Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I know people on here are always complaining about the HR people, how terrible we are and how it is supposedly our job to make sure that no one ever gets hired.
For some reason, application after application has been crossing my desk with the same glaring issues, so partly to vent (although I doubt I will get any sympathy) and partly as information to people who are job hunting, here are some "what not to do's" that I have encountered.
1. If you have a phone number listed on your resume or application, make sure it works. Numerous people in the last few days have turned in applications with disconnected numbers. "This number can not accept your call at this time" is NOT code for the person is busy. It IS code for the person has either not paid their bill or had run out of minutes for the month. Please, make sure you include a working number.
2. Current means in the last decade. Actually, it means in the last 5 years. It does not mean from the early 80's. One of my applicants gave me the information for a lovely woman who remembered her fondly. From 1982. This does not help me.
3. Keep in contact with your references. If they ask "who" when I call or are not able to remember when they worked with you, it leaves me some doubt as to the reliability of their reference. Especially as I am going to have to submit this reference either to the client or to my boss at some point.
4. Give correct info for the reference. This goes back to keeping in contact with them. If they are no longer in a location, I should not be discovering this when I call them. It annoys me and makes it clear that you are not giving references of people who are still a part of your professional life.
5. Have a professional email. I am not, no matter how great you are, going to submit someone with the email "Ipartyalot@gmail.com" No, this is not the real email I got, so if this goes to someone in real life, I have no idea. But the message on why I am not telling my boss this person is great should be clear.
6. Pay attention to the job requirements. If the job says "Must be willing to travel" or in our case has "Travel" in the title, please do not apply if you are willing to go no farther than 5 miles from your home.
7. If you were terminated from your last job, no matter how great you think the reference will be, do not give the person as a reference if they were your boss or the person who terminated you. Find someone else. When the answer to "Why did this person leave your employ" is "I terminated them" then this is NOT a good reference, no matter the great things they have said about you, as they TERMINATED you.
It has been a fascinating week, and it is amazing how often some of this stuff appears.
I do not expect any sympathy, but the vent feels good....
And, I know, I should overlook emails that are unprofessional, ignore phones that don't work, etc...because not doing those things is continuing to stop people from getting a job (sarcasm included for free)
Well, I admit that I'm not in your shoes. All we as the applicants can see is the treatment we receive, and we have every right to complain about it since in most cases, it is lousy.
That being said, you have every right to complain, too! And it sounds like they deserve it - geez... I never understood why companies offered resume writing services that were mostly common sense... apparently, common sense is not so common! Phone numbers that don't work? Contacts that may no longer exist? Happily asking you to call the guy who fired them for a good reference?! Geez... okay, yeah - you have every right to complain!
On the plus side, at least you can just chuck the idiots and go on with your life, whereas when we, the unemployed, get tossed aside by idiots, the results are usually a lot worse for us since we need the work.
So... yeah... if more folks acted professionally, none of these problems would really exist, IMHO.
Well, I admit that I'm not in your shoes. All we as the applicants can see is the treatment we receive, and we have every right to complain about it since in most cases, it is lousy.
That being said, you have every right to complain, too! And it sounds like they deserve it - geez... I never understood why companies offered resume writing services that were mostly common sense... apparently, common sense is not so common! Phone numbers that don't work? Contacts that may no longer exist? Happily asking you to call the guy who fired them for a good reference?! Geez... okay, yeah - you have every right to complain!
On the plus side, at least you can just chuck the idiots and go on with your life, whereas when we, the unemployed, get tossed aside by idiots, the results are usually a lot worse for us since we need the work.
So... yeah... if more folks acted professionally, none of these problems would really exist, IMHO.
You are correct that common sense is not common.
Phone numbers that do not work happened 2 times, just today. And all of the other stuff? Today. And the truth is, I am wasting my time weeding through this stuff and I am NOT getting to the real applicants. So, people like these are not only stopping themselves from getting jobs, they are also slowing me down getting to real applicants with reasonable references and working phones.
As for chucking the idiots and going on with my life...sort of. It is my job to find candidates. So, when I have 40 resumes and no viable applicants, I have to explain that to someone...namely my boss who is wondering why I have been working for the last 2 hours with no interviews scheduled.
Phone numbers that do not work happened 2 times, just today. And all of the other stuff? Today. And the truth is, I am wasting my time weeding through this stuff and I am NOT getting to the real applicants. So, people like these are not only stopping themselves from getting jobs, they are also slowing me down getting to real applicants with reasonable references and working phones.
As for chucking the idiots and going on with my life...sort of. It is my job to find candidates. So, when I have 40 resumes and no viable applicants, I have to explain that to someone...namely my boss who is wondering why I have been working for the last 2 hours with no interviews scheduled.
Wow... what general field does your company work in, if I may ask?
I'm an engineer, and I'd be appalled, but not surprised, if other people in my field were so unprofessional. I'm going to guess it's a lot worse in other fields, but if this is in a highly technical industry, it would be very disappointing... Of course, I've also met more worthless "engineers" than one might expect over the years, so maybe I shouldn't be surprised if that's the case?!
For every applicant who does screw up, there are hundreds of others who do all of the supossed "right" things when applying for jobs and still have nothing to show for it at the end of the day.
So the OP is really just pouring salt on open wounds.
You are correct that common sense is not common.
.
True. I still recall years ago trying hard not to chuckle at a 20 something girl who was interviewing with me and a few others at my second job after college. She came in so overexposed , low cut blouse plus ultra short skirt, I really wanted to ask if she meant to apply at a strip club that happened to be 1/2 mile away. No, from that second on, she had no shot, so all 3 of us interviewing her , cut it shorter than normal. We had her out the door within an hour, and the rejection letter was sent not long after that.
I am often acerbic at work, and jokingly told one of the others interviewing her, when he asked "is that her..seeing her attire", "Yes, and should she sneeze, we'll all know each other even more".
Yes, this is a group of people who you would think would know better.
Right before I left, I got references that just had names. The person requested I email them if I needed phone numbers. Really.
Yeah, okay... that's scary and disappointing!
Does your company have an automated resume filtering system, or do you get the resumes first? I'm just wondering if this is mostly a case of a frightening number of applicants who have no clue what they are doing or if it also includes bizzare interactions with the resume filters that are allowing these people to get through? Most everything you list can't be catched by a resume filter, which is part of why I ask. I guess there's no way to filter out people who lack common sense... Hmmmm...
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
