As you can see, it has been a month since our last blog post. Let this be a sign for those of you on the job market that better days are coming. We have been working on some hard to fill positions that did not allow me to complete some of the blog posts that I have started. This post was one of them. The inspiration for the title came from the fact that behind the scenes of every job posting, there exists a complete network that is constantly expanding and contracting, bringing in people and releasing them all in an effort to make the right fit.

Many of you will agree that navigating today's job market is a mystery. With so many avenues to potentially connect with employers, how can one know which one will bring the results they are looking for? Do you rely on your recruiter, the job boards, and social media or do you stick to your network? And what if you don't really know how to network? With so much to think about it's hard to see how anyone gets hired even when the economy is good.

Well the fact is, even if you are the best interviewer in the world and mastered every one of the above mentioned tools and techniques, finding a job is still a miracle when you examine it. Much like the "Butterfly Effect", a job opening that ultimately matures into a filled position depends on certain conditions. Most people assume that just because a postion is posted somewhere it means that it will be filled. This is not always the case. Unless, the position is open to replace someone who left a mission critical role, many positions are created for other reasons such as anticipated growth, consolidation of functions, or to be solution providers for areas that require some form of process improvement.

In order to get approval for a requisition, a hiring manager has to make the case that this new role is critical to achieving the goals set forth by the leadership. Once this is done, they must create a job description to assist them in finding someone that they are not even sure exists. The search ensues using every available resource. Throughout this time they will receive many resumes. Some resumes will be close and some will be quite a departure from the criteria. In the meantime they must interview potential candidates as well as keep the department running. Each hour that they are interviewing for the right candidate is an hour that they are potentially losing production time or having to work later.

As the process is moving forward there may be several changes made to the requirements, offers can be made and declined, and projections may change based on market fluctuations. All these behind the scenes situations are directly affecting whether or not a candidate is hired or even interviewed for that matter. Meanwhile many candidates who are unaware that all of this is going on are wondering why they never heard anything back from their online application submission.

Ultimately, most positions are created to keep money and time from being lost or to bring more money in while cutting the time it takes to create the product or service offering. That means if an organization can figure out a way to get the job done with the resources they have on hand they will hold off on making the hire. So with that in mind there will always be comparable forces working against a hire as there are working for it. So do you see why I say every hire is a miracle?

I think this message is important to jobseekers for several reasons, but most importantly, it is for you to have perspective. One never knows how long a job search will last. Understanding the process is important to maintaining momentum throughout your search. There are a lot of moving parts to the recruitment and selection process. Each of them has to work in concert in order for someone to make it through the entire process. Multiply this by the number of people applying for the position and you can see that finding the right fit is no easy task for anyone involved.

This is why we encourage candidates to stay the course. If we thought about all of the people and resources it takes to get eggs to our grocery store, we'd be amazed by every omelette we ever see. Such is the recruitment process. The hope is that with this information, you will not let the hiccups of process discourage you in your search, but rather see that when you are called for a phone screen or interview, this dynamic process has come together to give you the opportunity to tip the scales in your favor. We wish you the best.