Candidates are “telling themselves that AI is rejecting them to make themselves feel better”, a recruitment pro claimed as she issued her top tip for landing a job in the “incredibly tough” market.
Talking to IT Channel Oxygen, The Channel Recruiter CEO Zoe Chatley claimed the UK IT channel jobs market has “definitely improved” this year.
That said, candidates are wrongly concluding they are being screened out by AI as hundreds of them continue to vie for a single IT sales, technical or commercial vacancy, Chatley said.
“It’s a tough place to be a candidate right now – it’s very much a client’s market,” she said.
“I think the assumption is, because they’ve been rejected so quickly, they’re assuming AI has been involved, and that’s quite often not the case.
“All the recruiters I know – the Sumners out there, Paul Saliss, Dan Hicks, Charlotte Hallam – all still review every single application that comes through and will reject and notify the ones that haven’t been successful.
“I think candidates are telling themselves that AI is rejecting them to make themselves feel better. That’s not necessarily the case. They’re being rejected because they’re not suitable for the vacancy, or they’re not hearing back because they’re not suitable for the vacancy. However, because of the amount of candidates that are on the market at the moment, it is flooded.”
Chatley issued two tips for candidates eager to get to the top of the pile, the first being to use a ‘Boolean’ search on LinkedIn and other jobs boards to narrow down roles.
She also advised them to contact the hiring teams after applying.
“Pick up the phone, or drop them an email,” she said.
“If you just sit back and rely on the ‘apply’ button all the time, you’re going to be applying for 100 jobs and just sat waiting and then going, ‘I don’t know why I’m not getting the job’.
“You need to be ten times more proactive than you’ve ever been.
“It’s really tough out there. So the more specific you can be with your job searching, and the more targeted you can be in terms of contacting people and getting yourself to the top of the list, the more chance you’re going to have of actually landing a job.”
Chatley also had a message for clients who insist new business-focused candidates join with a “black book of contacts”, which she said is happening more often.
“It shouldn’t be a blocker in someone getting a job if they’re genuinely good at it,” she said.
The jobs market has picked up on 2024 and 2025, Chatley emphasised, however.
“We are seeing a big increase in the amount of vacancies being hired – and that’s right across vendors, distributors, and resellers,” she said.
Doug Woodburn is editor of IT Channel Oxygen
