I consider myself have applied for a lot of jobs. Years ago I struggled through the ridiculous bureaucratic systems where I had to fill in every field to still be in the game when the executor sat down at his desk and analyzed the applications.
And most of the time I didn’t get the job which meant that I had wasted time on a repetitive process that gave me nothing. The company got a smorgasbord of interesting candidates to put in their database, I got nothing.
Long and bureaucratic application processes are doomed
Today things are different. I no longer accept a long application process like I used too if it´s not an extraordinary opportunity that is lurking on the other side. And I think this is the case for many people. As the internet age has matured, people have started to take offence when a company diminishes their intelligence and forces them to go through something unnecessary, something that could have been done better.
A negative effect on the brand
The way a company design their job application says something about themselves as a company, and if people get a negative view by clicking on an ad it affects the brand. Some arrogant companies still apply these horrible methods because they still live in the old world where companies ruled the market. Because the job application form is no longer owned by the companies, it is own by the applicant. And this ownership will only become stronger and stronger in the future as knowledge becomes king. As natural resources become scarcer we move from a producing society towards a service society and that means a shift in how companies value their assets.
The knowledge economy
Because when mass production decreases, companies are more dependent on intellectual capital. But since universities are spitting out standardized engineers and MBAs that knows the exact same things it is becoming increasingly harder for companies to find the talent they need. Think about it – if they hire people with the exact same knowledge as their competitor they will have a hard time to do the innovation that it takes to be in the lead in a world where startups grows and disrupts faster than a tornado.
Fast change create opportunities
If there is one thing that I never will derail from it is my search for the alternative truth, the knowledge that lies outside school plans and formal recommendations of what you should know in order to please the corporations (yesterday). Because the world is changing so fast that schools and companies have trouble keeping up, and this offers a unique opportunity for those who can find a way to be different in a relevant manner. That is where you differentiate yourself from the people that come out of universities and think they know everything about a subject because they got the highest grade, and that is where you can find the most interesting jobs.
DIY.