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Old 05-10-2010, 09:00 AM
 
128 posts, read 402,289 times
Reputation: 151

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Everyone talks about the 200-500 resumes that organizations receive for most professional job openings in today's tough market. But in my experience, 90% of the applicants do not stand a chance anyway.

Most of the resumes the company I work for receives are broadcast generic documents sent by the hundreds by desperate applicants. Job opening for an Accounting Assistant and 90% of the applicants have either never worked in Accounting or use to be a Director of Accounting a few years ago and will take anything to get back into the field. Most employers are not going to hire someone who use to make $90K into a job paying $35K, their heart would not be into the position.

Other applicants are sending out a generic resume that looks like an employment application to every job they see advertised in town regardless if they have any education or experience in the field. Our company always gets tons of resumes from people who have no post High School education who are currently bored silly working at the loading dock at Sears for just about every job we advertise regardless of requirements. We are always laughing when a guy who works as a landscaper by the name of Marcus will always apply for every opening at the company including Vice President level positions.

So next time you hear that a job opening had 200 resumes don't be too concerned because Marcus the Landscaper also applied with his generic catch all resume!
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Old 05-10-2010, 09:03 AM
 
628 posts, read 2,038,776 times
Reputation: 524
What then do you recommend for people who want out of their high paying jobs due to stress and would be quite happy doing administrative assistant work etc? My husband falls into this category and I almost feel his cover letter should mention something about knowing he is over qualified but needs a career change or something. Seriously he applied at Sears and didn't get a call back--he knew it only paid $10/hr--but that was fine as he needs out!!!
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Old 05-10-2010, 09:25 AM
 
274 posts, read 996,248 times
Reputation: 152
to the OP, i agree with that. as a current job seeker myself, i've been wondering what many other people have been doing and what i've been hearing is since everything virtually is online, it makes the medium to submit employment applications that much easier. so what results is a vast majority of people randomly applying to jobs that they may not be qualified for, but in their minds, it's a hope that even submitting 200+ resumes to 200+ companies would likely result in at least a few callbacks - unfortunately (esp. now) that isn't the case at all.

from personal experience, i've submitted resumes online and catered my resumes toward job postings with my expertise/experiences and have yet to be called back. i highly doubt mass submitting of resumes will result in anything... aside from just clogging the HR system, making it harder and longer for HR reps to screen through resumes in addition to their automated systems.
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Old 05-10-2010, 09:55 AM
 
26,585 posts, read 61,874,587 times
Reputation: 13161
I posted last week that I had gotten over 120 resumes for one job, and over 80% of them weren't even remotely qualified for the position we've got open. A lot of them had great experience and qualifications, but not for the job we're hiring for.
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Old 05-10-2010, 10:22 AM
 
Location: Denver, CO
1,278 posts, read 2,305,287 times
Reputation: 929
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tough Questions View Post
Everyone talks about the 200-500 resumes that organizations receive for most professional job openings in today's tough market. But in my experience, 90% of the applicants do not stand a chance anyway.

Most of the resumes the company I work for receives are broadcast generic documents sent by the hundreds by desperate applicants. Job opening for an Accounting Assistant and 90% of the applicants have either never worked in Accounting or use to be a Director of Accounting a few years ago and will take anything to get back into the field. Most employers are not going to hire someone who use to make $90K into a job paying $35K, their heart would not be into the position.

Other applicants are sending out a generic resume that looks like an employment application to every job they see advertised in town regardless if they have any education or experience in the field. Our company always gets tons of resumes from people who have no post High School education who are currently bored silly working at the loading dock at Sears for just about every job we advertise regardless of requirements. We are always laughing when a guy who works as a landscaper by the name of Marcus will always apply for every opening at the company including Vice President level positions.

So next time you hear that a job opening had 200 resumes don't be too concerned because Marcus the Landscaper also applied with his generic catch all resume!
Do companies not train anymore? I mean, c'mon. $35k is an entry level salary. What's going to happen in this country when all the baby boomers retire and you have a bunch of youngsters with no experience because nobody ever gave them a shot? Answer: You're going to have a lot of candidates with very little, if any, experience to choose from.
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Old 05-10-2010, 10:29 AM
 
26,585 posts, read 61,874,587 times
Reputation: 13161
Quote:
Originally Posted by mcb1025 View Post
Do companies not train anymore? I mean, c'mon. $35k is an entry level salary. What's going to happen in this country when all the baby boomers retire and you have a bunch of youngsters with no experience because nobody ever gave them a shot? Answer: You're going to have a lot of candidates with very little, if any, experience to choose from.
My guess is that if they had gotten a resume from an accounting clerk looking to move up or even someone with an accounting degree who was looking for an entry level job they might have been considered, but the resumes were from people either highly overqualified or who had zero experience and/or no formal education in the accounting field.
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Old 05-10-2010, 10:36 AM
 
400 posts, read 847,461 times
Reputation: 473
I often see people advising long term unemployed people to "just take a job at McDonalds!" Of course, McDonald's wouldn't hire them since they're overqualified. I'm not sure how Kevin Spacey pulled it off in American Beauty.
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Old 05-10-2010, 10:52 AM
 
Location: Denver, CO
1,278 posts, read 2,305,287 times
Reputation: 929
Quote:
Originally Posted by annerk View Post
My guess is that if they had gotten a resume from an accounting clerk looking to move up or even someone with an accounting degree who was looking for an entry level job they might have been considered, but the resumes were from people either highly overqualified or who had zero experience and/or no formal education in the accounting field.
Thanks for clarifying. On the other hand, I think most people with some intelligence can still be trained to an accounting clerk position. You have to have working knowledge of very basic math (adding, subtracting, multiplying). I did some accounting work while I was in college. Honestly, I was bored out of my mind most of the time because of how elementary it was. It does not take a rocket scientist to be an accounting clerk. A high school diploma, an average brain, and some motivation to learn is all it would take to fill that position.

The problem I'm seeing in America today is that companies are wanting some guy with an Engineering degree to put together basic Excel spreadsheets. That seems to be the only way they feel justified in paying someone $35k a year to do a job. I'd argue that most jobs that do require a degree, don't actually need a degree. But our mentality these days is that we want the best for the least amount of money.

Last edited by mcb1025; 05-10-2010 at 11:01 AM..
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Old 05-10-2010, 10:54 AM
 
4,796 posts, read 22,856,006 times
Reputation: 5046
Just as employers have computers that screen applicants and otherwise automate the hiring process, so too do job seekers. A lot of the resumes you get are sent automatically to any and every job listing the computer can find. Often times without the applicant's knowledge. So there's no need to get all huffy about it. They are merely matching your acts with like acts. Its nothing personal.

And yeah, $35k is below poverty line in most of the country. The person you hire will likely qualify for food stamps and housing assistance. Something a working person with a college degree should never have to rely on. Not even an entry-level worker.
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Old 05-10-2010, 10:55 AM
 
4,918 posts, read 22,625,105 times
Reputation: 6303

Now you know what Hawaii employers have been dealing with for decades. Use to be you post a job for a part-time office cleaner and you get 750 applications/resumes from everyone all over the US. All looking for the dream of living in Hawaii. Now, you get 1,500 in todays economy.
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