Open Letter to Job Seekers
After a comment on my blog (yes, some people read it!) asking “what is an exact fit?” and the general exacerbation that the job seeking process causes most job seekers, I thought I’d write an open letter to all job seekers, allowing them a peek into the recruiting process:
Dear Job Seeker,
We know you are frustrated with the job search process. We understand that you apply and apply and are rarely granted an interview or even an email communication telling you why you were not selected. We also understand that even when you get a phone call or email telling you that you were not selected, you would like details on why. Here is a glimpse into the world of recruiting and HR so perhaps you will understand the method to the madness.
- Our lawyers prohibit us from giving you detailed feedback on why you were not selected for an interview. We can give you a broad category of why but not specifics. Why? Because you sue us. If the company gives you feedback that you misinterpret as discrimination or bias, we get sued. We mitigate our risk by being vague.
- We have a timer on positions and have to get them filled. Even in this economy, most positions have a cost of vacancy associated with them. As such, we have to fill our roles in a timely fashion. Sometimes, this means that the best candidate for the job is not considered because they applied late to the opening. This TIMING element of filling jobs is the most misunderstood by job seekers. We hire the best candidate in a given timeframe otherwise we’d never fill our jobs because we’d always be waiting for YOU to apply!
- You apply to the wrong job a lot. Sometimes it’s because you think by applying to every job we have posted, you’ll get noticed. You do, but not in a good way. Most of the time it’s because we’ve posted a vague, laundry list of requirements that could be you but is probably not. We need to do better and really put a great job description up. A video of the hiring manager telling you what she needs in the ideal candidate would be best. We’re working on it.
- We have less jobs to fill (75% less in some cases) but we get between 100 – 300+ applications for every job we have posted. Most recruiters carry between 20 – 25 openings. Do the math. To require that we personally contact each person and give them feedback and advice is simply not reasonable. We are trying to let you know your status. If you get an email from us we really ARE doing our job.
- Interviewing and hiring are human processes and as such, are inherently flawed. Recruiters make suggestions on who to interview – sometimes geting it wrong but mostly getting it right (meaning the people who are interviewed are good candidates). Hiring Managers make hiring decisions – sometimes getting it wrong but mostly getting it right (meaning the person they hire is usually a good hire for the job).
We empathize with your frustration (there are a lot of us out of work today too) and just want to tell you that we are doing the best we can and are constantly looking for ways to get better. One way we’ve found is AllianceQ – where at least we can offer you the option of continuing your job search with our fellow Member companies and 3000 small and medium sized businesses.
Good luck with your job search
Sincerely,
Corporate Recruiting
Great post Phil. Its about time someone mentioned the truth about real world of corporate recruiting.
“We have FEWER jobs to fill” not “We have less jobs to fill”
You left off the number one reason I reject an applicant; typos and less than impeccable grammar on the resume and/or cover letter.
That one you can give feedback on. It is a short conversation.
“You had a typo on your resume” “You spelled my name incorrectly” “Your writing is sub par.”
The feedback post is wonderful. Thank you for addressing it.
I’ve been wondering if an anonymous online survey system existed with a strict terms of service agreement that ensured the feedback was anonymous and could NOT be used for legal purposes, do you think job seekers and recruiters would try it? Sure seems like a screaming need in this job seeking environment. Simple interview feedback would be extraordinarily valuable for a candidate. It also sounds as if the questions could easily be set up to not address any of the legally touchy areas like race, age, gender, etc. Only interview related and qualifications issues addressed.
Love this post! Similar to what I give in a presentation entitled “Confessions of a Headhunter” from the corporate POV. I added to my own blog for job seekers who go there. Thanks!
Hello Recruiters,
I have had inefficient experience working with any recruiter from any company, some worse than others. As a result, I do not want to waste my time with any of them. I could expose the specifics of my dirty laundry, but that would stink. I understand the reasons you gave in your blog but still, your comments wants me to ask recruiters in general, “Do you want some cheese with that whine?”
Here is my global proposal for employers seeking high quality career minded people, or even if you want a basic entry-level monkey to do a job. A simple on-line survey with the job application of specially worded questions that would:
1. Express the basic or explicit job requirements.
2. Capture the specific personality of the applicant that best fit the job description.
For example, on a scale of 0 to 5,
1. Can you do brain surgery? (0=”I’m Clueless” or 5=”I am the best”)
2. Where would you begin the brain surgery? (0=”Feet” or 5=”Scalp”)
3. Will you continue your education after you get the job? (0=I’m ok or 5=Oh Yea)
4. Would you tell the patient the procedure? (0=No, I’ll surprise them 5=Explicitly)
The answers to these survey questions can quickly be collected into an Excel Spreadsheet and on the appropriate day, the winning applicant’s name could be sorted to the top. All you need to do at that point is call them with an offer.
Now go on break and enjoy the rest of your day.
I think this post give an inside view of what a recruiter’s world is like. The more a job seeker can understand what a recruiter goes through, the better “game plan” a job seeker can make in trying to land the job desired.
My fellow on Facebook shared this link and I’m not dissapointed at all that I came to your blog.
“We have a timer on positions and have to get them filled. Even in this economy, most positions have a cost of vacancy associated with them. As such, we have to fill our roles in a timely fashion. Sometimes, this means that the best candidate for the job is not considered because they applied late to the opening. This TIMING element of filling jobs is the most misunderstood by job seekers. We hire the best candidate in a given timeframe otherwise we’d never fill our jobs because we’d always be waiting for YOU to apply!”
OK, so it seems that if we the job seeker are to be among the lucky ones to even be considered for an interview, we need to clock in at the correct sliver of time. I wish I could get some advanced notice of when these openings will be posted so I can wedge in there within the “given timeframe.”
Maybe I could program some spider to crawl through all the thousands of company sites every couple of seconds looking for the miniscule few opportunities in my field in my geographic area. Then, when the right opportunity is there, have it check if I have to see if I have already applied for that position; if no register my email, password, stop and alert me that there’s some captcha that I nave to decipher and type in, continue with all my personal information and copy/paste my resume into the box. Now the program will need to review and fix all the parsing errors made by the proprietary software because my resume isn’t formatted in exactly the way this software is formatted. It will need to take the job title out of the manager’s name (recall from table job_Mgr), and move the job title to the appropriate box (which was filled in by the parsing software with some Klingon symbols that most likely means no not delete this or you will not be considered), rinse and repeat for the three other positions on the resume. Now insert a covr letter of some sparkly HR bait bullshit of why this company and I are a great fit for each other designed to make the HR harpy go slack-jawed and drop her Juicy Fruit into her desk. Oh, too late, time’s up! We are no longer looking at any more applications.
Randy,
Try using http://www.quietagent.com. It’s exactly what you describe. Fill out your profile and it will only notify you when there is a company that wants to talk to you. No more trying to “time” it or struggling with the fractured job board industry. I agree, as a job seeker, trying to get it all right is tough. Technology should be helping and until QuietAgent – none have.