Tinder For Tech Jobs: 5 Apps Better Than LinkedIn
These five innovative job search apps take advantage of dating-site functionality to help you find your next job while easing the pain of potential rejection.
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Job searching is such a hassle. In fact, if you're already working and you're looking for a better position, you almost feel like you have to quit your job in order to search for a new one.
By the time you're done combing LinkedIn and other places for all the jobs out there, picking the ones you like, writing perfect personalized cover letters, sending a resume that highlights your fit for the particular job, and putting it all into their specialized HR software so they can file you away, you don't even want the job anymore.
There are five new job-hunting services out there that are designed to help make your job search a little easier, especially if you're trying to do it on the sly. In fact, some job apps are actually calling themselves "Tinder for Jobs."
Each one tries to eliminate one or more of those hassles of a traditional LinkedIn job search. They also have one more thing in common: They're trying to take the worst part out of the job search—the rejection.
Rejection is one of the worst things about the job search, especially for people without a job. You get all excited about a position you see advertised and think you are a perfect fit. You go through all the paperwork, the daydreaming, and the wishing and get yourself all geeked up for the job. Then you're rejected before you even get an interview. Or, worse yet, you never hear a peep, and you have no idea if they even read your resume.
The latest trend in job search is almost like a casual date for coffee. You don't have to get really dressed up. You don't work that hard at it. And, if you hit it off, then you go through the real thing. If you don't, no hard feelings and you move on. In some cases, it is more like speed dating: 30 seconds of chat to see whether or not there's a connection.
That's where the Tinder for jobs idea comes in. Tinder is a casual dating app. You look through profiles of potential dates near you. You swipe an arrow if you are interested. Other people are doing the same thing. If you both say you are interested, bam! You get contact info, and you can go on a date.
Some of these job hunting sites are a little more subtle or in-depth than Tinder, but every one of them is trying to do basically the same thing: Eliminate the barriers between the employee and the recruiter.
For the most part, I think that's a good thing, though I wonder if a casual hook-up is the best way to start a job relationship. If all I need to do is swipe right to demonstrate interest in a job, how interested am I really? As a manager, how much can I get to know about an employee from what is essentially a dating profile?
Granted, that's what the interview process is for. But, by taking out those crucial early steps, you might find you make it to the altar with an employee you don't really know as well as you think you do, and end up hiring one who isn't really as committed to the relationship as you think. In fact, someone might be swiping right again the first day on the new job.
Check out these five relatively new job services and see what you think. Then tell us in the comments section below how you landed your last job, and whether you'd use these services for your next one.
Jobr is one of the "Tinder for Jobs" apps. It is a mobile app that pulls your work history, picture, and profile directly from LinkedIn. It serves up jobs to you like a dating profile. If you swipe right, recruiters have the option of swiping right and contacting you as well. One criticism of Jobr is that, by posting your picture and your name for recruiters from the beginning, it encourages recruiting to be a little too much like dating, with attractive applicants potentially being given preference. Still, there's great appeal in the ease of the process.
(Image Source: Jobr)
Switch is very similar to Jobr with one crucial exception: Applicants are anonymous until both participants have right-swiped on a job. That means you can rest assured a manager didn't right-swipe you because they thought you were cute, or left-swiped you because you looked old or had the wrong color skin. Your work history and crucial information are there for the hiring manager, but nothing pointing to who you are is available. This is especially nice if you don't want to be officially "on the market."
(Image source: Switch)
Blonk is the last of the "Tinder for Jobs" app I'm profiling. It also has a very specific and quirky aspect to it. In addition to your work history and other profile information, Blonk requires that you upload a 20-second video of yourself answering the question: "What is one thing I believe that everybody disagrees with me about." This is based on a question venture capitalist Peter Thiel apparently always asks in interviews. This gives you a chance to stand out. It also gives you a chance to say something that might get you rejected before an interview. I guess it is good to know how the interviewer would react ahead of time, because if you said it after you were hired, you might regret saying it.
(Image source: Blonk)
You are probably familiar with the relatively new job site, the Ladders, which is designed for ambitious people looking to move up the corporate ladder. What you may not be familiar with is a pay service that is offered by the Ladders called Scout. Scout tells you something about the competition for the job. It will give you basic details about other people who applied for the job, including salary, education, years of experience, and the like. This allows you to see if you are in over your head in applying for the job. If you see 200 people who have twice as much experience as you and make more money than you all applying for the job, it is telling you that you face an uphill battle. Scout doesn't save you time by shortening the application process, but it allows you to zero in on the jobs that you have a realistic chance for, and lets you know when you're stretching to get a job.
(Image source: The Ladders)
So which of these job search apps are you going to jump right out and try? How'd you find your last job? Could any of these help you find your next one? Would you use any of these as a manager? Or do you think streamlining the application process cheapens the hiring process? Tell us all about it in the comments section below.
(Image Source: geralt via pixabay)
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