For many hiring managers, the toughest part of their job isn't reviewing resumes - it's telling qualified applicants they didn't move on in the selection process. After 14 years of working with the talent acquisition team as the Human Resources Director at Davis Elen Advertising, Melissa Ojeda knows this should be easy by now. But the reality is, meeting the required qualifications often doesn't compare to having connections.
Despite the belief that hard work and dedication pays off, studies show that connections -- knowing the right person -- is often the key to success when looking for a job. Candidates are often asked if they were referred by someone within the company. According to recruitment agency Apollo Technical, "Employers often offer incentives to those who refer potential employees." They found that a referral or connection increases the likelihood of a successful job match by 2.6 – 6.6%. While this may not seem like a lot, it can be a crucial difference.
"Connections can help individuals open the door," said Ojeda. "Sometimes you might hear it may be challenging to get your resume through to a big firm, but if you know someone who might get your resume to the top, that connection can help you gain that interview."
Success didn't come easily for Rachel Wiggins, an ultrasound technician at Beth Israel. Despite hearing that there was a need to fill open positions in the medical field, she was getting nowhere.
"I started applying to some places, and I filled out a bunch of applications, and they just kind of sat there," said Wiggins.
"You can look at your application, see where it is in the process. They didn't move at all," she said.
Wiggins posted in a Facebook group asking why so many hospitals that were hiring never got back to her. The next day, Facebook users responded, claiming Beth Israel didn't know anyone was applying to the open positions. One day later, she got a notification saying her application was moving forward in the hiring process.
But for Sofia Benenati, a recent MBA graduate from St. John's University, success is taking longer to achieve. Despite her strong academic record and internship experience, the job market has proven tougher than expected. Weeks of applications and interviews have turned into months, leaving her questioning how merit translates into opportunity today.
"Unfortunately, we truly live in a world where 'it's not what you know, it's who you know' is very real, especially at the entry level," Benenati claimed. "I graduated both undergraduate and grad school summa cum laude, with honors, clubs relating to the field I want to work, internships, and relevant work experience, and am still unemployed."
Benenati, after applying to several companies and submitting lengthier projects than those that she completed in her studies, found herself ignored, rejected, and frustrated that, after all her effort, she was getting nowhere, claiming "they just [ghosted me]."
She believes that the AI screening process has contributed to why employers never got back to her. Ojeda explains that AI screening is sometimes the reason that applications don't get through to hiring managers. In those cases, the system doesn't recognize any keywords highlighted in the job description.
A study conducted by Harvard Business School revealed that 88% of employers are aware that their AI hiring systems reject qualified candidates, but are still using them because they take away the hassle of manually screening each individual.
"The algorithm misses nuance," the study said. In one case, AI "rejected a candidate with 15 years of experience because they used 'managed' instead of 'lead'" on their resume.
"With AI-powered applicant tracking systems, the systems filter to provide the recruiter, for example, the top 10 applicants," explained Ojeda. "That really poses a big challenge until you understand how to submit your resume to allow it to get pushed through correctly."
However, as Benenati pointed out, "At what point are applications going to start looking the same and losing all sense of individuality? [One day], all applications are going to have the same keywords throughout, so how can an application truly stand out?"
To Ojeda, persistence is key. It can be something as simple as following up with an employee or telling someone you applied.
"I think that's where your connection can come through, in the sense of making a connection on LinkedIn," Ojeda said. She sometimes has a backlog of hundreds of applications, but when an applicant "reached out to me on LinkedIn, [I thought], 'Oh, let me go search for their resume and take a look.'"
Ojeda says that doesn't necessarily mean that the applicant moves forward, "But [their message] at least caused me to go take a peek." She explains, "It could be making that LinkedIn connection, or someone you personally know, that's where that connection can really make a dent in at least getting a review of your resume or possibly an interview."