Are you stuck in the big black hole of resumes? From crafting the best cover letter to acing an interview, landing a job is tough in this market. This article is dedicated to support the candidates in the market who are currently on the lookout for a new job but are stuck in the resume black hole.
Olivia Roberts, our Head of Retail at Quest Search and Selection believes that “the black hole of online applications” is one common theme across all businesses and particularly in the Middle East. Whether you are unhappy with your current company, have relocated, or you have been made redundant (which is another common theme, with a huge number of cuts or re structures taking place), the job search process always seems to start with online searches.
So where should you begin looking for roles?
You can start with recruitment agencies or online job portals like LinkedIn, Gulf Talent, Bayt, Total Jobs, Reed, Indeed, etc. There is an endless list for where you can apply for jobs, but what happens when you apply?
Olivia, who has been in the market for over 4 years, says: “I have this conversation with nearly every person I speak to and especially those based in the Middle East. People endlessly apply for positions and hear nothing back. Quite often, when the job is advertised by an agency, the job posting can be vague hence, candidates do not know who they have even applied to as its often a confidential company. On the other hand, it can even be the companies directly that are advertising.”
What happens when you submit your application? Will you ever hear back from anyone?
“The issue as a recruiter especially in this region is the volume of applications we get. I used to work within the UK market 5 years ago and we would receive a small handful of relevant applications for most the jobs I worked on and it was very efficient and easy to manage” says Olivia.
What types of responses do we get in this region?
“Usually 500-1000 on an average, based on the roles I am recruiting for. I can only speak from an agency perspective, but it would be interesting to hear people’s views from an in-house role too. We endeavour to try our best to get through all the applications but most of the time 90% of the people that apply do not even hold relevant experience related to the job they are applying for”.
“This creates most of the issues for the genuine, proactive job seekers in the market that are applying for the right jobs. In the past 4 years, I have interviewed many senior level people that face the same issue which is particularly frustrating. It’s important that candidates understand how difficult this makes it to get to the right people through the volume of irrelevant profiles.”
Obviously with a place like Dubai, we understand that there is a huge attraction to the location. However, the message to anyone before they hit apply is: Does the job description totally or closely match your background?
Companies and agencies can do their best to try and deal with the volume of people but often even with extra support staff and a large team of people there is just not enough hours in the day.
If this was a general piece of advice that is available online and for each person we meet to educate them on this I feel there would be far more chance of the right people applying to get the call, their cv sent or the placement.
How to Avoid the Job Search Black Hole?
Contact the Recruiter Directly
Instead of sending your CV to the black hole of applications, contact the recruiter directly via phone or email. A lot of candidates use this approach and it works! Whether you are right for the role or not, this ensures live feedback from the recruiter and can give you better insights and help support you with advice on how to get more out of what you’re doing.
If you need any advice on any recruitment related issues such as this, please contact a relevant consultant within your sector. If there is any other topics you would like to have a blog written about, please make your suggestions by sending emails to info@questsearch.ae
