The more you search the less you find: low qualified job seekers and online job search

Drawing on in-depth interviews with unemployed workers, this article explores how low qualified job seekers experience the online job search process. By taking the digitalization of the access to labor markets as a starting point, we uncover three main activities – crafting, applying, reviewing – central to the online job search process and analyze their performance by job seekers. We show that their use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) for employment purpose sparks strong tensions and dilemmas shaping how they experience job search, ultimately preventing them from using ICTs to secure work but also increasing their vulnerability on the labor market.