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I've noticed that applying for jobs online is like the lottery. Any given want ad on craigslist or indeed can generate dozens to hundreds of email resume applications within the span of a mere few hours or even minutes.
If you are a young person or a recent college graduate, most of the time you are not going to qualify as the top candidate for advertised jobs online as there are often many, many overqualified applicants with years and years of full-time salaried professional experience who are willing to take pay cuts and work for entry level wages.
Many times, applying for jobs online is ineffective because it is so impersonal. Employers can only tell so much about a person from the plain black text and white paper of a resume.
Even though I am relatively young in my late 20's, I am old enough to remember a time before internet job boards even existed on a significant level. Ten years ago, if you wanted a job, you walked right into a business, introduced yourself to the manager with a firm handshake, asked if the business was hiring and applied for the job right in person. I am aware that many larger businesses require an online application. However, smaller businesses often do not have online application forms. I think people today are currently overlooking the method of directly marketing themselves to businesses.
People can moan and groan all day how pounding the pavement is a waste of time. But many, many people I know got their jobs by actively seeking them instead of hiding behind a computer screen.
I was a graphic design major in college and I have a lot of internship experience in the field in college. My plan tomorrow is to go to as many sign shops as possible, introduce myself and submit my resume. I have nothing to lose at this point.
Has anyone here gotten a job the "old fashion" way by pounding the pavement? Is reliance on the lottery that is the online application game holding many unemployed people back in the long run?
I've noticed that applying for jobs online is like the lottery. Any given want ad on craigslist or indeed can generate dozens to hundreds of email resume applications within the span of a mere few hours or even minutes.
If you are a young person or a recent college graduate, most of the time you are not going to qualify as the top candidate for advertised jobs online as there are often many, many overqualified applicants with years and years of full-time salaried professional experience who are willing to take pay cuts and work for entry level wages.
Many times, applying for jobs online is ineffective because it is so impersonal. Employers can only tell so much about a person from the plain black text and white paper of a resume.
Even though I am relatively young in my late 20's, I am old enough to remember a time before internet job boards even existed on a significant level. Ten years ago, if you wanted a job, you walked right into a business, introduced yourself to the manager with a firm handshake, asked if the business was hiring and applied for the job right in person. I am aware that many larger businesses require an online application. However, smaller businesses often do not have online application forms. I think people today are currently overlooking the method of directly marketing themselves to businesses.
People can moan and groan all day how pounding the pavement is a waste of time. But many, many people I know got their jobs by actively seeking them instead of hiding behind a computer screen.
I was a graphic design major in college and I have a lot of internship experience in the field in college. My plan tomorrow is to go to as many sign shops as possible, introduce myself and submit my resume. I have nothing to lose at this point.
Has anyone here gotten a job the "old fashion" way by pounding the pavement? Is reliance on the lottery that is the online application game holding many unemployed people back in the long run?
There is no more pounding the pavement in 2013. You can go out to networking events, set up lunches with old coworkers, or attend job fairs in your field of interest to collect information. But just pounding the pavement is not a productive way to find a job in my opinion.
I think door to door would only work for low end jobs. I could never find a job door to door for high tech sales. The only thing like that would be for me to be aggressive and cold call a sales manager, not a bad idea come to think of it. It would show I am assertive which is key for sales.
unfortunately the acceptable standard for presenting one self has changed. by and large its just not acceptable to go in and introduce oneself anymore. if at job fairs companies will route those that they meet to to their webpages. thats not to say no to do walk ins. just make sure youre introducing yourself to the person with hiring authority and ask for follow up contact information (suggested for retail and small business not large corporate environments). additionally use your network to help you. good luck.
Come to think of it the news had that kid that got a job walking to another interview that was scooped up for a job from the biz owner that offered him a ride in the rain. Statistical anomaly though.
Pound the pavement. LOL. It works for very generic jobs like waitress, store clerk, or admin assistant. It may work for industry specific jobs such as a nurse going to a hospital.
If you are looking for a position with fewer openings like VP position or an AS400 operator., good luck with pounding the pavement. Most companies will not even be hiring. You would find more openings with 10 minutes on careerbuilder than 10 hours knocking on random offices.
If you are pounding the pavement, you are also limited by the local area. While job hunting online, I can apply to many jobs jobs within my city and many other cities within an hour.
It may be a lottery situation for minimum wage jobs like retail store or fast food.
It's definitely not a lottery for skilled positions, where you are working with millions of dollars and a screw up can cost $100k. It's all about the qualifications.
I applied for positions online in my last job hunt. I had offers for 30-50% more in other cities with the same cost of living. I picked the highest offer(50%) and moved over 250 miles away to a city that I had never visited. It's not bad for a HS graduate that never completed college.
Last edited by move4ward; 02-26-2013 at 11:46 PM..
Certain jobs, like hospitality (hotel, for example) and restaurants prefer in-person because they want to see the image (basic appearance, persona) up front, which is important in these lines of work. May be the same for sales work.
But I know that at my last job it was a waste of effort for people to do it in person. In fact, you had to leave the application with the main floor receptionist because you weren't allowed to go into the HR department.
I highly doubt your field you can pound the pavement. The people who would interview you would be busy, you would walk in the door, not know who to talk to, and not be able to be interviewed. Try to make your online resume stand out.
I have done both types (aging myself!) and received equal amounts of interviews from both online and pre-internet pounding the pavement.
Pounding the pavement may work for low-end jobs or jobs with small employeres but it is not reliable (or flat out doesn't work) anywhere else. Even the local grocery store makes you apply on-line to be a bagger.
There is no more pounding the pavement in 2013. You can go out to networking events, set up lunches with old coworkers, or attend job fairs in your field of interest to collect information. But just pounding the pavement is not a productive way to find a job in my opinion.
Agreed. Not only is it unproductive, it will probably harm your chances of getting hired. Employers have a hiring and screening process in place and it is inappropriate to try and circumvent it. Plus, most hiring managers don't want to be bothered by walk-ins who think that the standard process doesn't apply to them.
When I got out of grad school about 7 years ago, my dad told me that I needed to "pound pavement". I quickly learned my lesson about the futility of that. Even he admits now that pounding pavement is dead as far as job searching is concerned.
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