Why Are You Still Unemployed?

You need a job so you turn to that never-ending list of available openings – the Internet. You see jobs that you qualify for and apply. But with no response from potential employers, you reach out to your online social networking connections, attend job fairs and check newspapers’ help wanted sections. You get interviews, but no job offers. You can’t be the problem. So, why are you still unemployed?

In this age of technology and high unemployment, you and other job seekers face an assortment of hurdles to getting hired. Here are six reasons you may still be unemployed.

1. High Unemployment

One hurdle to overcome is that the percentage of people without jobs isn’t getting lower fast enough. The unemployment rate for March was at 8.2 percent, a slight improvement from February, which was 8.3 percent, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Whenever you apply for a job there are hundreds of people who see the same job listing as you.

If you think you’ve been looking for work for a long time just know that in March of the 12.7 million people who remain unemployed, 5.3 million or 42.5 percent of the unemployed are long-term unemployed because they haven’t worked for at least 27 weeks, reported the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

2. No Personal Touch

Not only is your cover letter and resume lost in a sea of other qualified applications, but your information most likely isn’t being read by a person, but resume database software is searching through submissions for keywords.

3. Networking Dead Ends

Your social media connections only seem interested in increasing their number of contacts and not in helping you network with people they know who might be able to hire you.

4. Stay Relevant

As a job seeker you should keep your software skills up-to-date. Employers can afford to be selective. Sometimes, with education and experience being similar between applicants, already knowing additional software for the job might be the deciding factor.

5. Tech Skills vs. Experience

If you have many years in your field you could be competing against someone just entering the job market for the same job. The computer skills of a younger person are sometimes valued more than the work experience of an older job seeker.

6. Human Resource Bias

Human Resource representatives can have a bias toward older applicants assuming anything from an older worker will take longer to catch on to computer skills that they don’t have to excluding older workers because they’re not expected to fit into a younger environment.

Despite employment hurdles, some people are finding jobs. Even though the overall unemployment rate is barely changed, Nonfarm payroll employment rose by 120,000 in March, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Perseverance is necessary when meeting employment hurdles.

Are you having trouble finding a job? What other hurdles have you had to overcome?