What would you do in the following situations?

# 1: You've to go up to the 10th floor in an office tower. You've two options:

• A: Climb the stairs.
• B: Take an elevator.

# 2: You want to increase the volume of your TV. You've two options:

• A: Get up and go to the TV to do it.
• B: Use a remote.

# 3: You want to withdraw money. You've two options:

• A: Go inside the bank and withdraw money.
• B: Use an ATM outside the bank.

There is nothing tricky about these questions and the answers are so obvious. Do you, however, see the not-so-obvious phenomenon underlying these everyday choices?

“We like to spend least effort to accomplish our objectives.” This is the Law of Least Effort. You can see its evidence in every facet of daily life in the form of Internet banking, washing machines, ready-to-eat foods and so on.

The natural tendency to spend least effort is so strong that most of the technologies, products and services are aimed at helping people do just that: minimise the effort!

The Law of Least Effort also applies to the job market. The only catch is that it works against job seekers when they follow the path of least effort. And it works in their favour if they somehow enable employers to follow the path of least effort. Here is how it works.

Resume: Job seekers often prepare one standard resume and send it to multiple employers, hoping it might click somewhere. This is a classic example of job seekers taking the path of least effort.

Now, think about what happens when these one-size-fits-all resumes reach employers. Unless they spend more effort and time on these resumes, they can’t quickly figure out the suitability of candidates. And so, they simply ignore all such resumes.