Why it's so hard to find a job right now

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🔵 To be blunt, the job market is pretty bad right now.

It doesn’t take much research to see.

Just do a simple Google or YouTube search and you’ll see stuff like this:

And if you’re currently searching for a role, I feel your pain.

Sending out hundreds of applications each week and hearing nothing back would make anyone feel hopeless.

But while it feels impossible to find a job right now, there’s still a strategy that works.

It may not be as straightforward as sending a resume, but it works.

I would know, because I used it to land all my 4 jobs in the past 2 years.

Today, we’ll review the BS of this job market, and how you can use this strategy to get around it.

Here’s the route for today

🦜 Topic: The 3 Problems of This Job Market

👟 Running the Web: Australian Breakdancer, Mpox, and More

⛵️ This Week in 1 Frame: Start-Up Stories

TOPIC
The 3 Problems of This Job Market

Before the solution, we have to understand the problem.

Here are the 3 causes behind this rough market.

#1 Unrealistic Job Qualifications

Go on LinkedIn, search for jobs, and filter for entry-level roles.

What you’ll find are tons of posts asking for years of experience.

It’s not like the hiring managers who are writing these job posts are unaware.

They know asking a new grad for even 1-2 years of experience is unrealistic, they just don’t care.

They don’t care because they’re only interested in the top 1%. They don’t have time to look over 100s of applications.

Due to the competition, simply having a degree doesn’t cut it anymore:

#2 ATS

The infamous ATS (applicant tracking system)

Most people think of it as a system that auto-rejects your resume if it doesn’t have enough keywords or uses the wrong format.

Well, you’re right, it does do all that, but most ATS don’t outright reject your application.

Instead, they’ll rank your resume based on its similarity to the job and then add it to a compiled list of other applicants.

Since ATS has become mainstream, applicants have to carefully craft every application to fit the job posting criteria.

It’s time-consuming, and most of the time, a guessing game.

#3 Fake Job Postings

Back in 2020, stats showed that it took 100 to 200+ applications to get 1 job offer.

Today, you’d be lucky to even get an interview after that many.

And a large reason for this is due to fake job postings.

That’s right, companies will post a job with no intention of hiring for it.

Why do this? Several reasons:

• it makes the company look busier, which is good

• it’s a scare tactic used to keep current employees

• it’s for an internal candidate they already decided on

What You Can Do About This

Ok, that wraps up our bleak look at the job market, so what’s the solution?

The good news is, you’re probably already doing it, it’s networking.

But my approach is slightly different, I call it: extreme networking.

This is how you follow it:

Unless you’ve had a coffee chat or an email exchange with the recruiter, DO NOT APPLY FOR THE JOB.

Here’s the reason behind it.

A lot of postings are either asking for too much or outright fake and even if you apply, you have to get past the ATS system.

It’s a rough game to play, but why play the game at all?

With extreme networking, we can avoid the tedious steps and figure out sooner if a job is really worth applying to.

Closing Thoughts:

After graduation, when I was looking for my full-time role, I used my strategy of extreme networking.

While it took my colleagues on average 100 - 200 applications to find their jobs.

It only took me 2 applications.

Instead of mass applying, I was sending cold emails and LinkedIn DMs, and because I only applied to jobs after I had established a connection with the hiring team, my chances skyrocketed.

Hope this success case of mine inspires you to try the strategy out for yourself!

See you next Tuesday 🤝

-Michael Ly

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PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT
Running the Web

💃 The infamous Australian breakdancer, who scored zero points, has responded to the criticism of her Olympic performance.

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🙊 The World Health Organization (WHO) declares monkeypox to be a global emergency

INSPIRATION
🖥️ This Week in 1 Frame

This week, I came across an inspirational YouTube video.

It dives into one man’s journey from working as a waiter and earning $10/hour, to creating a business that generates $1.5 million/year.

Listen to his story here

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Check out Skyler’s post where she shares how she landed 3 Microsoft internship offers!

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Most-Read Articles

1. To learn about my career journey, click here

2. To learn how to tailor your resume, click here

3. To learn how I passed my interviews, click here