The Hunt Blog

By Garrett Rice, Co-Founder and CEO, Callings.ai

Google’s top-rated SEO keyword phrase for the job search industry is: “Jobs Near Me.” No surprise, right? Until recently, one of the most important aspects of any job search was physical proximity. The job had to be close to where the seeker lived because employees were required to work at the hiring company’s offices. So-called “remote work” was very rare until five years ago (4% of workers in 2019 and 54% in 2020, according to the NY Times).

But my how things have changed. Thanks to advancements in online meeting technologies like Zoom and Slack—and due to the brutal forcing function that was the global COVID pandemic—“Jobs Near Me” now has a decidedly different meaning.

It might still mean that you are looking for a company that is physically nearby. But it may also mean companies that accept remote or hybrid workers. “Jobs Near Me” might now be judged by the speed of the internet connection in your kitchen, not your physical location. This change has had a dramatic impact on the modern work experience—and the modern job hunt.

First, let’s discuss the upside to all these changes. Obviously, many hybrid and remote workers have saved hours every day by not having to commute to work. They also benefit from the comfort and convenience of working from home, including being present for their families and community. For job seekers, this new world can open up opportunities. They are no longer “geo-fenced” by their commute radius. With a remote job, they can literally pursue roles with any company in the world. This gives them many more options. Overall, remote work has increased employee happiness by 20% according to Forbes.

Alas, not all aspects of the modern work experience play out evenly. Remote and hybrid work reduces social and interpersonal interactions with co-workers. The BBC reports that this can have a detrimental impact on trust. It may have also reduced productivity by 8% to 19% according to a University of Chicago study. However, some studies refute this.

Remote and hybrid work have also had a big impact on job seekers. There is less data on this, but anecdotal evidence from discussions with dozens of job seekers suggests that remote and hybrid work have opened up most jobs to global competition. For example, many high-paying jobs where I live in Silicon Valley used to be protected by the geo-fencing I mentioned above, leaving them to high-paid workers living in the SF Bay Area. Now, those roles can be filled by workers anywhere (and potentially at a dramatically reduced rate). The result? High-paid tech workers who are looking for work are experiencing the most difficult job market in their professional lives.

I recently found the following graphic posted on Reddit, showing the statistics of one seeker’s job hunt. It is just brutal to think that someone needs to apply to fifteen hundred jobs to get a small number of considerations!

While this person’s experience is probably an outlier, it reflects a reality that we are hearing from hundreds of job seekers: the days of applying to ten open roles and having a chance of being interviewed are now gone. The modern job hunt is now a volume business.

So, as you type “Jobs Near Me” into Google to start your job search, remember that this phrase is now an anachronism. MIT reports that between 27% and 50% of all jobs are now hybrid or remote. And this figure is likely growing. A more useful phrase for the future of job seeking is probably “Jobs that match me”. It will require the job hunter to successfully identify and articulate their personal brand.

In fact, it is around this concept that we are building Callings.ai. We help you articulate YOU and then find roles that match your skills, experience and goals. We believe that this is essential in a world where you are now competing against candidates from across the globe.