CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Economists continue to say the U.S. has a strong job market, so if someone's looking for a job, companies are looking for employees.
Or so it seems.
Some people are sending out their resume to dozens of companies without so much as a response. Experts say it could be a number of things keeping people from closing the deal on a new job or career change.
Karen Misenheimer was one of those people. She had a tremendous career as a certified nurse's aide, but it's physical work. After 22 years and a physical injury, she simply can't perform the job as well as she used to.
Misenheimer now wants to go into a new line of work.
"Clerical, more secretarial, more customer service," she said.
So Misenheimer sent out 100 resumes. She used all of the big websites for online job hunters.
"Oh God, probably more than that. I sent out a lot," she said. "Indeed, LinkedIn, Monster. Some of them, I would just look."
She didn't get a single callback from anyone.
"And each time my heart just sank more and more and more," Misenheimer said.
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She went to Goodwill's free career center. That's where she learned it's not just about what you've done or where you've worked, but how you communicate that in your resume.
"Simply sending a resume is not enough, we have to understand the culture of that company, what is it that is important to them," Raquel Lynch, Goodwill chief program officer, said.
Although Misenheimer's background is in the medical field, she'd also dealt with patients, family members and doctors to make sure her client's needs were met. That was customer service.
"Having the ability to understand what are the critical worlds that allows you to connect to the right position is something that I know we coach our participants to understand," Lynch said.
According to Flexjobs, a job search site for remote employees, it's important to include keywords used in the job description on your resume. If you land the interview but don't make it further, it's sometimes because we spill too many unwanted details.
"When you're asked that lovely question, we want to stay in line with what's related to the work or the job that you're going into, versus telling about our life for the past six to 12 months," Malikua Middleton, a staffing manager for TalentBridge, said.
For executive positions, going to a staffing agency is beneficial.
"The old-school management style of the '80s and '90s, of leading with an iron fist, is gone," TalentBridge executive recruiter Matt Thomas said. "And now it's got to be the vulnerability and humility with your people."
Thomas said one of the perks of working with a search firm like TalentBridge is that instead of being one of the hundreds of applicants, the pool is narrowed to a small handful for clients. This makes it much more likely for qualified candidates to get an interview.
Experts also say more companies are looking up your social media. In fact, around 70% of companies screen applicants' social media, so keep it clean. And sometimes, there's no time to respond. If an employer gets over 100 applicants for a single position, about 20% will get an interview.
Editor's Note: The headline of this story was changed to identify Karen Misenheimer's career as a "certified nurses' aide" and not a "nurse." WCNC Charlotte cares deeply for the nurses working hard every day, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, and we are sorry for the issue our headline caused.
Contact Jane Monreal at jmonreal@wcnc.com and follow her on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
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