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Once when I lived out in the Rocky Mountains I was offered a job and was told that I had to get a drug/urine screen within 48 hours to be accepted. The closest facility that worked with was an hour+ up a windy mountain road and it were were in the midst of a very heavy snowstorm. I offered to pay for one on my own if I could use any of the nearest hospitals or physician's offices and they said no. So I made the treacherous drive, peed in the cup (I passed), and upon driving home a large rock fell from a mountain side and smashed my windshield.
This post is going to be a rant, but from all the posts I've been reading, I am curious to what drives people nuts when they apply for jobs. I'll have a few things to lay out.
1. Applying for a job, being rejected, and keep seeing the same job posted multiple times again and again. Granted, we all apply for jobs we aren't the most qualified for, but I've applied for jobs on LinkedIn that matches 7/10, or even 7/9 "skills" they are looking for within the skill section. I don't hear back, yet they keep posting the job over and over. I'm like are they waiting for all 9 to be met? God forbid they meet 9 and don't say what they want to hear in the interview. Do they start over? I know you want the best you can get, but sometimes when you literally meet a good 75% or more of what you want and need, you should at least entertain them to see how they are and where they fell short. Especially since, I know this shocks companies, can provide training to make up any shortcomings. Let alone how they write how desperate they need someone while they keep posting the same job for weeks to months on end.
2. Unrealistic job requirements. Again, this is subjective, but we've all seen job postings that make any sane individual go, "WTF is wrong with you?" I've seen job postings that will literally take 6 pages to print out, and they are asking for stuff that even directors won't have despite it being a job that only requires 2-5 years of experience. I wonder if the hiring manager, or some HR or recruiter weenie came up with it showing no understanding of the role, or what they truly need. In fact, I know sometimes they create unrealistic expectations in hope they'll land an all star employee for the fraction of the cost. That may have worked in 2010 after the collapse ended, but not today. What is messed up is then they can't find any applicants since they either shunned them away with their crazy list, or the stupid auto-keyword nonsense filters them out.
3. "Entry level role" requiring 5+ years of experience. That isn't entry level, that is an associate to mid-level depending on the organization. Entry level means you're green, fresh, aka less than a couple years in most cases in a field, or fresh out of college. Get rid of this BS that entry level means you're a moderate veteran in your field. You're dellusional thinking you can get a person with 5 years of experience for entry level pay.
4. Terrible timing of auto-rejection emails. We all get them, and I expect it to be a part of the business, but they can cut down on the BS. I mention in a previous thread I got a rejection on Sunday morning after I had a late Friday afternoon phone interview around 4pm. The email said they talked it over the team. Really? The team magically met around 5pm on Friday and Saturday when the office was closed, had an "in-depth" discussion about my qualifications and interview, and realize it wasn't a good fit? Don't lie to me. First of all the guy who corresponded with me can send me a quick email during normal working hours how he appreciated my time, but we want to move in a direction. Don't send an auto-generated 2-3 paragraph email of buzzwords that make no sense. Furthermore, sometimes I've gotten rejected within 30 minutes. Again, a "team" reviewed it that quickly? Give me a break. More like their bot looking for phrases and keywords said I didn't hit enough of their targets.
5. Not counting tangible experience. Again, this is subjective, but I've seen many roles where tangible experience in a previous role can be applied to a new role. Somehow many companies have gotten so uptight how they just want someone who did almost the exact same role somewhere else, but how is that feasible? In fact, many roles you can apply what you've learned elsewhere in a tangible way that makes you an effective workers. Companies need to move on how you need only direct experience to be effective since it's hogwash.
I know it was a long post and rant, but some stuff I'm seeing in my job hunt as of late is driving me up the wall due to how the process lacks common sense. What are others thoughts or rants?
1. I've applied for a job three times it was posted, gotten an offer, and HR stated I was selected for the first requisition, but they needed a larger applicant pool, so they reposted when it expired.
2. They need reasons to not offer you top-of-band, and by missing half of the "requirements", this is how.
3. This is done during down economic times to, once again, start people bottom-of-band. The true college-grad entry level jobs are internships, whereas "entry level" are entry into their company, not college exit-level. Not synonymous in the least.
4. Rejection is a rejection is a rejection. Your point is? Emails, especially auto-responses, are scheduled to be sent when server load is low. Often weekend and early morning hours.
5. Depends on position as much as it does the company. A management role may very well consider (consecutive) experience of 10-20 years so long as it's directly relevant, but an hourly role may only do a 5-year lookback. If it's not in that window, it doesn't count.
I'll add one that is happening to me right now. Had a company call me to recruit me for a position. They were very interested and even the CEO adjusted his schedule to work with mine.
They asked for a follow up interview and for me to present to them a case study. I took hours preparing, practicing etc. and block off my calendar.
Ten minutes before the interview, they cancel. I haven't heard from them since, completely ghosted.
To me that is beyond unprofessional. It's only been a couple of days, if I don't hear from them by next week I may send an email expressing my frustration around their behavior.
Taleo came up with a "universal profile" that can be used to apply at any employer that uses taleo. You can set up one profile and just import it into your job application.
This is a great idea and I give kudos to Taleo for making this happen.
The problem is not all employers have "accept universal profile" as a setting on their applications. They can turn that setting on or off at their discretion.
I'll add one that is happening to me right now. Had a company call me to recruit me for a position. They were very interested and even the CEO adjusted his schedule to work with mine.
They asked for a follow up interview and for me to present to them a case study. I took hours preparing, practicing etc. and block off my calendar.
Ten minutes before the interview, they cancel. I haven't heard from them since, completely ghosted.
To me that is beyond unprofessional. It's only been a couple of days, if I don't hear from them by next week I may send an email expressing my frustration around their behavior.
This post is going to be a rant, but from all the posts I've been reading, I am curious to what drives people nuts when they apply for jobs. I'll have a few things to lay out.
Few things are more aggravating than applying for jobs. Fortunately, we're in a hot job market. If you're unhappy with a particular company, keep looking.
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1. ...keep seeing the same job posted multiple times again and again...
Usually this means they aren't really hiring, but instead are just testing the market to see how many qualified applicants there are. It costs them nothing, or next to nothing, to post an opening on Craigslist, or Indeed, etc. Your best bet is to check the company's website "Employment" page regularly, and read the industry news about this company to see whether they're growing or shrinking or introducing new products. Try to get an informational interview with them. Or even email from a different account and express interest in doing business with them, to get into a dialogue with sales and see what kind of impression you get.
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2. Unrealistic job requirements....
Again, probably is just market research. They know, and they know that you know, that they're not realistic.
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3. "Entry level role" requiring 5+ years of experience....
Where "entry level" is a euphemism for "entry pay". Don't take that. Figure out what's a fair market price, and demand that plus 20%, and let them bargain you down a bit.
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4. Terrible timing of auto-rejection emails....
Don't take "no" for an answer. If it's a great company and you think you'd be a great fit, press your case. But if they're jerks, move on.
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5. Not counting tangible experience...
Press your case, and persuade them that you're the top candidate for the job. If you're experienced on Machine Tool A, and they have Machine Tool B, then read a manual on B and go in there talking about it in detail. Tell them the differences between the two systems. Convince them you have the drive and ambition to get up to speed quickly and not be a slacker who sits around expecting to be hand-fed.
It was a video interview. That would have been even worse if it was in person!
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