“The big buzz of last year was the introduction of ChatGPT and the subsequent rapid development in AI, which had most people checking whether AI would be proverbially eating their jobs. But there is another consideration which has received less attention in terms of AI in the jobs marketplace, and that is the fact that new tech could mean that your candidacy falls through the cracks before you even get a chance to land that dream role,” says Advaita Naidoo, Africa MD at executive search firm, Jack Hammer.
She says on the one hand, with the rise of AI and online recruitment tools, job seekers have access to resources that can help them take a more active role in their job search.
“By leveraging these tools, you can reduce the time and effort required to find the right job and increase your chances of success,” she says.
But on the other hand, these tools mean that applications for positions have increased exponentially, which significantly reduces a candidate’s chance of being noticed in the first place.
“If you are looking for a new position in 2024, you are going to have to be a lot more proactive to catch the eye of hiring managers, as well as being significantly more organised on your job search journey,” says Naidoo.
Through sites such as LinkedIn, candidates can now, at the click of a button, register their interest in a company or a position. While this ease of application almost instantly opens up a larger pool of potentially suitable positions, it comes at a cost.
“From my conversations with pretty much everyone on companies’ hiring side, the anecdotal evidence indicates that application numbers have increased at least fivefold over the past year. While there are definitely more people in the market, this phenomenon is no doubt also closely linked to the increased ease of application.
“The implication for job seekers is that you have to change your approach if you want to be noticed by the hiring manager with thousands of applications in their inbox, to have a chance at landing that coveted first interview,” says Naidoo.
In particular, eliminate long and rambling copy, and get your keywords right for the automated parts of the process, before a human eye would even land on your application. You have to do your homework to determine what the current requirements are for your industry and what works and what doesn’t for CVs.
“The markets now are different to how they were two years ago, when – if you’d been laid off, you could literally take one breath, post something on LinkedIn and line up some interviews relatively quickly. Market conditions and recruitment tools have changed that, so you’re going to need to be more active, more focused, and more structured in your approach.
“While the changed landscape presents challenges, it has also opened up new opportunities for those who are willing to take a proactive and strategic approach. By leveraging the latest tools and technologies, and by being diplomatic, open, honest, and authentic, you can substantially increase your chances of finding the right role to take your career to the next level.”
