Category: Thoughts
-
Oxford & Cambridge to Ditch Traditional Exams, An Alumnus Responds
Reducing the intellectual challenge.
-
No Such Thing As Race?
We now know that Neanderthals and humans did interbreed in the Middle East. Africans are the only group that lacks these genes.
Some comments posted below this video:
-
Job Applications Have Become Spam
Due to automation, companies receive far more applications than they can reasonably consider.
Therefore, they employ further automation to narrow their search to a smaller pool of candidates.
This results in job seekers needing to submit many more applications to have a chance at being selected for an interview.
Most job seekers report submitting over 1,000 job applications before landing a job, even if they are highly qualified.
The second commenter here is mad about the outcome, but his analogy is appropriate: Tinder gives more options to females to select or reject men. LinkedIn gives employers more options to select or reject workers.
The result of Tinder is that the top 10% of men get 90% of the women. They benefit the most. Therefore, to benefit from LinkedIn, one must aim to be among the 10% most “attractive” candidates.
As the top commenter notes, skills and experience are not enough to get a job. One must also network to become connected socially with one of the decision makers at the company.
Paradoxically, despite the abundance of objective metrics for selecting ideal candidates (or perhaps because of them), getting selected for a job seems to depend most on who you know.
Rather than be spiteful about this fact, it is worth understanding how it comes to be the reality in order to work with it. One comparison to make is that females of all species generally select males with characteristics that prove strength (think muscles) and ability (think wasteful spending). The LinkedIn counterparts to these things would be the recommendation of someone we know and trust. Submitting a resume is low-effort. Getting a verbal recommendation is high-effort (muscles).
The bottom line is that it is going to take a lot more energy to get selected for a job than it used to. One alternative is to become an employer and take advantage of the abundant labor pool by hiring others instead of seeking employment one’s self. Either that, or adjust to the reality that global competition is increasing, and it is up to you to figure out how to position yourself in the most attractive light to win over prospective employers: going above and beyond in all categories, education, certifications, experience, and networking.