Remember when applying for a job felt exciting?

Whether you were looking for your first role or aiming to take the next leap forward in your career, there was a sense of hopefulness every time you clicked “submit” on an application.

Sure, you knew there would be some disappointments along the way. We all remember the feeling of deflation the first time a recruiter told us we weren’t a fit, but we also remember the steely determination we felt shortly after getting that closure – “on to the next opportunity!”

Since Greenhouse was founded in 2012, we’ve had the privilege of helping over 5M people hear those thrilling two-and-a-half words: “you’re hired!” Over the years, we’ve seen technology play an increasingly influential role in the hiring process, making recruiters more efficient and more effective in their roles. But we’ve also noticed an alarming deterioration in what candidates have to go through to get hired – the ghosting, the complicated application processes, the complete lack of transparency.

How is it that recent advancements in technology seem to have benefited everyone in the recruitment process except candidates? At Greenhouse, we firmly believe that technology has a vital role to play, but that it should be used to make the hiring experience more human, not less so. Somewhere along the way, that has been lost in our industry.

We’ve decided to do something about it.

This is our plan to fix job hunting.
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What’s making job searching so soul-crushing?

Scroll through social media for five minutes and you’ll see it everywhere: job seekers are angry, demoralized and increasingly pessimistic about their ability to even have a fair experience, let alone land a good job. Here are some real quotes from really frustrated candidates:

“The whole hiring process is 100x harder now than it was before COVID.”

“This is the worst I’ve ever seen it –the majority of the jobs listed are bogus.”

“I’ve been applying to jobs like crazy (50+ a week) only to get either silence or a rejection email.”

You get the picture. But how did we get here? 

There’s more than one answer to this question. We are in the midst of a perfect storm of external market forces colliding with outdated approaches to hiring – and the candidate experience is the collateral damage.

We’ve been examining these shifts closely, observing trends in our industry and analyzing our internal data based on the hundreds of millions of applications that are processed through our system every year.

Here’s what’s happening:

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More roles, fewer recruiters 

First, there’s a so-called “white-collar recession” that has triggered layoffs and slower hiring in many industries. With fewer roles to fill, recruiting teams have seen their resources slashed. And with more highly talented people out there looking for jobs, the competition (and volume of applications) for each role has shot up. This has put all the power in the hands of companies, and given rise to poor practices such as ghosting, ghost jobs and generic rejection emails that offer no helpful feedback whatsoever. It’s no wonder 79% of candidates have heightened anxiety about the market.

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AI uncertainty 

Then there’s AI – the new chaos agent in hiring. Everyone knows it’s being used, but few know exactly how it’s being used. Recruiters are on the receiving end of wave after wave of applications that are sent en masse by AI tools. Imagine the task of trying to separate the promising applications from the irrelevant, AI-generated ones. Meanwhile, candidates suspect that recruiters are using AI to reject their carefully crafted application before a human even sees it. Nearly 60% of job seekers attribute the intensified competition for roles to AI.

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Outdated hiring practices‍

The reverberations of the white-collar recession and the explosion of AI onto the scene have shone a stark light on flaws in the hiring system that have hidden beneath the surface. Candidates still face hugely complicated application processes that often require them to write lengthy responses to questions that are already answered in their resume or cover letter. This would frustrate anyone, even in a buoyant job market. In fact, it’s the number one pain point reported by candidates right now. To make matters worse, job seekers are left in the dark about what happens after they submit an application. Did the recruiter get it? When will they review it? When will you hear back?

We know that job hunting has never been easy. But today, candidates face a unique set of steep challenges. Read on to learn what we’re doing about it.

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How Greenhouse is fixing job hunting

At Greenhouse, we help over 7,500 companies manage their entire recruitment process – from creating a job description and processing applications, to making offers and onboarding new team members. We see every twist and turn that you, as a candidate, go through along the way. And we know it’s hard – too hard.

But we also know that the experience of looking for a job can feel exciting again. And we believe it will improve if three key changes happen:

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1. You get more control over your job hunt
2. You get the tools to showcase your value and help your applications stand out
3. You get insights into which companies have a track record of treating candidates well

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Let’s take a look at the tools and capabilities we’ve built to bring these changes to life.

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‍Hear about new roles as soon as they’re posted

In Greenhouse, you can “follow” the companies you’d most like to work for and sign up to get Job Alerts. This means you’ll be the first to know about new roles as soon as they’re posted. And when you apply, the hiring company will see that you’re a follower. This signals to them that you’re genuinely interested in what they do and that you likely know about their business – details that can make you a stronger candidate than other applicants.

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Apply quickly‍

With our Quick Apply functionality, you can get your submission in quickly, no matter how long and cumbersome the application form might be. You can enter your information in MyGreenhouse once, and it will autofill on hundreds of Greenhouse customers’ job boards.

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Apply to companies with good hiring practices‍

While there are a lot of bad hiring practices out there, don’t forget that there are also many awesome companies that treat people very well. We created Greenhouse Verified so that you can find them among our 7,500+ customers. Companies can be awarded up to four badges based on their track record:

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• Fair: Do they use the same evaluation criteria across applicants? Are resumes reviewed anonymously?
• Prepared: Have interviewers reviewed your resume and application before meeting you? Are they ready to answer your questions about the process?
• Respectful: Do interviewers treat you like a person and not just an applicant? Do you have an opportunity to provide feedback on them?
• Communicative: Do they keep you posted on progress? Do they send rejection notices in a timely manner?
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Track your application status in MyGreenhouse ‍

Imagine being able to see every role you’re applying to and the status of each application, all in one place. That’s what you can do in MyGreenhouse. We are your home base for your job hunt, where you see when your applications have been received or rejected. Think of it like tracking your FedEx package. You can also see emails and updates from the companies you applied to. In the age of ghosting, this helps you to know where you stand.

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Provide differentiating information that helps you stand out‍

You can create a profile in MyGreenhouse, where you can add information about yourself and save it in your account. But not just the basics like your name and email address. You can add data that truly reflects things like your language proficiency, worksite preferences (in-office vs. hybrid vs. remote) and location. By including information like this, you can present a more complete version of your professional self and increase your chances of standing out. All of this information makes up what we call your unique fingerprint. 

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Flag your dream job 

Imagine your dream role – the one that you’d reject every other offer for. When that role comes along, and you submit your application through MyGreenhouse, you can designate it as “Dream Job.” And when you do so, you’ll be moved to the front of the line to be seen first by the hiring team.

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Let companies come to you through MyGreenhouse’s candidate database (coming soon)‍

You can choose to be listed in the MyGreenhouse database of candidates and opt into which companies can find you, and the ones that can’t (like your current employer, for example). This is where a lot of customers begin their search for candidates, so it’s a good way to advertise your strengths and skills directly to companies that are looking for talent just like you.

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Find promising roles on the MyGreenhouse job board (coming soon)‍

We’re often asked which companies use Greenhouse and have access to all the features that enable them to deliver a great candidate experience. So, we’ll soon launch a job board that has them all listed in one place. You’ll see roles that span a range of experience levels and functions, and you can filter your searches to find the best opportunities for you.

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A better candidate experience is a more human one

Hiring has always been about people. It’s about human recruiters connecting with human job seekers and creating something special for both the company and the candidate. Yet somewhere along the way, the thrill of hunting for a new job has given way to feelings of frustration and mistrust. Finding a new job is tough, but it should also be fair. It’s competitive, but it should not seem impossible. It will sometimes be disappointing, but it should never feel hopeless.

We’re on the cusp of a new era in hiring – one in which deeply powerful technologies like AI will play an increasingly pivotal role. At Greenhouse, we’re determined to ensure that when we look back on the impact of this technology in years to come, we can say we put it to good use by making the candidate experience more fair, more transparent, more exciting – and ultimately, more human.