Azaan McCray, “The Impact of the Job Search Process on Young Job Seekers”
Mentor: Noelle Chesley, Sociology
Poster #126

Current entrants to the labor market are seeking work at a time when the economy is recovering from the COVID pandemic, when technology and automation play an increasing role in the hiring process, and in an era of economic uncertainty (Chesley and Deiters, 2023). How well job seekers are navigating the hiring process may depend on their previous job seeking experiences and their ability to navigate digital spaces well. Young labor market entrants are unique in that they have limited knowledge of the hiring process in general and their expectations about how it works may be more malleable than more experienced job seekers. Young entrants are also potentially more familiar with how to navigate hiring platforms and technology. These characteristics—a lack of work experience, few set expectations, and familiarity with platform technologies generally, make them an interesting group to study with respect to navigating the hiring process. How are young entrants to the labor market experiencing the job search process? To address this question, we interviewed young people living in the United States who have been actively applying to jobs (Kvale and Brinkmann, 2009). Interviewees were asked a series of open-ended questions about why they were looking for work, what sorts of jobs they aspired to, and the strategies and processes they use to locate possible employment, among other questions. These interviews were analyzed thematically using a system of open, and then systematic coding to identify common themes across interviews. This presentation will share preliminary findings from the interview data and speculate about their larger implications for job seekers more generally.