadays. We invest our time and energy in presenting ourselves in our most capable and professional lights, yet it really does feel like companies do not return or even reciprocate the gesture. As someone who's constantly finding new ways of being told, 'thanks but no thanks' it feels shocking to me how little the big companies who constantly need people, actually care about the potential ramifications and domino impacts their behaviours through their own recruitment processes are. I for one have certainly advised friends, previous work and academic colleagues not to invest time in applying to certain companies directly because of the processes they have in place, and it feels like the majority of young people trying to enter into the work environment are the same. I think a lot of young people have simply had enough.

We've got bigger, more challenging fish to fry as some older folks might say. Out of the 32 applications sent to a multitude of different work environments including Exploration and production companies, NGOs and charities, Government bodies and Ministries, Advertisement and marketing companies, and fin-tech companies, I can so far say that I've received 5 rejections and very little in the form of feedback on my applications. In fact, in some cases, there was quite literally no opportunity to receive any feedback of any type, as the email systems were all 'do not reply' or 'auto response' email addresses. I cant help but think of the ramifications this sort of treatment will have further down the line as more an more people realise that it's not worth the time, effort and stress. 'Agg' some people might call that.

This Agg doesn't just affect the one person who applies, it affects and influences the other potential future applicants that the initial applicant knows or can influence in the multitude of ways available through social media platforms and social circles.

To be honest it strikes me as utterly bonkers that they're actually allowed to just say 'yeah you weren't good enough... so yeah soz bye'. If a company took time out of the application process to even fill out a matrix sheet of why's and how they could improve, the respect afforded to them by failed applicants would be astoundingly massive. Such a simple thing is so rarely done, and it's damaging these companies in ways they can't even see because they have the foresight of a very old mole.

We're in strange and confusing times, with people supposedly 'quiet quitting' and 'working their wage' but the bigger problems I see, are that these behaviours are completely and utterly tied to the experiences of multiple interview and application processes, where younger people have reached a point at the plateau of work, and can either relax now that they have a job or just catch their breath as they figure out if all that effort was really worth it.

I'll try to talk more of my thoughts on the whole 'quiet quitting' thing in another post, and I'm sure it'll ruffle a few older people's feathers. But the reality of modern work and job applications is a big thing for people to just gloss over and not admit is a hugely impactful part of work cultures. I'll definitely discuss this more in future posts as I have a feeling my experiences with more of these interviews and establishments will evolve and change over time, and will probably depend on how many more responses (regardless of goodness, or badness) I get from the dreaded 'do not reply' zombie email people.

P.S; I can guarantee people will be strongly divided by my opinion of 'quiet quitting' and your age, income, and position in a company will have everything to do with it.