Job Seeker Blog - Spark Hire

What Are the Frustrations of the Job Market? #infographic

With the current state of the job market, it’s plainly clear and obvious that job seekers are going to get frustrated. After all, it can take months, even a year for job seekers to finally land a good job these days. Even then, they may just be settling for what they can get so they can earn a much-needed paycheck. Even though job seekers have a rough time out there though, the majority of them remain optimistic about their prospects. So what is it that really frustrates job seekers? Furthermore, what outlets do they use the most to search for these “diamond in the ruff” jobs? This infographic from Visual.ly takes a look at just that.

Recently, a lot of people have been saying that job boards are dying out. “Networking, networking, networking” is what they say it’s all about now. In all fairness, that’s certainly not a lie. In fact, 63 percent of job seekers that find jobs do so by word of mouth. That’s more than the 52 percent that use recruiting agencies. While that is a good chunk of people finding jobs by word of mouth, 95 percent of people cite job boards as their number one job search source. That shows how much weight job boards still carry today.

So we know that most people are still using job boards, but how much time do job seekers actually invest in their job search? According to the infographic, 22 percent of job seekers spend about five hours a week searching for a job. That’s a large percentage, but not as large as the 32 percent of job seekers that are investing 5-10 hours a week. 23 percent invest 11-20 hours a week and 19 percent admit to spending 21-40 hours a week. Talk about a full-time job!

It’s easy to see how frustrated these job seekers are getting when they invest so much time in their search and come up empty handed more times than not. What’s really the most frustrating part of the job search process? 38 percent said that they have the necessary experience for the jobs, but employers aren’t calling them back. 16 percent are frustrated because they lack that experience. It’s a rough market out there and that is why you need to do everything you can to set yourself apart from the competition. If you have the experience, but aren’t receiving any calls back, then you should try and amplify your application with a Profile Video from Spark Hire. You can use a Spark Hire Profile Video as a video resume to send along to employers. In 60 seconds, you can verbalize the experience you have and show them the passion you harbor for this industry and your work.

It’s easy to say you have the experience on paper, but it’s so much better when you can actually talk about it and prove it. A Spark Hire Profile Video or video resume puts you right in front of an employer from the start. What better way to set yourself apart than that?

job search

SOURCE: Visual.ly

Nicole Nicholson

Nicole is the Content Editor for Spark Hire and mainly writes for and edits the work for the Spark News blog. She graduated in 2010 with a BA in Journalism from DePaul University in Chicago, Illinois. She has a passion for writing, editing, and pretty much anything to do with content. In her free time she frequents the Chicago music scene and writes reviews on shows for her own personal blog. Connect with Nicole and Spark Hire on Facebook and Twitter