Why Applying Through Job Boards Might Be a Waste of Time

It can be very frustrating when one finds his/herself job hunting. As a job seeker, it is not uncommon to look online for various ways to find possible job openings and apply to them. Now, among the recommended methods you most likely would see online, there’s always the option of using those ever-crowded job boards. After all, since these job boards tend to have lots of job postings, the chances are that you might get a call for an interview or so you think. If only job hunting for your dream job was that easy.

However, by the time you realize that you’ve spent countless hours, days, or even weeks applying on these job boards (with no call for an interview), you discover that you’ve been sucked into the black hole!

By this time, it slowly dawns on you that these online job applications guarantee nothing. The most frustrating aspect of this scenario is that if you are not even sure of a reply from the company.

After all, it’s an online job application where the interviewer can decide to go forward with the job interview or even cancel it altogether.

To add to the frustration, these job boards do not even make the process easy as signing up and having to upload so much information or data about yourself becomes frustrating. You might also feel like banging your head on the wall when the website suddenly exits, and all you have typed vanishes into thin air. How frustrating can that be?

Now, here are five reasons why online job board applications might be a waste of time

It can be frustrating: Applying to these jobs without a guarantee of whether it’ll scale through can be daunting. Spending hours on these job sites applying for jobs with no reply is enough to make a person give-up. To worsen this, the success rate of landing an interview or getting a job through these job boards is sometimes not even worth the mental and psychological stress. Some job seekers might tell you that it took them to apply to 40 job applications before landing an interview. What a mess!

It can be time-consuming: If you’ve ever encountered job posts that take hours to fill, then you’d most likely agree that it can be time-consuming applying to these jobs. With no guarantee of a call-back, having to spend hours filling an online application is outrageous. Contrarily, the job posts that may even appear easy to fill also consume a significant portion of our time. Hence, they’re usually time-consuming.

They can crush your confidence: Now, applying to these jobs is just one aspect of the situation. Hearing back from the interviewer is another harsh reality that job seekers face. If you find yourself applying to various job posts with no call for an interview, there’s a huge chance that you might begin doubting or questioning your abilities. Questions like ‘Am I not qualified for this?’ “Did I make any mistake in my application?’ etc. Nonetheless, if you continue in this vicious cycle, it could shatter your confidence.

It is a painstaking and slow process: For someone looking to get a job almost immediately, going through this route might mean that you’re setting yourself up for disaster. This is because it could take weeks or even months to get a reply. Sometimes, you might not even get a reply at all. Hence, this process is just not worth it.

The Time Spent on these Job Boards Can be better utilized: Now, with lots of online and offline networking opportunities, professional platforms like LinkedIn, etc., there are better ways for you to get a job than having to go through that vicious cycle. This is why it is essential to build your profile, especially on platforms like LinkedIn, as it can be useful when it comes to landing a job. So, don’t wait till you need a job, start utilizing these opportunities for future purposes.

Nonetheless, we want you always to remember that you deserve better. Applying to fifty job posts with the aim of landing an interview is not worth it. Always know that there are better ways to get a job.