Today there are more qualified candidates than there are job openings. Employers can afford to be selective, and they are less willing to take a chance on an applicant who does not appear prepared for the job. Considerable costs are associated with the recruiting, selecting, hiring, and training of new employees. Therefore, employers are more careful about hiring decisions, taking longer to evaluate applicants while looking for the maximum skills they can hire for the wage they have to pay. This means that today's job seeker needs the best preparation possible for their job search.

Prolonged unemployment, as a result of an unsuccessful job search, is most often caused by the following reasons: