Why Is It So Hard To Find A Job? (10 Reasons)
If you’ve recently left a job or are entering the job market for the first time, then you might be struggling.
You apply and apply for every job that you can, but nothing seems to be landing.
Considering that many employers are saying they’re experiencing worker shortages, you may wonder why it’s so hard to actually get a job.
From not being a great interviewee to an employer who discriminates, here are a few reasons it’s so hard to find a job.
Why Is It So Hard To Find A Job? (10 Reasons)
1. You Don’t Interview Well
One of the reasons you might find it hard to land a job is that you don’t interview well.
There are a few steps involved in the hiring process.
After you submit your resume, if the employer has an interest in you, then they’ll sit down with you for an interview.
Depending on the job in question, the interview might be quite involved and intense.
It might also be short and simple.
Regardless, if you’re unable to interview well, then you may not sell the idea that you’d make a great employee.
Employers are usually looking for insightful, well-thought-out answers to their questions.
Because they likely interview dozens of people a day, they’re hearing the same answers over and over.
You need to make yourself stand out if you want to land the job.
If you don’t know how to do that during an interview, then you’re probably not going to get the job.
Someone who does interview well will have an edge over you.
The employer will likely choose them over you.
The good thing about not being able to interview well is that it’s a skill you can learn with some tutoring and practice.
If you don’t hone that skill, however, then you’ll probably find it difficult to find a job.
2. Your Skills Don’t Apply To The Job
Another major factor that can determine whether you get the job or not is your set of skills.
If you don’t have the skills for the job, then it’s unlikely that the employer is going to hire you.
Most employers aren’t looking to train new employees.
That means they usually have to either spend money on the employee to give them that training or lose money since it means the employee isn’t ready to hit the floor immediately.
If you don’t have the skills they’re looking for, then there’s a good chance that they’re going to pass you over for someone who does.
That other person saves them money and allows them to put them right to work.
This can make finding a job difficult.
If you have a dream job but you can’t pick up the skills outside of the job, then it can become a frustrating experience.
You need the skills for the job but you can only get those skills when on the job.
It becomes a Catch-22 situation.
The good news is that you can learn most skills outside of the job itself.
There are often workshops and even apprenticeships that can teach you those skills.
There’s also always the option of trying to apply as an intern.
While you won’t get paid as much—if you get paid at all—it will help you start learning those skills.
Then you can reapply for the position with both experience and the right skill set.
Otherwise, it can be hard to find a job when you don’t have the right skills for it.
3. You Lack Experience
Some people also find it hard to find a job when they don’t have a lot of experience.
You’ll often see employers ask for potential employees who bring a lot of experience to the table.
That’s because an experienced employee is valuable.
They already understand a lot of the work at hand.
That means the employer needs to spend less time and money on bringing them into the fold.
In many cases, the employee is able to just take a day of training, then get right to work.
Experienced employees can also help bring some new ideas to the business that are actually effective.
Since they worked somewhere else, they may recognize certain policies or processes that aren’t efficient or don’t work at all.
They can help the company become more productive as a result.
Clearly, there’s a lot of value in experienced employees.
The problem with those trying to find a job is that they can’t get that experience without getting hired in the first place.
It can become a frustrating experience for anyone who is trying to find a job.
You want to get experience, but you can’t get hired because all the employers are looking for people with existing experience.
Either the employer has to take a chance on you, or you just miss out on the job because they choose someone with experience.
That means you’re back to job searching.
This situation can be difficult to get through.
While you can always try the intern or apprentice route, those opportunities aren’t always available.
As such, it can be very difficult to find a job when employers are constantly looking for people with a lot of experience.
4. Your Resume Is Poor
In high school, you may have had a brief lesson on how to write a resume.
In most cases, schools don’t place a large emphasis on how to craft a good resume.
Even more, the lessons they teach are often outdated.
At the very least, they don’t tell you that requirements for resumes change with the years.
As such, if you’re peddling the same resume that you’ve been using for the past 10 years, then you’re not doing yourself any favors.
That’s because writing a resume is difficult.
It’s even more difficult because a lot of employers now use software to scan resumes for them.
You end up having to beat the computer’s algorithm to get your resume looked at in the first place.
The problem with an algorithm is that you can never be too sure what it’s filtering for.
This makes it very difficult to write a resume since you’re not entirely sure how to make yours stand out.
If you do manage to get through the software, then your resume usually goes to the HR department.
They’ll review it, and if you still stand out, then they’ll arrange an interview.
Your resume ends up passing through a few different hands before you even get a chance to land an interview.
This also makes it difficult to write a resume because you need to write it for both software and a human.
The good news is that you can learn some tips on how to write an effective resume.
It can increase the chances that your resume will make it to the final round.
One of the most important things you should learn how to do is to write in a way that shows off your accomplishments while relating them to the job you’re applying for.
If you’re telling them about accomplishments that don’t have anything to do with the kind of job you’re going for, then it’s not going to impress them.
It’s often hard to find a job because your resume is either outdated or not written well.
5. Lack Of Connections
Another reason you might find it difficult to find a job is that you lack connections.
These days, networking is more important than ever.
The more prestigious or high-paying the job, the more connections seem to matter.
Having connections or networking is when you rely on a mutual source to help increase the odds of you landing the job.
In most cases, the connection either works for the employer or knows the employer or someone in the HR department in some capacity.
They can speak directly to someone in charge of hiring.
They can talk about the skills or advantages that you can offer the company.
They essentially vouch for you.
This impacts the likelihood of you landing the job because it has some weight to it.
When employers get a ton of applicants, there’s nothing much to make them stand out from one another.
They’re also usually strangers.
The employer knows nothing about them and can only trust what’s on their resume.
If you have a connection, then that person can tell the employer about what you’re like as a worker.
Since the employer knows the connection, they’re more likely to trust what they say.
This affects their view of your resume since you have someone backing you up.
Without connections, you only have your resume and your interviewing skills to rely on.
You don’t have an added edge over the competition.
Those who do have connections are more likely to get the job than you.
As such, you lose out on the opportunity and have to go back to job searching.
It’s hard to find a job when you don’t have any connections.
6. Employers Don’t Actually Plan On Hiring Outside Help
Another reason it can be hard to find a job is that some employers don’t actually plan on hiring people outside of the company.
Many employers will instead simply promote from within the company.
They prefer promoting people who already work for them for a few reasons.
First, it’s because they already know the worker well.
They’re able to see how productive the worker has been in the company.
They know that they can trust them to get the job done.
Secondly, it improves company morale.
People are more likely to continue working in a company if they know that there’s a good chance that they’ll get promoted one day.
If there’s little chance of promotion, then some workers might not be interested in working there.
Promotions usually mean better pay and benefits, and those are things worth working towards.
A company chooses to promote workers to ensure worker loyalty.
However, this becomes a problem for those trying to get into the company.
It means there are fewer positions available for outside applicants.
Since the competition is more fierce, it’s less likely that you’re going to get the job.
Employers will put out a “now hiring” sign just on the off chance that someone stellar shows up.
However, in most cases, they’re not actually looking to hire someone from outside.
This makes it hard to find a job because it means there are fewer positions available than there appear to be.
7. Tons Of Competition
One of the main reasons it’s hard to find a job is that there is a lot of competition out there.
A large part of this is due to the baby boomers.
As their name might suggest, the boomer generation is quite large.
Although the generation is starting to retire, some are still working in positions they’ve held for years.
Since they haven’t fully retired yet, it means there are fewer positions available.
Once they do retire fully, you’ll likely find that there will be quite a few job openings.
That’s simply because, after the boomer generation, the population has declined considerably.
The population of Gen X and Millennials, for example, is smaller.
With a smaller workforce, it means employers are going to be desperate to find people to fill positions.
The industry isn’t at that point yet, however.
As such, there’s still a lot of competition for certain jobs.
For example, some jobs only have a few positions available in a large area.
If it’s a good-paying job with equally good benefits, then there’s going to be a lot of interest in it.
The same goes for any job that has good wages and benefits.
Workers want a good-paying job and benefits that will actually help them live healthier and easier lives.
As such, the demand for those particular positions is often higher than the supply of jobs available.
Because there are so many people going for the same position, the competition is stiff.
This makes it difficult to find a job because everyone is submitting applications.
There are likely going to be people more qualified than you who will get the job.
Others might have the right connections.
Whatever the case, since the competition is so fierce, it’s harder to find a job.
8. Employers No Longer Look For Long-Term Employees
Another major reason it’s hard to find a job is that employers aren’t looking for long-term employees.
The work landscape has changed over the decades.
A few decades ago, employers were hiring employees with the expectation that they’d work for them until they retired.
There was a lot of loyalty between the two which allowed both employer and employee to flourish.
That has changed.
Workers are changing careers to find better opportunities.
Employers are changing policies that make them less appealing as a long-term place to work.
This makes it difficult to find a job because it means employers are looking at potential employees differently.
They’re only looking to see if you can help them in the short term rather than the long term.
If you can’t, then there’s a good chance that they’re not going to hire you.
9. Your Expectations Are High
Sometimes finding a job is hard because your own expectations are too high.
You may be looking for a job that offers everything you want right out of college or high school.
Those jobs are rare and tend to go to those who have a lot of experience under their belts.
As such, you sometimes need to change your standards for the time being.
You may need to lower your expectations for wages or benefits.
You may need to reconfigure the hours in which you can work.
Everyone wants to work at their dream job, but it’s rare to be able to actually do that right from the start.
Finding a job is hard when you have high expectations.
10. Discrimination
A final reason it can be hard to find a job is when employers discriminate against you.
While it’s illegal to discriminate against someone, it is something that happens all the same.
Employers can be crafty about it, too, so they don’t get into legal trouble for it.
As such, it can sometimes be difficult to tell if they just don’t think you’re appropriate for the role or if they’re being discriminatory.
Either way, it can make finding a job a lot harder.
Conclusion
Finding a job is hard in today’s climate.
Certain factors like having an inadequate resume, not having the right connections, and the other factors listed above, can make finding a job even more difficult.