More Thoughts On Linkedin's New 'Apply' Button: Will It Create 'Impulse' Job Hunters?

A lot of people have already called the new 'Apply With LinkedIn' button, which lets you apply for a job in about three clicks, a "game changer." We're not sure if it's all that but we're generally fans. A counterpoint to all the pro-button cheering is Ask The Headhunter's Nick Corcodilos's new blog post: LinkedIn's New Button: Instantly dumber job hunting & hiring. He argues that LinkedIn's core strength, which is that it allows jobhunters to build relationships, is being undermined by the button. Good jobs come from great personal contacts and from the hard work of building solid relationships. (If Reed [sic] Hoffman is reading this, Remember why you started LinkedIn? Do we need another job board?) There's an astonishing amount of talent on the street today, due to our uncertain economy. Rather than recruit intelligently, employers waste untold overhead dollars "processing" millions of inappropriate incoming applications from thoughtless job hunters who believe the more jobs they apply to, the better. Now LinkedIn has created a button to make it even easier to apply for any job that comes along. And maybe that's not such a good thing, he says. "LinkedIn's great accomplishment is to make job hunting an 'impulse buy.' A drive-by app. Dumber than dumb...Ever wonder why employers never call you back or return your calls after you go on a job interviews? This is why. Expect more of it." If idiots start using the button to apply for hundreds of jobs because they can, this scenario could turn out to be a bit of a nightmare for companies, it's true. But many employers are already getting hundreds, if not thousands, of applications for a single position, and they're already having to use technology to eliminate candidates who are probably perfect for the job but were ignored because a computer system misinterpreted a certain date wrong, automatically knocking out those with the wrong number of years of experience, for example. Our take is that working your network, interning (if you can), or just meeting with people in person is still the best way to get a job. But if you have to use some stupid technology, at least LinkedIn's button makes the process a lot less painful. If the computer system was going to artificially throw you out of contention because some robotic filter decided you didn't have enough years of experience, it will still do so, and that still sucks. But it sucks more if you've spent half an hour filling out a half-working online form; it's a lot less annoying if you get thrown out after just a few clicks. Please don't rely on just the Linkedin button (or any online job application) in your search. But will you use it as a tool if you see it on a job you want?

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More Thoughts On Linkedin's New 'Apply' Button: Will It Create 'Impulse' Job Hunters?

Rachel Kaufman

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Rachel Kaufman