1. They’re too busy working. Seriously, who has the time to peruse a job board when they’re working 50+ hours a week?
2. Once you’ve read one job posting that’s been cleared by HR and Legal, you’ve read them all.
3. They’re not afraid of rejection—but they are afraid that if they respond, some cretin with no real understanding of the position will call with 20 questions like “if you were an animal, what kind of an animal would you be?”
4. You look like an idiot with Monster or Hotjobs loaded-up when your boss strolls by. Yep—that kind of idiot.
5. The typical corporate application process is extremely cumbersome, time-consuming, and unrewarding. Nobody really wants to send their personal info down the rabbit hole.
6. They’re too absorbed in their careers to think about moving. It never crosses their mind.
7. They’ve had bad experiences when responding to job postings in the past.
8. If the organization is so “world-class”, “progressive”, and “prestigious”, how come they have to work so hard to attract people?
9. It’s just another advertising image. Depending on the guru you follow, we’re hit by anywhere from 150 to 3000+ per day. Considering there are only 1440 minutes in a 24-hour period, 3000 might be a bit high--but you get the drift. Let it suffice to say there are a lot of little images that beckon down the sides of our screens that we mostly ignore.
10. If it's on a public forum like Craigslist, is it a bot, or not? Push "send" and you may be more popular than you think: Women from around the world may want to meet you; and General X from Unpronounceableland may have an urgent business proposition involving millions of dollars that only you are trustworthy enough to handle--but make sure you respond before midnight.
Will Baumann is a recruiter specializing in difficult to fill technical and leadership positions.
LinkedIn profile: http://www.linkedin.com/in/willbaumann
Company site: http://www.anrgroupinc.com/
