The Impersonal Keyboard

The last time I was in the job market was just after college, and, well, let's just say that was a long time ago. Things are a lot different now.

As I recall, there was a lot of face-to-face contact back in the day. It could be nerve wracking, but it was personal. There was eye contact and you actually had a chance to sell yourself. Those doing the hiring noticed how you dressed, how you talked and how you presented yourself.

Not today. It's all done online and it's so impersonal. Everything is done via keyboard. No one knows what you look like or how you present yourself. Chances are you wouldn't show up for a face-to-face meeting dressed the way you are at the keyboard. Worse, you don't have a chance to elaborate. In other words, you don't have a chance to sell yourself.

Here's a personal example: Two days ago, I checked a job posting site like I regularly do, and found a new listing that seemed interesting. I jumped through all the hoops, I checked the right boxes, answered all the questions, affirmed I was legal to work in the United States, and under penalty of perjury, typed my name (in lieu of my signature) that I understood all of the questions and was answering correctly.

It took about 45 minutes. After I clicked the send icon, a few seconds later, I received confirmation that the human resources department had received my application. That's all pretty standard stuff for anyone in today's job market.

But just an hour later, I received another e-mail, this one informing me that after careful review of my application, the company was rejecting my application in favor of other, more suitable candidates. This is an e-mail with which I'm quite familiar. I receive all the time and I pretty much have it memorized. If the company doesn't think I'm a good fit, that's their decision.

But really now, how carefully can something like a job application be considered after just an hour? And without talking to the applicant in person? I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one this has happened to, but that seems to be the nature of today's job market. It is, after all, a buyer's market. There are far more people selling goods and services - their skills - than there are buyers for those goods and services.

It has become a bit of a grind to wake up each day and get ready for work by merely walking upstairs and turning on the coffee pot. But I firmly believe that you go about your job of finding work one day at a time, looking for any possibility. That's what I'm doing. I've been at it for seven months - much longer than I anticipated - but I'm not giving up.

Still, that doesn't mean I haven't questioned myself or my abilities. I have. But I also know that as long as I keep trying, something positive is going to happen. It's like finding a needle in a haystack. You can dig around all you want and you'll never find it. What you have to do is sit down. There may be pain in trying to find that needle, but when you find it, you'll know it.

Rick A. Richards is a former newspaper reporter and editor who is now a freelance writer.