This is according to a simulation carried out by the company Workify. She sent out a thousand responses with resumes to a thousand job ads. “In terms of the positions offered, it was a whole spectrum from cooks to engineers,” said its director Martin Miko, who presented the results at the round table of the Czech Innovation Platform.
At the same time, the company divided the model “candidates” into several groups for a better comparison. The basic one was the ideal candidate who exactly fit the advertised position. The curriculum vitae was written exactly to the size of the advertisement.
The second type was a candidate who was a half-and-half match. He didn’t exactly fit the position, but it would still be worth inviting him for an interview. His biography was universal. The third type of candidate did not match the advertisement at all, the CV listed skills that did not match the requirements.
In addition, test responses were also divided by gender and age, where the labor market simulation was performed for the age categories 18 to 29, 30 to 49 and fifty and over. Workify evaluated the CVs sent out after 30 days, taking as feedback, for example, requests to supplement the CV and the like.
“A total of 58 percent of the responses remained without any reaction,” stated Miko. Ideal candidates waited in vain for a response in 47 percent of cases, for the second group it was 62 percent, and in the case of unsuitable candidates, there was no response to 66 percent of responses.
According to Mike, the highest rate of so-called ghosting was seen in candidates over fifty years old. Women were also discriminated against more. “Impact modeling showed that in the Czech Republic, companies ignore up to 553,000 applicants per year,” he calculated.
Some companies advertise vacancies to make it look like they are growing, but they are not really looking for anyone
Among the reasons why companies ignore applicants’ answers, he listed, for example, the overload of those in charge of recruitment in companies, their burnout, or the fact that managers in their companies do not respond to them in a timely and proper manner.
According to Zoltán Lévai, who is in charge of the human resources department at the insurance company Direct Group, but the past experience of HR professionals is also behind this. “These inexcusable mistakes by companies also stem from the fact that companies got used to being the ones who choose,” he says.
But there are also situations that he would call ghosting positions. “Some companies advertise job offers to make it look like they’re growing, but they’re not really looking for anyone,” he pointed out.
A break in the labor market
According to a survey conducted by StartupJobs, 78 percent of employees are currently looking for or considering a new position. According to him, a certain turning point came after 2022. Until then, six to seven people responded to one position, now there are 24 of them.
“Positions disappear quickly. For example, we were looking for a programmer and within six days we had to withdraw the offer due to the number of applicants,” confirmed StartupJobs director Filip Mikschik.
At the same time, according to him, applicants for the position are more demanding. Among the most requested benefits are time flexibility and the ability to work from anywhere, while more traditional benefits, such as financial benefits, more vacations or the opportunity to study, recede into the background.
