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It's been a long time since I was out pounding pavement but I got angry at the whole process too.
I answered lots of newspaper ads, some blind, some open. Did lots of cold calling. Checked postings at local universities and applied for 1 job at local police dept. Networking wasn't as big a thing then. I only anwered ads that I was qualified for, going by what the employer specified. I sent resumes and letters with NO typos, well written, giving complete information. I heard back nothing from most of my inquiries and got a few Dear John letters telling me I did not have the qualifications they were looking for. I had what they had asked for; how could they tell me I did not? I got fewer than 10 interviews for about 100 or so applications.
I think a lot of jobs are posted that are not really open at all. Maybe a co. has an opening and the dept. head already knows who he wants but co. policy requires the opening to be published in some way. Apps come in and get "disqualified" until a certain number or time limit is reached. Many of the letters/resumes are probably not even read. Then the person they really want is given the position.
I had similar experiences as a contractor. General contractors would call me to quote jobs, saying they had lots of work coming up in my area. Yes, my quotes were very reasonable and they would be calling the next week or 2. A year later, I was still waiting for their calls. I would find out later they already had their subcontractors and were just shopping the market to be sure they weren't being overcharged. I should have played their same game, calling back every few days that I had a week open for them or was bringing material to the job I quoted, etc.
Ethics are largely disappearing from many workplaces, in spite of buzzwords about "fairness", etc. I was taught not to waste a person't time if I had no interest in his services.
Recently I found an opening but I found out a bit more on the side about it.
The job is posted internally so I cannot get it.
But then I checked the department. It's open ONLY to those in that department. It has four people and the title is the same as one person there. i.e. this person is leaving soon. So the deputy or assistant is going to probably get that since the head person was the assistant for a few decades..ok I get that. But at the same point that leaves another opening.
I highly recommend linkedin because it really starts to add up with having more information.
What I would say is the most annoying parts are the following
- How relavant is...elementary school? What hobbies/activites did I have? Eating paste playing at recess etc
- Applications that are dated. Wordperfect? are you serious? Lotus 123? Why not Vis Calc and Electric Pencil if you want to go down that route!
I even saw one that had pages from the late 1970's asking how old are you, are you married, have you been sick for more than a month, do you have children, what is your selective service status. I'm pretty sure a fair amount of these might be illegal.
I know one place that for a long time had a paper application form that would then send you an affirmative action form. Each time you applied it would come in the mail. I'm fine with filling the form out...but apparently they don't keep records because they'll send it to everyone over and over again. Luckily they switched to online applications.
It is B.S. but it's because jobs are so scarce now days. I bet these jobs you talk about are not even that well paying which makes it even more absurd.
I think I saw, and I may look it up, that last year there were only 137 million tax returns filed. The significance of this is huge. There are like 315 million people in this country according to the last census. That means that about 178 million people are essentially not involved with substantial, real work. Some may work under the table but if they don't pay for their own benefits and such or retirement than they'll end up a net drain on the economy. And of those 137 million how many are McDonald's type jobs? According to the research a very large percentage. That means eventually the system will collapse. It's only a matter of when, not if.
How many of the 137 million were joint filed tax returns? Because for that amount, you'll need to double the number to get the true, accurate amount of people paying taxes vs the 315. Also some of that 315 may in fact be children of the 137 million filing returns. Just like Jwiley has said.
BTW, whenever the co. address was given, I went in person if it was anywhere local. I wore appropriate business clothes and used my best manners. Took professional looking papers in and usually had to leave them with a gatekeeper.
I went to 1 office where I was given a short time with the manager, who did not even offer me a chair. I stood while he sat at his desk and described what he had open and said he would call if I got the job. Before I left, I no longer wanted the job and would not have accepted an offer from him.
Truth be told I'd rather spend 1 hour filling out a app than 30 minutes having an HR bimbo spew stupid psychobabble questions at me. All the more reason I am glad I have a good job and have no interest in looking anytime in the near future.
I like the idea of a reference. The idea, not the practice. If I was hiring someone, of course I would want an opinion from people familiar with the applicant's work ethic, ethics, and just a general rundown.
Many openings expect references to be provided upon application. I won't do this because 1) it wears out my references when the company calls first thing before even contacting me 2) I feel that references should be provided only upon an offer. If an application requires references to even apply, I just move on.
Until this labor market regains some semblance of sanity, we will continue to have these invasive practices.
I don't have a problem with references either, although I agree they should be asked for late in the hiring process. But I do have a problem with the fact that companies never seem to use them even when they are asked for and provided. I have five people on my references. Not one is related to me. All are high-level people in the community and/or top executives at places I have worked in the past. The first name on the list is the president of city council in one of the 20 largest cities in the country. I provide his personal contact information, not his office number (which is online if anyone wants that). He has never once been called, even when I was hired. You'd think once in awhile someone would call out of curiosity, just to see if he actually does know me. Wouldn't that be an easy way to weed out a crazy applicant?
I also think it's bizarre for companies to ask what elementary school I attended and what my grades were there. Which has happened to me repeatedly in Arizona. That's the kind of thing the Secret Service asks for from presidential candidates. Someday I'm going to write: "Didn't attend elementary school. I was sprung full-grown from the head of Zeus." First of all, the school itself was torn down decades ago. I seriously doubt if the existing school district would even have my records. Was I supposed to keep my faded first grade report cards in case some stranger would want to see them when I was 50?
I agree that the economy is making employers behave in an insane manner. The purpose of these idiotic demands for information is probably to weed out people who are too lazy to jump through hoops — given that jumping through hoops without asking questions seems to be a valued skill in much of corporate America.
You think people who use networking to get a job don't fill out the requisite paperwork?
They do, but only after knowing that they got the job.
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