Why Is It So Hard To Find A Job?

So you’ve finally graduated. It seemed like graduation would never come, right?

But after the celebrations and the countless pictures, you may find that you are stuck at home with a massive worry that you really need to find a solution for.

The problem? Finding a job.

Key Takeaways:

• It can take the average person eight weeks to find a new job.

• Most employers want to hire someone with prior work experience over someone with little work experience.

• The best way to improve your job finding skills is to tailor your resume, expand your network, and follow up after applying.

7 Reasons Why it’s so Hard to Find a Job

Your friends understand the panic, but your parents may not.

When they graduated twenty or thirty years ago, finding a full-time job with only a bachelor’s degree was easy. They didn’t have to move back into their parents’ house because of high rent prices. They didn’t have to get a master’s degree in order to be competitive. So why the massive change?

Today’s America is a lot different than the America of thirty years ago. There are plenty of job markets that just barely existed then — IT, computer software, data analytics, and many research avenues.

Despite that, many recent grads are struggling to find jobs. So what’s the holdup?

1. More people have college degrees today than in the past. The value of your degree isn’t what it used to be. You need to show you have other skills such as public speaking, project management, leadership, etc.

   Because of this competition is tough, which means your application can be nothing short of stellar.

2. Most employers want candidates to have some prior work experience. Think internships, externships, volunteer work, etc. Hiring managers and recruiters are uncomfortable simply taking your word that you’re capable without some experience to back it up.

3. You don’t have a network. Even if you have the above things down, if you don’t network, you are going to fall behind other candidates. Go out there, and talk to people who matter in your field.

4. Companies are hiring internally. There’s a “hidden” job market out there that you won’t find on job boards. These jobs are marketed internally or are only open to referrals. Generally speaking, it’s considered less of a risk to hire from within, because the company already has a relationship with the internal employee.

5. Not all jobs are publicly listed. Some job opportunities require using a recruiter as an intermediary. Or the company can be relying entirely on referrals and recommendations from existing staff. If you can land a reference from someone at the company, you can skip the queue and land more opportunities.

6. You’re over or underqualified. Applying for jobs that you’re not qualified for is an easy way to feel hopeless about your job prospects. It’s good to aim high, but keep a realistic stock of your skill set and experience level. Be flexible about taking jobs that may not seem glamorous, but can nevertheless take you to your ultimate career goals eventually.

   On the flip side, you may be overqualified for the positions you’re applying for. Hiring managers and recruiters may worry that you’ll be bored with the work or require too high of a salary. This can be every bit as off-putting as an underqualified candidate.

7. You have a gap in your employment. Being out of the game for a while can have a big impact on your job hunt. If you’re out of work for an extended period, try to spend that time volunteering or educating yourself so that you have a compelling story for interviewers.

What Employers are Looking for

1. Practical work experience. For example, internships, externships, volunteering, etc. They want candidates who have practical experience working with the skills you learn in textbooks in college.

   • You may have spent hours reading about community organization techniques in a political science class, but have you ever actually worked or volunteered for a political campaign?

   • You may have experience interacting with groups in classrooms, but have you ever had to lead a diverse group of people other than your peers in the real world? Recent grads have the ability to pass tests, but that is not necessarily what companies are looking for.

   • What do all of these attributes have in common? They are skills and experiences that often require you to put in extra effort outside of the classroom. But even if you do have a billion internships, and you’ve won volunteer of the year at a local nonprofit, you may still have trouble finding reasonable employment.

2. Sign of responsibility (project management, leadership roles, etc). Competition is tough these days. As more and more people are going to college, having a degree no longer makes you unique. You have to step it up — get an advanced degree, complete an incredibly competitive internship, or even help make a startup shine.

   • Competition isn’t just from more candidates with similar degrees; it is also from more candidates from further away.

   • Before the Internet, you likely would apply to jobs locally, so the competition was restricted to your geographic location.

   • In order to be competitive, you need to show that you have what it takes to succeed — you can take on leadership roles, take initiative and accomplish tasks on time, and you are willing to learn things that you don’t already know.

3. People skills. Think public speaking, excellent interview skills, proven history of work with diverse populations, etc. These are skills and experiences that often require you to put in extra effort outside of the classroom. Go out there, and gain experience working with groups and peoples that show your flexibility and openness, regardless of the situation.

   • But even if you do have a billion internships, and you’ve won volunteer of the year at a local nonprofit, you may still have trouble finding reasonable employment.

   • Because there are so many steps you must take to land a job as a recent graduate, and for many, degree programs don’t help guide them through those steps.

   • You know what’s more difficult than finding a job? Finding a full-time job.

How to Improve Your Odds of Finding a Job

It’s not all doom and gloom. There are ways that you can boost your chances of being noticed, interviewed, and hired. Follow the steps below to step up your job application game:

1. Tailor your resume. First things first, make sure that each and every resume you send out is tailored for the specific job you’re applying for. That means reading the job description carefully. Highlight all of the action words in one color and all of the adjectives and skills in a different color.

   Then look for ways to honestly and naturally incorporate those same keywords into your resume. If you’re sending the same generic resume out for each job, then hiring managers are going to recognize that quickly and discard you from the applicant pool.

2. Consider applicant tracking systems (ATS). The keyword tip from above isn’t just for human readers. These days, most large organizations use computer programs known as applicant tracking systems (ATS) to weed out applicants who don’t meet minimum requirements.

   That means that formatting your resume in a traditional way, with clear indications of your skills and your years of experience in different positions, is paramount for getting past the robot gatekeepers. For more on making your resume ATS-friendly, check out this article.

3. Write a cover letter. Some job postings may indicate that sending a cover letter is optional. Send a cover letter every time you’re applying for a job you seriously want.

   While the resume answers the “who, what, where, when” questions about you, a cover letter answers the “how” and “why.” Each cover letter should be customized for the specific job you’re applying for and make reference to the same keywords used in the job description.

4. Apply sparingly. We recommend quality over quantity when it comes to applying for jobs. Sure, online applications have made it easier than ever to attempt the shotgun approach of spraying out applications and seeing what sticks. But that approach is part of the reason it’s so hard to find jobs.

   When hiring managers and recruiters are inundated with countless stacks of applications that don’t fit the job posting’s requirements, they don’t have as much time to screen and consider serious contenders.

   Be a part of the solution and make everyone’s job search easier by only applying to jobs that you’re really interested in and well qualified for.

   Plus, you’ll have a whole lot less rejection and negativity around the job-search process — failing to land three jobs sounds a lot better than failing to land 100.

5. Expand your network. Online applications aren’t everything. Make it a point to try other avenues for finding and landing jobs. Attend career fairs in your field or industry, connect with professionals who work on projects that excite you, and even just ask your friends and family.

   Getting an “in” on a job opportunity lets you skip so much of the hassle and headache of the all-online approach. Establish and maintain a network, and you’ll always have someone to turn to.

   Your network may not always have a job opportunity ready for you, but they can at least point you in the right direction a lot of the time.

6. Follow up. At all stages of the application process, you need to be proactive about following up. After you send in an application, write a follow-up email the following week to touch base and check in. This gives you a chance to put some personality to those otherwise dry application documents.

   When you get an interview, send a thank-you email soon after the interview is finished. Then, follow up as appropriate based on the timeline that the hiring manager gave you.

   For example, if they said you should hear back in 5 business days, send a follow-up check-in email after 6 or 7 business days to see what’s going on. Don’t be annoying, but keep yourself near the top of employers’ minds.

Why it’s so Hard to Find a Job FAQ

• Why is it so hard to find a job after college?

  It’s so hard to find a job after college because having an undergraduate degree is the bare minimum employers are looking for in candidates

  Every recent graduate knows the struggle. Those who are able to secure a job before graduation seem to be a rare breed.

  Those jobs are mostly given to students who graduate with professional degrees like nursing and teaching. Engineers and computer science students also seem to have luck finding jobs.

• Why is it so hard to find a a full-time job?

  It can be difficult to find a full-time job because employers don’t want to have to offer benefits packages to employees. That means that you could be working 38 hours a week if a company’s full-time status is 40 hours a week and not receive health insurance and retirement benefits.

  It is much cheaper to hire many part-time workers and not have to pay benefits than a full-time worker and have to pay their benefits.

• How long does it take the average person to find a new job?

  It takes the average person about eight weeks to find a new job. The amount of time it takes to find a job is based on your skill level and experience. If you have a lot of experience in a field, it might not take you as long to find a position as it would someone with little experience.

Final Thoughts

So what can you do about the tight job market and a college degree? Before going back to get a master’s degree, consider skills you can develop and master that will make you stand out.

Go to job fairs and network — ask representatives from companies what they are looking for in job candidates. If you find that many are searching for candidates who have certifications in different coding languages, consider getting certified in those first at your community college.

If they are looking for community engagement and leadership, then perhaps volunteering someplace that gives you leadership roles while you are applying to jobs would be a good idea.

Either way, finding a job can be incredibly difficult. But the worst thing you can do is sit at home and do nothing. There are many places where you can develop skills for free.

Network at job fairs, go to your community colleges’ free classes, start finding hiring managers to ask questions about what they seek in successful applicants.

The more active you are in your job search, the more likely you will land a job.

Author

Heidi Cope

Heidi Cope is a former writer for the Zippia Career Advice blog. Her writing focused primarily on Zippia's suite of rankings and general career advice. After leaving Zippia, Heidi joined The Mighty as a writer and editor, among other positions. She received her BS from UNC Charlotte in German Studies.