Not hearing from employers about your applications Heres why

elend hearing from employers about your applications Heres whyNot hearing from employers about your applications Heres whyIts by far one of the most frustrating aspects of job searching. After carefully customizing your resume and cover letter to exactly match the specific details of the job description, you send in your job application- and leidhing. If youre not hearing from employers, take heart in knowing that youre not alone, dear job seekers.There must be some sort of explanation as to why this happening, right? After all, your job skills, previous work experience, and overall knowledge make you a plum candidate for the position. The truth of the matter is that theres probably a reason why your job applications are being met with silence. In fact, there are several reasons why this might be the case.If youre not hearing from employers about your applications, heres whyCompanies are doing more screening.When you click and send your job application in to a potential employer, it sets off a chain reaction. First,your application materials are screened byresume scanners for specific keywordsthat assess your qualifications and requirements. Its imperative you use the keywords found in the job description on your resume.Then, if the scanner deems your application acceptable, an actual human at the company will review your application to see if you are a suitable candidate- and then a slew of screening occurs, in the form of background checks. Not only is the information on your job application being verified, butpotential employers are also checking you out onlineto see what else they can find out about you.A whopping70% of employers are screening candidates on social media. Theyre reviewing your LinkedIn profile, your Facebook page (to see whats public and whats not), your tweets on Twitter, what kinds of pics you like to post on Instagram and Pinterest, and so on. Anything slightly objectionable on any of your social media sites can cause you to not hear back from an employer.Theres simply not enough time.With a plethora of candidates applying for limited positions,recruiters might simply not have enough time to respond to each and every job seeker who applies for the position. In fact, on average,for every one job opening, an employer receives 118 applicationsand only 20% of applicants receive interviews.Not only that, the hiring process itself has lengthened in recent years.According to Glassdoor,theprocess for hiring an employee went from 12.6 days in 2010 to 22.9 days in 2014, due to various factors. So even if all you want is a thanks, but no thanks schmelzglas to verify that someone simply even read your job application, many hiring managers unfortunately dont have enough time in the day to do that.Youre not qualified.By all accounts, you think that youremore than qualified for the position. But when a potential employer reads your resume andcover letter, they may have a different opinion. For whatever reason it might be (e.g., yo u dont have the necessary skills, youre missing a particular certification required for the job, your cover letter had grammatical errors, etc.),youre just not the right person for the position. But technically, a potential employer might not legally be able to tell you whats wrong with your application (or you), so they doesnt answer back.Its not a one-person decision.Although youre sending in your job application to one person,many people will review it before the decision is madeto contact you for a job interview. And as your job application passes from one person to the next, it might be that Hiring Manager A loved your application, but Manager B hated it. Since a hiring manager cant tell you that one of their colleagues didnt like your application, they just wont answer your calls or emails.They dont know you.Sure, you wrote a personalized cover letter that had just the right mix of professional and personal anecdotes. Your social media accounts are primed for perusing by a pot ential employer. You would think that youve given your prospective boss a good enough glimpse into your personality. But still,hiring managers might view you as a garden-variety job candidate. To separate yourself from the average job seeker, take a look at your network. Do you have any mutual connections that could provide an introduction? What about any friends, family members, or neighbors that could introduce you to a connection or someone who works at the company? Although it isnt required to have areferral to get a job, it can be helpfulSo, what should you do if youre not hearing from employers?Take the time to assess the situation. If only a few days have passed since you submitted your application, youll need to give it some more time. If its been over a week, its perfectly acceptable tosend afollow-up emailor phone call to ensure that your application was actually received. But if a month goes by and you still dont hear back, you might want to considerchanging your resume a nd cover letter, adjusting yoursocial media presence, and focusing on yourpersonal brandbefore applying for other positions.This article was originally published on Flexjobs.