The Three Hardest Things About Job Hunting (And How to Make Them Easier)

1. Navigating job boards

Job boards are noisy places. They contain hundreds of listings, some of them lite on details and having several fields of information missing. You could spend hours clicking on and reading job ads that are not quite right, or even go to the effort of applying for jobs that you’re over or under qualified for without knowing. When it comes to hunting for jobs in construction and engineering, job boards are one of the biggest obstacles to success.

What to do instead

Don’t waste too much time on job boards, apply for the jobs that stand out and move on. Many jobs in construction and engineering are not advertised, so your efforts would be better spent networking with industry professionals through platforms like LinkedIn or Conecta, or attending industry events.

2. Dealing with recruiters

Recruiters are infamous for being overworked, misrepresenting the companies they’re hired by, and failing to treat job hunters like anything more than their next commission. While there are good recruiters out there who use their people skills for good rather than evil, at the end of the day, we all wish we could cut out the middleman and bypass recruiters when hunting for new jobs.

What to do instead

Learning to differentiate between recruiter types can help you spend your time more wisely. Volume-based recruiters are often under pressure to fill more roles than they can handle, and simply lack the resources to get to know you or the job they’re filling beyond a written description. On the other hand, search-based recruiters focus on quality rather than quantity. They get to know their clients and candidates intimately, bringing together the perfect match…

With the internet and technology moving at a rapid rate, we now have advanced platforms like Conecta performing the role that a good recruiter should. Conecta matches candidates with jobs based on in-depth profile information, allowing companies and job hunters to bypass recruiters altogether.

3. Waiting to hear back

Whether you’re especially keen on the job you’ve applied for, or you’re unemployed and urgently in need of an income, waiting to hear back about a job application can be tough. Then, after days or weeks of waiting, you could get a phone call saying you’ve been unsuccessful, and have to start the process all over again.

What to do instead

Never count your chickens before they’ve hatched. Always continue applying for jobs, even if you’ve had a couple of interviews, until you’ve been clearly made an offer. Again, technology and the internet are providing solutions to this anxiety-inducing stage of the job hunt. Platforms like Conecta allow you to view your job application status as it progresses, getting notifications when your application’s been received, when you’ve been invited to an interview, when you’ve been made an offer, or when it’s time to look somewhere else.

Bypass recruiters and job boards for a transparent job application process. See what Conecta can do today.