Just last week a job seeking friend of mine was venting about the frustration she was feeling while actively trying to connect with a recruiter. She said that a recruiter had left her a message just as she was leaving on vacation. When she returned from vacation she could not reach the recruiter again. In this economy, I was not at all surprised.

Back in 1994 when Gloria Estefan was the hottest ticket in town and I started my recruiting career, life was different. For one thing, I had no gray hair. For another, when I applied for 15 jobs in the NY Times, 8-10 companies were interested in speaking with me. They would leave me a message on my answering machine tape (LOL) and I would return it the next day only to have them leap with glee to their desks to answer their ringing phones. That was then but this is now.

Now when a company runs an ad, they receive hundreds if not thousands of resumes. With the advent of “click here to apply” job boards, you no longer have to stuff and lick envelopes, go to Kinkos to fax resumes, or buy stamps from Mr. Mailman. If it’s so easy for you to click, think of how easy it is for your competition to click.