Comments on: Open Letter to Job Seekers

By: Phil Haynes

Phil Haynes — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 14:05:11 +0000

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.

By: Randy K

Randy K — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 17:22:47 +0000

“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.

By: Samuel L.

Samuel L. — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 06:48:27 +0000

My fellow on Facebook shared this link and I’m not dissapointed at all that I came to your blog.

By: Jeffrey

Jeffrey — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 19:29:11 +0000

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.

By: Dave Jolly

Dave Jolly — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 13:07:38 +0000

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.

By: Dorothy Beach

Dorothy Beach — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 19:11:46 +0000

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!

By: Mark Johnson

Mark Johnson — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 18:44:35 +0000

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.

By: Gerard McLean

Gerard McLean — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 16:42:26 +0000

“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.”

By: Rithesh Nair

Rithesh Nair — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 16:36:10 +0000

Great post Phil. Its about time someone mentioned the truth about real world of corporate recruiting.