The job market right now feels more like a game to beat or a system to hack than anything else. 

LinkedIn has released games to keep users on the app, and apps like Jobswipe and Talentefinder make applying for multiple jobs as simple as a click or a swipe. The latter has even coined itself the Tinder for jobs. 

These interfaces gamify the job-application process in many ways. It’s now all about racking up numbers and boosting stats like applications entered, cover letters written and connections made. Job hunting is becoming a depersonalized, and in many ways demoralizing, race to the top, just to obtain an entry-level position.  

These interfaces are engineered toward convenience and optimization. They’re supposed to streamline essential professional, networking and workforce skills to the point of absentminded, menial repetition.

University of Minnesota industrial relations professor John Kammeyer-Mueller said rapid-fire application platforms function like dating apps or social networking platforms, and the consensus on them is somewhat double-edged. 

“There’s this idea of both applicants ghosting employers and employers ghosting applicants,” Kammeyer-Mueller said. “That, I think, is extremely frustrating for people. But being able to see and apply for jobs, just a lot of them right away, I think people like that.”

This technology is changing the way we interact with and view prospective employers and our place in the market. When faced with an abysmal market and limited prospects, this new landscape is becoming a difficult boss to beat. 

Kammeyer-Mueller said LinkedIn in particular has proliferated in its reach and has become an expectation among employers. 

“It’s the main mechanism that most organizations use for recruiting at this point, at least in the initial stages,” Kammeyer-Mueller said. “I know that within the Carlson School, every single student and about half of the faculty have a LinkedIn profile in their signatures.” 

Kammeyer-Mueller added that although the platform has become an expectation, it’s not nearly accessible enough. 

“There’s the digital divide that’s growing in access to this,” Kammeyer-Mueller said. “So there’ll be people who have the money and the resources and the knowledge to put their things up on LinkedIn. That’s far from universal.”

The quest to obtain the equally deified and memeified 500+ LinkedIn connections reads like an objective in a game or an achievement to unlock, rather than actual connection-seeking or strengthening of one’s personal network. It even earns its own profile designation, like a badge earned to upgrade or move up the leaderboard. 

It’s a numbers game. 

On top of this, jobs in some circles with little to no face-to-face contact, let alone actual tasks to complete, are known colloquially as “fake email jobs.” These are often demonized and labeled as a drain on the economy. In other cases, they are sought after, as the idea of weaseling one’s way into not only a job, but one that supposedly doesn’t entail much work, has allure. 

In this arises a worldview where the job market becomes a game to outwit or beat, not only in the acquisition of a job itself, but in the quality of life that one can shoot for and land accordingly.

A recent tutorial on how to land a “fake email job” notably garnered 1.1 million views on Instagram. The creator, Jane, known online by the handle @rroomfies, has carved out a niche as a source for practical and effective workforce and lifestyle tips. The success and virality of this philosophy toward work show its resonance with young people. 

College of Liberal Arts Senior Career Coach Ann Vu Ngo said choosing a low-stimulus job should be an opportunity to build well-roundedness in other areas of life. People are usually most receptive and malleable to learning and growing new skills when they first enter the workforce. 

“I would encourage someone to make sure that there are skill sets that you’re growing in, at least outside of work,” Vu Ngo said. “Then if you decide you want to compartmentalize, make sure that you’re growing in other areas of your life as well.”

As online and real life continue to conflate and collapse into each other, we’re facing unfortunate truths about what our job market and the creators of these technologies incentivize, or want us to believe they incentivize. 

Vu Ngo said resume tailoring is still an essential skill, and more applications don’t always mean more responses from companies. 

“If you’re not specifically speaking to one, maybe you’re speaking to zero of them,” Vu Ngo said. 

Not all is lost, though. It’s unclear whether we are effectively beating the system or playing into its hands by engaging in these hyper-connective, hyper-competitive new technologies. 

Vu Ngo said a little extra effort, the old-fashioned way, can place an applicant above others. 

“Even if you find a job on LinkedIn, I would also recommend seeing what organization posted it, clicking to that organization and applying through their portal,” Vu Ngo said. “Because we don’t know on their end what that looks like, but there could be such a large volume of people mindlessly sending those out.”

It seems the only real way to beat the game is through refusal to blindly abide by these new rules.