New to the job market? Trends you need to know about

If it’s been a while since you’ve been a job seeker, or you are entering the job market for the first time, here’s what you need to know about the employment landscape in 2018.

Social Media is an increasingly important job search tool

According to statistics from careerbuilder.com, 70% of companies are now screening job candidates’ social media accounts and activity before hiring them. What’s more, 54% of employers have decided not to hire a candidate after seeing what they’ve been up to on social media, and 57% are less likely to consider someone for an interview if they can’t find them online.

So what does this mean for jobseekers in 2018?

If you’re not using social media for your job search, or to boost your career in general, you’re missing out on opportunities.

Firstly, you should, at a minimum, have a profile on LinkedIn that outlines your achievements, qualifications, work experience and skills. This means that employers will be able to easily research you online and find out the basics of your professional acumen.

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Even better, you should be cultivating an online brand on LinkedIn and other social platforms that attracts opportunities and allows you to present a curated version of yourself to potential employers.

How do you do this?

Your social media profiles are a way for potential employers to see who you are both professionally and personally. Use this to your advantage and advertise your skills, achievements, goals and interests through your profiles and what you post about. You could follow relevant groups or individuals and consider commenting on relevant articles to get yourself noticed.

Equally, be careful about sharing what you don’t want them to see – adjust your privacy settings on your more personal accounts like Facebook and remember that every opinion you post on twitter can easily be seen by anyone. It only takes one inappropriate post to ruin your professional reputation.

AI set to take over talent acquisition

Chances are, your CV may not even get seen by human eyes in 2018. Recruiters are now increasingly using artificial intelligence to sift through job applications and match candidates to roles. ‘There are even AI bots that handle repetitive and easy-to-automate tasks like scheduling candidate interviews,’ say glassdoor.com.

Here’s a brief summary of the biggest recent advancements in AI in recruitment:

Intelligent screening software – This automates CV screening by using the recruiters’ existing CV database to learn what makes a good candidate in terms of experience, skills and other qualities. It then applies this knowledge to screen, rank and shortlist new candidates. Some AI software can even combine this with public data from social media profiles.

Chatbots – Intelligent chatbots can now be used to interact with candidates in real time, doing everything from asking questions about job requirements and providing feedback, to updating on the application process and informing them about next steps, scheduling interviews and more.

Digitised interviews – perhaps one of the most impressive developments in AI recruitment is online interview software which uses artificial intelligence to assess word choice, speech patterns and facial expressions to determine the candidate’s fit for the role.

What can you do to increase your success with AI recruitment?

The key to getting your CV past the AI software and into the hands of real life recruiters is to use key words. Fastcompany.com has some great advice for doing this:

1. Your first instinct might be to scan the job description for the key “must have” skills that the recruiter is looking for. However, it is better to identify the best key words to use in your CV by looking at the LinkedIn profiles of your competitors. Search for people who already have that position and head to the ‘Featured Skills and Endorsements’ section of their profile. These are your keywords.
2. You can’t trick the system by stuffing your CV with repetitions of the keywords over and over again. Recruitment AI has got too intelligent for that. Instead make sure you contextualise your keywords with examples of where you applied the skill.

Transparency

Lack of transparency in the recruiting process is a major annoyance for job seekers.

“58% of job seekers say they have a negative impression of a company if they didn’t hear back from the company after submitting an application, whereas 67% of job seekers have a positive impression of a company if they receive consistent updates throughout the application process,” reports ideal.com.

More and more recruiters are now using programmes that allow job seekers to check on the progress of their application, get information about next steps, or browse information about the role and company.

What can job seekers do about this particular job market trend? Enjoy it!