My guess is that it's simultaneously easy for a lot of companies to do automated filtering and for candidates to do a lot of automated applications in a way that's easier than sending out a bunch of envelopes. Which makes it harder for candidates who don't have either networks or impressive credentials.

▲

laughing_man 3 hours ago | parent | next [-]

On the other side, I notice it's so much easier to apply for a job today that people apply for thousands of jobs. When I graduated from college I applied at 70 different places, and my peer group thought that was a crazy high number.

	▲	ghaff 2 hours ago \| parent [-]
		When I was graduating from grad school I certainly sent many dozens of letters. Which I think was pretty typical. When I went to another grad school a few years later, I probably traveled to a good dozen interviews in addition to a whole bunch of other letters.

▲

rwmj 7 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

I wonder if there'd be some value to only taking job applications by post.

▲

mattnewton 5 hours ago | parent | next [-]

There are plenty of services to send mail form the internet for a small fee, so this will only discourage the most poor candidates and add friction for the best ones.

	▲	ghaff 3 hours ago \| parent [-]
		I don't know what the options are these days but MCI used to do it. Yeah, it's some friction on both sides.

▲

ghaff 7 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

An interesting question but arguably a lot of the most qualified applicants will go FU at that point and only the most desperate will put a stamp on an envelope which is probably not what you want.

Honestly, it probably comes down to more networking and credentials.