As a one-time hiring manager at LANL, this was the bane of my
existence... the HR folks, bless their wrinkled little hearts, would do
this to me and to potential candidates. I'd get wind of a potential
candidate through the "who you know, not what you know" network and when
I looked for their resume, I would not find it in those offered to me by
HR. I could never quite tell *what* the mismatch was... though one
thing that bit me in the ass often was that HR screened very rigorously
for GPA and education level while *I* was always willing to go to bat
for a BS + credits and sometimes with a <3.5 GPA. They wanted only MS++
and >3.6 or 3.7 GPA.
Having been "under-educated" myself and working my own way through
college, *I* had a bias for those who were able to multi-task by going
to college, working a significant job, and sometimes raising a young
family. Those qualities often conflicted with a stellar GPA and a
completed MS.
I was a young hiring manager (starting at that in my late 20s) so I was
often interviewing and hiring folks older than myself. I think the
oldest hire I made was 60. He gave us about 7 good years, more than
most fresh grads stick their first job out for... YIKES! I just turned 60!
- Carry on
On 3/14/17 11:51 AM, Eric Charles wrote:
Regarding the larger conversation: It will be interesting to see what
happens if the tech-worker visas stay frozen. I suspect that program
has encouraged the unreasonable pickiness that many companies display.
If the companies really need employees, either there will be employees
who meet the exact skill set the company wants for the price it is
offering, or the company will need to broaden the search (either in
terms of skill set or money offered). At some point, either the
company finds people to hire, or it goes under due to sheer lack of
manpower. Even if they do find exactly what they are looking for,
presumably companies filled with only overly-specialized employees
will show other signs of stagnation that are ultimately detrimental.
In my limited experience, one of the disconnects is that the people
evaluating resumes, and sometimes even the people doing initial
interviews, often have little clue what skills are needed for the
job. Some H.R. person interviews a hiring manager looking for a
programmer, and the manager says "Well, what I'd really like is
someone with 5 years of x, 10 years of y, and project management
experience." The H.R. person writes something vaguely like that in an
add, but doesn't know that 6 years of M and 4 years of N counts as 10
years of y. And it all goes down hill from there. And that the manager
would also have been perfectly happy for people with a variety of
related skill sets doesn't matter for everyone who's resumes got flushed.
At this point, much of my experience is applying for jobs in the
federal sector, where regulations force the initial rounds of
evaluation to be at arms length from anyone who might know what to
look for. It is amazing the jobs that I have been deemed qualified for
and the jobs I have been deemed unqualified for, during the initial
arms-length stages.
-----------
Eric P. Charles, Ph.D.
Supervisory Survey Statistician
U.S. Marine Corps
On Tue, Mar 14, 2017 at 1:33 PM, Eric Charles
<[email protected]
<mailto:[email protected]>> wrote:
More re: age reply
You will be at the mercy of state and local laws there. Federal
laws specifically only apply to people being discriminated against
because they are over the age of 40.
I don't know much about more local laws around the country. I know
that in D.C. age discrimination claims can be made by anyone 18 or
older.
-----------
Eric P. Charles, Ph.D.
Supervisory Survey Statistician
U.S. Marine Corps
On Thu, Mar 9, 2017 at 4:45 PM, Jacqueline Kazil
<[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>> wrote:
Re: age reply -- as someone does a lot of work in diversity in
tech. I would consult a lawyer about the age response. That
sounds like descrimnation to me.
My husband is almost 40 and having same issue.
Lastly. I will say that one of the best junior developers I
hired was 55-ish or so. Their loss.
On Thursday, March 9, 2017, Gillian Densmore
<[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>> wrote:
@Nick My recent experience for tech jobs as Owen(Dad)
noted bonkers. My experience isn't unique either. I like
using tech and have geeked out many times about tools like
Dreamweaver, Dragon Speaking (or GooglesVoice To Text
helper )
What I've come across that's borderline insanity: Knowing
how to read or (possibly) use I duno HTML, NODE -
equipment (for example) and if their is (was) something
like a Python for web that as well.
basically looking at tech tools as a mix of companions and
tools. Ok that's make sense.
What doesn't?
(this is a real example):
I sent a company my resume and some examples I'd done, and
(politely) asked that have the option to work remotely.
The outfit was a company in florida. They got back to me
saying literally:
"You're skills and disposition are more than a mach for
this this position. However We're only interested in
people with PHDs and can also do Conversion to Funding
Metrix to ensure our Metrix for Success are properly being
met."
(I had to think: Was that even English?)
I also had someone say: "Due to your stage of life we've
persude other younger and also qualified candidates" (So
Because of being 30 or so you turned me down for a teen in
College I thought"
Sufficed to say these example made me realise several
things: I really want to get my Tech/Science/Art play nice
and work together project going again, and eventually off
the ground.
And that a certain type person is just bonkers.
Some tools are a bit to quirky. WordPress is a good
example. Ever tried changing one background for a
(similar) or even entirely different one? That's an
incredibly basic thing. Yet (to me) but many themese make
it a PITA
Android , that Dough Roberts for as kick but he has ranted
(infamously) to here and to google and his blog(S?) about
because it's super quirky.
Sufficed to say quirky and has personality is one thing.
But I simply don't get this giant jerk attitude that
people have now (tech or otherwise).
I'm stuck on the part of no how-to for jobs. Like I've
said here(and to my bosses) Just because Xplace does it
one way. Their might be a good reason to do it some
otherway at Acme as compared to WilyCayoties. And not
everyone has a head for or a desire to write in raw code
but likes to use tools.
Besides...might not always be needed if a doodad already
exists.
On Thu, Mar 9, 2017 at 10:21 AM, Nick Thompson
<[email protected]> wrote:
Hi, Owen,
Thanks. I have learned a lot from the blow back.
Apparently Tech jobs have become more siloed in the
last decade, so people can get stuck in their soloes
(Silos? Is that like “potato”?) I have a relative
who may be stuck in a silo, even while living in
Eastern Mass. I would think that such a person would
take a few months off and do a certificate or a crash
course somewhere and emerge in another silo, if the
opportunity is as great as it seems to be. I used to
tell my undergraduates, “smart, */flexible/* people
will always find work.” Is that wrong?
Nick
Nicholas S. Thompson
Emeritus Professor of Psychology and Biology
Clark University
http://home.earthlink.net/~nickthompson/naturaldesigns/
<http://home.earthlink.net/%7Enickthompson/naturaldesigns/>
*From:*Friam [mailto:[email protected]] *On
Behalf Of *Owen Densmore
*Sent:* Thursday, March 09, 2017 10:11 AM
*To:* The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee
Group <[email protected]>
*Subject:* Re: [FRIAM] !RE: A million tech jobs unfilled
I don't think you made a mistake, Nick. I think it is
easy for the news to make such a broad statement by
simply being very inclusive. *Everybody* needs to be
tech-savvy in any job nowadays.
For me, the more important issue is companies making
such a loud noise about their labor force
difficulties. It's certainly real to them! They are
not lying, but may be being absurdly specific about
their requirements. The evolution of the the tech
culture is always surprising me.
So no worries.
-- Owen
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Jacqueline Kazil | @jackiekazil
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