Here’s one possible reason more Americans are giving up on looking for a job: The process is pretty unpleasant.
A new study from research firm Future Workplace and human resources technology provider CareerArc finds that workers spend hours on every job application they send out, are convinced that humans hardly look at their resumes, and often have a poor experience when they actually do get an interview.
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The survey, which also polled employers, finds that the job applicants aren’t entirely wrong in their assessment. Typical job seekers spends three to four hours working on each job application, but employers only spend minutes reviewing each one.
Nearly four in 10 employers use technology to screen applicants’ online applicants, but 62 percent of them admit that those tools have probably screened out qualified applicants. When they hear nothing after sending an application, 85 percent of job seekers believe that it was never seen by humans.
Among job seekers surveyed, 60 percent said that they had had a poor candidate experience, with the top gripe being poor communication and follow up from companies if they didn’t get the job.
“This survey reveals a critical blind spot employers have when it comes to candidate experience, and that is the experience of the declined candidates,” Robin Richards, CareerArc CEO said in a statement. “In this tightening labor market, companies can no longer afford to overlook this vocal majority of applicants who didn’t get the job, but simply expect to be acknowledged.”
