The old paradigms of job search have changed: writing a good CV is not enough to hope for a successful selection. Let's analyse together the role of the job seeker in recruiting and the elements which make the difference.
The job seeker: the candidacy awareness
Searching for a job is often a very demanding and stressful activity, which requires a lot of energy and determination to get the desired position: but recently we are witnessing a change in the role of the job seeker, which has become a central element in the recruiting process.
Why? We can confidently say that the search for a job has transformed the role of the job seeker from an almost passive one, consisting in searching for job advertisements and sending CVs with the hope of being contacted by a recruiter, to a much more aware and active role, thanks to social channels and the growing importance of digital reputation in recruiting processes.
Job seekers and digital reputation
The digitalization phenomenon and the advent of social media have crucially contributed to reviewing the role of the job seeker and its importance in the success of recruitment processes: especially the younger generations, Millennials and GenZ on top, digital natives, are pretty much aware of their digital reputation and the role of social channels (especially LinkedIn) in disseminating content that gives the recruiter important information about their interests, attitudes and vocations when searching for the ideal candidate for their company.
Social recruiting is actually a precious opportunity both for recruiters, who can look for talents in a very large pool of profiles and potential "passive" candidates, but also for job seekers who have the opportunity to be directly known by companies, highlighting their skills and publications and offering a more complete overview of their profile to be objectively evaluated. However, due to the immediacy and permanence of online information, social channels are not pitfalls-free: they need to be used in a responsible and intelligent way, in order not to risk self-sabotaging of one's applications by neglecting personal branding.
Preparing for the job search: becoming a job seeker
Starting to search for a new job, or the first job, is not an easy task: you might think that by using digital media, a good social profile may be enough to attract a recruiter and get an interview.In fact, the job seeker, as highlighted by this article published on Harvard Business Review, has to face a strong challenge, but it can be managed with the proper precautions: let's see which ones.
First of all, the job seeker should pause to objectively evaluate their acquired experiences and skills, highlighting the strengths and trying to analyse the faults: all of this by trying to offer the most authentic and transparent image as possible. It is especially important to evaluate soft skills: these innate abilities are linked to the ability to relate to others, the ease in solving problems, the dynamics related to social behaviour of people who have become increasingly significant in the eyes of recruiters to identify best candidates.
Another important element to be considered is that job seekers often actively move by following and interacting via social media with companies that feel more linked in terms of ethics, principles and objectives: attention to sustainability or commitment in terms of Corporate Social Responsibility are very effective Employer Branding factors in attracting valuable talents.It is also useful to make an assessment of how recruiting processes have changed in the age of digital and artificial intelligence: the "interview", in its traditional sense, is almost no longer taking place, and it has been replaced by remote video-calls, thanks to the use of advanced technologies that allow to limit travel, to save time and resources, for the benefit of all.
Recruiting techniques have been rethought, and together with them, the approach of job seekers to the logic of finding a new job.In fact, during the selection phases, usually HR, to better evaluate the candidates’ soft and technical skills as objectively as possible, offer them digital assessments, which include challenges, quizzes, video and audio content, inspired by the techniques of gamification and applied to recruiting.
Job seekers and recruiters must be ready to live the job application as a 360 ° experience, immersive and unrepeatable, which allows people to "feel" the mood that moves the company, understanding its organizational dynamics and founding values, clarifying whether that particular job adv represents the ideal job in their dreaming company. That’s why the candidate experience is a critical element to be implemented to attract talents and at the same time to promote the Corporate Image in the best possible way, thinking in terms of digital Employer Branding.
