Job Search Technologies and Employment
17 July 2024
Job seekers went online to look for work in the early 2000s, and it totally changed the process by which workers search and find jobs. At the beginning many economists wrote about the potential of the Internet to smooth search frictions and allow more workers and firms to meet and establish productive employment relationships. Compared to the “help wanted” ads in newspapers, online job posts are easier to search for, they contain more information about a position, and can be found by a far larger pool of candidates.
At the root of its idea, job search technology was supposed to make it easier for employers and employees to find each other. Is this really the case in 2024?
Key Takeaways:
- The rise of online job search expected to have implications for broader labor market dynamics and possibly reduce economic inequality.
- Job seekers spend various amounts of time daily on job search activities, with the majority (over 80%) spending up to four hours per day searching and applying for jobs.
- 79% of job seekers utilized online resources in their most recent job search, making it one of the most efficient methods for finding employment opportunities.
- Job search technologies like job aggregators give job seekers access to a broader range of job opportunities, moreover they are cost effective and time efficient.
- Job search technologies allow employers to reach a wide audience globally, they save employers time and money.
- In the global scale, job search will continue to lead to fewer unemployment episodes and shorter unemployment spells.
Job Search Technologies and Job Seeker
Digital resources are now more important than ever, both to the ability to apply for jobs, and to hire talents. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), job seekers spend various amounts of time daily on job search activities, with the majority (over 80%) spending up to four hours per day searching and applying for jobs.
In 2024 to employ, job seeker uses:
Internal Career Websites — career sites from specific companies allow job seekers to apply directly to employers. These sites often provide detailed information about company culture, benefits, and the hiring process.
Job Search Engines — these platforms aggregate job listings from multiple sources, providing a comprehensive database of available positions. They offer features such as keyword searches, location filters, and salary information to help refine the job search. According to the Job Board Doctor’s survey — nearly 50 percent of job seekers use job aggregators when looking for work.
Job Boards — through these platforms where employers post job openings and job seekers search and apply for employment opportunities. These platforms provide a centralized database of job listings across various industries, allowing users to filter and find positions that match their skills and career goals.
Social Media — social media like LinkedIn has become synonymous with professional networking. As of April 2024, there were 5.07 billion, or 62.6 percent of the world's population social media users. Social networks like LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter enable users to search for jobs, research potential employers, share resumes, and apply for positions.
Pros and Cons of Using Job Search Technologies for a Job Seeker
Job technologies have undoubtedly revolutionized the approach to job search. As with everything else, job technologies have their pros and cons. From the point of view of a job seeker, they are as follows:
Pros
Job search technologies significantly reduce the time spent on finding and applying for jobs. According to a report by the Pew Research Center, 79% of job seekers utilized online resources in their most recent job search, making it one of the most efficient methods for finding employment opportunities.
Job search technologies like job aggregators give job seekers access to a broader range of job opportunities. Jobsora receives over 20 million unique visitors each month, illustrating the extensive reach of open vacancies worldwide.
Job search technologies are free to use, and that is a reason for another benefit - cost-effectiveness. With the advancement of technology, job seekers no longer need to spend money on newspapers with job postings. Millions of jobs are already gathered on the screen in front of them for free thanks to job technology.
There are countless features that help job seekers: resume builders, job alerts, refine searches, job newsletters — all these solutions make job seekers’ job search easier. And all of them are at the expense of business.
Social media platforms like LinkedIn reveal a lot of information about the employer to the job seeker. Finding out the information you need about a company, its culture, and team has never been easier. Yes, networking is also the new normal for a job seeker these days, but first of all, you need to know who you are going to build relationships with. And it is job technologies that allow you to get this information.
Cons
Sometimes happens that companies that use Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) reject qualified candidates automatically due to the keyword mismatches or formatting issues.
Even though we live in 2024, not all job seekers have access to the Internet, and therefore to job search platforms. This leads to disparities in job search success.
The ease of applying for jobs online means that each job listing receives a high number of applications, increasing competition and making it harder for talent to stand out.
Job Search Technologies and Employer
For employers, the benefits of job search technologies seem promising too. Posting a job opening online offers more tools to screen candidates, makes it possible to edit and update ads as needed.
As both the search and recruiting processes became faster, cheaper, and more efficient, the rise of online job search also is expected to have implications for broader labor market dynamics and possibly reduce economic inequality.
Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) are designed to automate the recruitment process by scanning and filtering resumes for specific keywords that match job descriptions, streamlining candidate shortlisting and reducing the time spent on manual reviews. They also manage various recruitment tasks such as job posting, interview scheduling, and candidate communication, ensuring a centralized and efficient hiring workflow.
Job Search Engines, job boards, and social media are beneficial for employers also, as they increase the visibility of employer’s job postings to help reach a broader audience. They all perform on different models, but have the same goal - to attract the most relevant candidates for open positions.
Pros and Cons of Using Job Search Technologies for an Employer
Pros
Job search technologies allow employers to reach a wide audience globally. Thanks to technologies, companies can reach a wider pool of candidates. Yes, the quality of candidates is also a very important factor in this matter. And here comes another technology - ATS, that filters unqualified candidates.
Job search technologies save employers time. Automated job posting, distribution, interview scheduling, resume parsing, communication — all these save employers time and money.
Job ads allow to get high-quality candidates. Targeted job ads allow employers to reach the candidates with relevant skills and experience, making the hiring process cost-efficient and effective.
Cons
Automated recruitment and hiring systems can exclude qualified applicants and inhibit quality job matches, — report by Harvard Business School and Accenture suggests that. As such systems were designed to sort through large numbers of potential candidates quickly and efficiently, reducing costs and recruiter time, and often filter out or ignore qualified job-seekers based on overly restrictive, unrelated, or inflexible criteria.
Conclusion
Job search technologies are a new normal both for job seekers and employers. By allowing job seekers and employers to access an unprecedented amount of information about each other, technologies such as online job search engines lower barriers that make it difficult for workers and employers to meet and establish valuable employment relationships. Job search technologies increased unemployed workers’ chances of finding a job within a short period of time, and made it easier for the employers to find relevant candidates.
Of course, job search technologies have their drawbacks and challenges. The job businesses that create these technologies also have some work to do, such as reducing phantom vacancies, that make the job search process more costly, discouraging, and difficult to figure out.
In the global scale, job search will continue to lead to fewer unemployment episodes and shorter unemployment spells. I strongly believe that with advanced and transparent technology, job tech solutions can lead to a massive reduction in world’s unemployment.
Valentyn Peltek, CEO and Co-Founder at Jobsora
