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First two are ones I ignore as a hiring manager. Last one I do not (aside from foreclosure and medical). You have a repo? Charged off credit cards? Nope. I'd rather hire the gal with a two year lapse in employment.
This is exactly the point I made on another forum page. When I was in customer service some years ago and looking hard for a new position, I answered blind ads, open ads, followed bulletin boards and did cold calls. With ads, I only aswered the ones where I had all or at least 90% of what they asked for. They asked for such things as good writing skills, good phone skills, experience in settling customer conflicts, researching cases, issuing refunds or credits, etc. I would send in a response letter with a resume tailored to the position posted. NO typos or poorly written sentences, so they could see my decent writing skills. Many of my job functions were nearly identical to what they did in their business, some precisely the same, some parallell, allowing for different type of business. On blind ads, I sent out about 100 resumes over 2-3 years and was lucky to even get a "Dear John" letter, telling me my qualifications were not what they were looking for. If mine were not, whose were? Why was I not even worthy of a phone call? Not 1 blind ad ever got me an interview. With open ads, I would take papers in person if local and attempt to make some conversation and be remembered. Local and out of town, I would call about a week later to see where the process was. Often told "someone will look at them all next week" or similar. Of about 50 open ads, I did get about 5 interviews and 2 or 3 offers that I could not afford to take. Pay was often about what they would offer a green clerk for a first job. I did get a decent offer from 1 co in the same industry. I had accepted it and then heard from a source there that they may be going the same direction as my current company so I declined. Sure enough, they took same direction later on.
I suspect that many of these posted jobs are not really open at all. Maybe the co's are collecting resumes for future needs. In some cases, a job may be technically open but they already know who they want. They just have to post it for a time to say they were searching the field, etc. Doesn't bother me if they promote from within, best way to do. But don't post jobs without even a semblance of a chance. I wasted a lot of time that would have been just as well spent watching TV. Then the announcement come out on the news that businesses cannot find qualified help. BS to the 10th power.
I suspect that many of these posted jobs are not really open at all. Maybe the co's are collecting resumes for future needs. In some cases, a job may be technically open but they already know who they want. They just have to post it for a time to say they were searching the field, etc. Doesn't bother me if they promote from within, best way to do. But don't post jobs without even a semblance of a chance. I wasted a lot of time that would have been just as well spent watching TV. Then the announcement come out on the news that businesses cannot find qualified help. BS to the 10th power.
This is 100% correct.
1) There are plenty of jobs that I saw posted unchanged for the 2+ years I was out of work. Oh, supposedly they "needed people," and I would apply, like many others, but no matter how many qualification I met, I was never good enough, nor was anyone else. Heck, I think some of those jobs are still posted, now over 1 years after I found work again.
2) In one interview, I was flat-out told by the company that they have "posted this job for years, but never hire anyone, but this time is different and we like your credentials." Right... as usual, they hired nobody and the job is still on their website 1 to 2 years later.
3) At my former company, they needed a new manager for department. So, in April they picked the connected, under-qualified crony who already worked there for the job. Then, in MAY, they posted the job online because "legal made them do it." Sure... and, as expected, the person who got the job was the connected crony. The outside applicants would have better spent their time watching paint dry vs. filling out the applications. There never was a job for them.
And those are just the examples I can think of off the top of my head, and that's 1 person among so many millions. So, as you said, most posted jobs are fake or will only be filled if the perfect candidate shows up and begs to work for free.
It's all smoke and mirrors on the part of employers and probably a strategy to convince the gov't to attract cheaper workers from abroad. If they really did need so many workers then they would invest in training and proper recruitment. I did not major in computer science but my first employer out of college trained me in hardware, programming, databases and networking which, together with self study, got me up to speed with the skills they needed. Now when employers post openings it's as if you need to have majored specifically in Oracle RDBMS, as if there was nothing else to study.
Only apply to jobs that you 90% of their "wish list"?
Try 50% or better and see what you get.
When I had no luck at 90%, why would 50% be any better? Then they really could ask me why I was wasting their time. Not an issue now anyway. I went back to construction work and have stayed employed or self employed the last 18 years. This field has many issues too but construction firms don't generally post jobs they do not have open. They don't play that kind of games.
Damn MS, you laid it down there. I couldn't have said it better myself. This goes for ALL types of open positions out there. I'm so tired of putting forth 90+ minutes applying and jumping through hoops just to get a canned rejection letter a couple days later.A rejection letter with no reason, after meeting ALL of the criteria on the job posting. And then the job notice is left on the active board for another two months (or re-posted with a fresh date) as if they can't find a quality candidate to fill the position. Pathetic.
That's better than what some people get. Many don't even get a rejection letter.
On the other hand, it is rather suspicious when you meet ALL of the requirements and the rejection letter does not state a reason.
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