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The job search process has changed dramatically in recent years. The Worki service told what it will be like in the next five years and what you need to know to navigate the market
Now we can see a job ad while scrolling through the feed in social networks and while being in another country. Or write to your dream employer in a messenger and show your Instagram profile instead of formal papers. Opportunities are growing, but so is the competition.
Social media instead of job search platforms
People spend almost four hours daily on mobile devices. Half of this time is spent on social networks and only 19% on applications, including job search services. By posting their vacancies on special platforms, employers compete for the attention of a small audience among thousands of other services, instead of showing themselves to a larger group of job seekers who spend time on social networks.
If you look at the job market in America, already now 70% of companies use Facebook to search for candidates, and every fourth resident of the country finds a job through this social network. At the same time, people who monitor vacancies using smartphones can do this from anywhere in the world. According to a Jobvite study, more than half of job seekers search for ads while lying in bed, slightly less on the way to work or even in the office, as well as in restaurants and gyms.
This trend has also come to Russia. A study by Worki showed that every second candidate under 34 years old is looking for a job on social networks. At the same time, almost 70% of respondents find vacancies in thematic groups, and 36% of respondents respond to posts in company profiles. According to job seekers, this method is much more convenient than the traditional one: communication is faster and more informal, in addition, it is immediately clear whether the potential employer has read the message.
At the same time, it would be wrong to think that companies will completely abandon specialized platforms – at least not yet. On the contrary, employers who use a comprehensive approach to finding talent and use social networks, special services, applications and mailing lists at the same time are 87% more likely to find the best talent. Therefore, applicants should not focus on one search channel – it is better to use all available opportunities.
Flexible work format and independent contractors
In the spring, due to the pandemic, people around the world switched to a remote work format. Some companies have not yet returned employees to the office, and businesses have had to adapt. Now, many companies have a flexible work system: some employees stay in the office, some go to work from home, and the rest go to a mixed format depending on current tasks. However, some employers have transferred entire departments to a permanent remote location, the presence of which in the office of the company as a whole is not necessary.
In addition to the obvious advantages of the remote format (savings in rent and office costs for the company and travel time for employees), there is another important plus: people can find work from anywhere in the world, and employers do not have to limit their search circle by territorial criteria. The main professional areas in which the remote work format is leading compared to the traditional one are marketing, advertising and PR, as well as art, entertainment and mass media: about 55% of workers in these areas answered that they work remotely. In third place are lawyers, in fourth place are representatives of the IT sector. In the future, specialists from other fields will also be able to count on the remote format of work.
In addition, more and more companies are resorting to an open workforce: hiring freelancers and independent contractors as needed. The main advantage of working with such employees is the ability to quickly select a specialist of any level in the desired field. Freelancers are used in projects with tight deadlines or in the absence of a budget for a full-time employee. Now the leader in the number of independent contractors among professional areas is the media sector, where almost half of the total number of employees are freelancers. First of all, these are journalists, editors, designers, photographers, illustrators. In second place are marketers and PR managers (almost a third are freelancers), in third place are lawyers (28%), and in fourth place are administrative staff (for example, call center operators) – 17%.
Solutions are behind artificial intelligence
The Internet has made it easier to find a job: on average, 250 resumes are submitted for each vacancy in the company. The average candidate spends 76 seconds reading a single job description, and some applicants send out their portfolios without paying attention to requirements, including qualifications or experience. Therefore, it is not surprising that recruiters usually cut off more than half of the resume. As a result, most hiring managers do not have the time or energy to carefully consider each candidate’s application – on average, it takes only 6,25 seconds to read one resume.
In a large flow of information, artificial intelligence will help HR specialists navigate. Already now, in many industries, new technologies can reduce time and increase work efficiency by automating routine processes. The same can be done with resume analysis. For example, artificial intelligence will be able to assess how suitable the applicant is for a certain position, according to the keywords in the document. In addition, with the help of technology in the future it will be possible to verify the accuracy of the information provided by the candidate.
Artificial intelligence will be able to take over not only analytics, but also communication with applicants. Thus, the use of chatbots for correspondence with candidates will reduce the burden on HR specialists. In the near future, bots will be able not only to send template phrases, but also to conduct simple testing of candidates.
Interest not only in experience, but also in personal qualities
The trend towards manufacturability and automation is smoothed out by an increase in interest in the personal qualities of the applicant. So, according to Joan Markow, founding partner of the Boston-based career coaching organization GreenMason, the best way to show how well a person can perform his duties, his character traits and soft skills. They’re more likely to be identified during a face-to-face interview, so employers shouldn’t worry too much about finding a resume that matches the job description exactly, he said.
Contrary to stereotypes, soft skills are necessary not only for “white” but also for “blue collars”. The so-called “soft skills” usually mean the ability to make decisions, leadership qualities, communication skills, creativity, self-development skills, as well as emotional intelligence, which allows you to manage not only your own emotions, but also the emotions of others. People who are engaged in physical labor need such skills in order to build communication in a team as efficiently as possible, distribute or delegate tasks, train younger and less experienced employees and evaluate the correctness of their professional decisions.
Now it is possible to determine some of the skills and personal qualities of a candidate even before the interview stage. After analyzing the portfolio, recruiters are increasingly using special tests. They are of three types: those that test abilities, skills and personal qualities. The first two are especially useful when it comes to predicting job performance: these tests will help you rate an applicant twice as well as interviews, say three times as much as work experience, and four times as much as education. In addition, with the help of them you can understand where the applicant exaggerated his abilities or even lied about his skills. Such types of testing can take place in different formats: if ordinary online tests are popular now, in the future they may be replaced by VR technologies.
At the same time, personality testing will help determine whether a candidate will be comfortable in a new role and whether they have qualities that will help them succeed in a particular industry. There are no right or wrong answers in these tests. They can measure many different traits, but most often the emphasis is on goodwill, conscientiousness, extraversion, openness to experience and stress resistance (the so-called “five-factor model”). Such qualities are associated with performance in various positions, primarily in sales and customer service.