Most of my job applications have been online, which has probably been a mistake. It is hard to avoid, though. Employers don't want to spend their days interviewing scores of people, most of whom will be unsuitable for the position, so they outsource the process to recruitment companies. For their part, the recruiters are in the same position. No-one wants to spend hours eyeballing lots of different people for the same job. Much easier to assemble a short list of about 3-6 candidates and then invite them in for a chat.
If you can handle it, it's probably better to be more proactive in your job seeking. Maybe find a small group of employers that you would like to work for, then phone the relevant HR person and see if you can get in the door to have a talk with them. You can impress them with your initiative, plus leave a copy of your CV. A brief, followup phone call every week or so will keep your name in their heads. With some luck, patience and perseverance, this might pay off.
This is not an easy thing to do, though. Not everyone is a salesperson who feels comfortable about imposing themselves on others and trying to sell themselves. I find this very hard to do.
You can try to trick yourself into believing that you are not really acting like a stereotypical salesperson. After all, you have a lot of skills and talents which would be beneficial to the employer, right? It's just that they don't know about you yet. You are giving them the opportunity to discover someone who will prove to be a real asset to the business. You are doing them a favour by knocking on their door.
There is a lot to be said for face-to-face meetings. So much communication today seems to be done through a computer, and so much of it is shallow, thoughtless and bad. Emails are a disaster for real communication. I can barely think of one which I've received (or sent) which had any real thought put into it. It's perfect for those people who you really don't want to talk to at all. Just a quick email to say that you're still alive is much easier than having to phone them up and listen to all that whinging and moaning.
Writing something to someone whilst looking at a computer screen is not the same as looking at that same person across a coffee table. So much of what we "say" isn't said in words at all. The hundreds of small indicators which we unconsciously use as body language tells a lot more than words can. We get immediate feedback on our comments, and learn a great deal more about our friend than through a text message.
There is so much nastiness on the Internet, too. So many young punks who seem to feel brave because they can trash someone else on an online game, or on YouTube, or on a Message Board. There's no way that 99% of these cowards would dare to say such things to a real person's face, regardless of their age.
I think this is an important trend - this lack of responsibility for one's actions. The online untraceable, bombastic coward feels like they can do or say what they like, with impunity. Your actions seem to have no consequences. You get away with it. It doesn't take long before you lose any sense of shame or regret or even responsibility about posting some awful video on YouTube, which might be devastating to the person featured. It's easy to forget that the person in the video or post is real. It seems like fun, so you do it. You just don't care. This emotional detachment in our dealings with our fellow humans is being exponentially exacerbated by the Internet. There is no virtual "kick up the bum" to someone who behaves badly.
How many of us write letters anymore? It takes too long. It takes some real effort to sit down, assemble your thoughts, and tell a story with a beginning, middle and an end. I'm talking about writing a letter with a pen on paper, not in a Word document. I have read letters written hundreds of years ago which are masterpieces of expression. Letters written not just by statesmen, but by soldiers and farmers and widows. I doubt I could write anything approaching the eloquence of these people, yet I am infinitely better educated, fed, housed and clothed than they were.
I'm sure it's partly a question of time. Is there anyone out there who doesn't feel that their life is always busy? That they don't have the time to do certain things (like write a decent letter to someone)? If you ask anyone how they are, they'll say they're busy, as if this is a good thing. Try telling someone that you are not busy and watch their reaction. Say that you have spent the day sitting under a lovely tree, reading a book, and watching the birds flying overhead. Not a very productive way to spend your day, especially when your friends have been working long and boring hours at a job which they really don't like, with people that they don't really care for all that much. Tell them that in an email, sent a few days after you received their email, and they'll probably hate your guts.
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