There is not a single person that welcomes involuntary unemployment. Losing your job is one of the more depressing events that occurs in your adult life because so much of a person’s identity is tied to their employment and the satisfaction they get from working.

The job of finding a new job is equally soul-sucking. There is no easy way to find a new job, despite all of the technology available today. No more newspaper job listings – 99.9% of available positions are now posted online; usually on the employers website. But actually getting the job from an online job posting seems like a rare occurrence. And in an economy where their are more job seekers than jobs, the employers have become more and more demanding in their application requirements.

It’s no longer enough to have all of the job requirements (plus any that may be added last minute); you now have to jump through a dozen additional hoops too. For example, a few application requirements I’ve seen recently:
1. One required a single-page resume and a two-minute video that details your qualifications and why you’d be best for the company.
2. In addition to a resume there are additional essay questions to get an idea of the applicant’s personality and requirements for the applicant to flesh out a new project, develop the project plan and implementation process.

I get that it’s difficult to weed through hundreds of resumes for a single job, but keyword programs have been developed to help HR departments weed through the list of applicants. Are videos and essay questions necessary or are they simply busy-work to see if applicants are willing to jump through a dozen additional hoops for the pleasure of applying for a job – a job that in 95% of cases won’t even contact you once your application has been submitted.

It can take 20-30 minutes per application if there aren’t any additional hoops to jump through. Who has 10-12 hours, per application, with these extra hoops to jump through only for complete radio silence from the employer?