The job market in the US is so difficult that job seekers are already turning to dating apps to get interviews. According to a recent study, one in three dating app users is looking for a job.
The job search has become so desperate in the North American job market that more and more people are using dating apps to network and get interviews.
In a recent survey by , 34% two participants admitted to having used dating apps in the last 12 months for purposes related to job or career .
Among those who used these applications to look for a job, 39% got an interview and 37% received a job offer.
The survey, carried out in October, also revealed that 42% of users of these platforms who were looking for a job were motivated by the difficulty of the job market.
“Younger professionals, in particular, feel enormous pressure to progress in a hyper-competitive market,” he explains. Stacie Hallercareer counselor at Resume Builder, on the study results.
“Traditional networking platforms, such as LinkedInmay seem saturated and too transactionalwhere everyone tries to sell something instead of creating genuine connections. Dating apps, on the other hand, offer a more personal and relaxed environment to create authentic relationships”, details Haller.
A recent report gave names and voices to some of these candidates, who shared their personal experiences of networking on dating apps.
Tiffany Chaua student at California College of the Arts, used the fall to look for a summer internship in product design.
“I feel like my approach to dating apps is to see them as another platform for networkingjust like Instagram or LinkedIn”, explained Chau, who ended up receiving advice on Hinge from a user who had recently been interviewed by the consultancy Accenture.
Alex Xiaoa data analysis student at the University of California at Berkeley, is in another side of this trend networking: he is the director of a dating app startup aimed at university students called .
Xiao, 18, says he has already matched with people looking for help with their careers, including some who, boldly, they asked him for a job. “Many connections, in fact, just boil down to this: how can you help advance your career?”, he tells Bloomberg.
Although some users of these platforms, who are mainly looking for romantic relationships, may be disappointed by realizing that your potential matches actually want to network rather than looking for a romantic connection, this trend is not surprisinggiven the current job market scenario.
The unemployment rate in November was 4.6%, recalls . Among younger adults, aged 20 to 24, the rate was even higher: 8.3%.
