Thanks for adding the perspective of an employer to this discussion, Tony. As a small business owner of a company that is currently hiring (a graphic designer position) I thought I'd add a couple more thoughts. We only advertised the position in one local newspaper (Seven Days) for one week but got over 85 responses. Apparently the job posting got syndicated to several online job boards (*not* at our request). We were looking for targeted advertising but apparently that's not an option for job postings today.
We are hiring because we're busy. That means we didn't have time to give personal responses to everyone that applied (although we did acknowledge receipt of every application). We did, however, look at every resume that came in including ones with no cover letter, no email body, misspellings, bad design (it's a design position!), and unrealistic expectations. As a rule of thumb, people don't know how to present themselves when applying for a job (at least that's been our experience). Similar to Tony's experience, many people obviously did not read the job description. Is it rude of us not to give a personal response to all 85 applicants given these facts? I don't think so. Beyond the reasons given above, there's another really big reason why companies don't respond to applicants or give very terse responses: liability. Say something that can be interpreted the wrong way and you're opening yourself up to a lawsuit. The less you say, the less your liability. I'd love to tell people exactly why they didn't get an interview so that they can make improvements when they apply for jobs in the future but that's just not practical. A while back we advertised for a web developer position. During that process I tried to give people specific reasons why we were not bringing them in for an interview. Several times I was met with very rude and harsh responses (um, you're resume doesn't address any of the things we said we were looking for). If people can't appreciate an honest response then why should I go out of my way to give you an honest response? Many job applicants have a sense of entitlement. Sorry, but you're not entitled to a job. We've worked very hard and sacrificed a lot to get our business to where it is. We are not obligated to provide a job to you. The flip side of this (and the little secret most businesses don't want you to know) is that companies need employees as much as employees need employers. Just remember that and you'll be OK. Clearly communicate your value and make sure to specifically address what the company said they're looking for and how *you* are a fit. Thanks, Bradley On Thu, Jan 29, 2009 at 10:35 AM, Tony Harris <[email protected]> wrote: > --On Wednesday, January 28, 2009 11:22:25 PM -0500 Rion D'Luz > <[email protected]> wrote: > >> > A friend of mine applied for over 120 jobs in 2006 >> > and received 6 denials, 1 calls, and 1 interview. Unfortunately its par >> > for >> > the course -- >> Which is not an excuse! I realize that's the way it is. I accept that, but >> if a company is >> going to advertise to fill a job then they should allocate the resources >> necessary to >> respond in a timely fashion to all respondents; even those who fail the >> pre-screening filter. > > > So to add my 2 cents in here, and potentially ignite things more than they > are, let me give a couple perspectives here. I'm probably a bit younger > than some of you who are complaining, rightly, that age discrimination is > rampant in IT hiring. I'm only 45. But, I've been in IT for 26 years now, > in fact I've never had another career. I've been both on the applicant > side, and the search-team side. > > For the age thing, check out an older (90's) book titled "Seven Lean Years" > by Tom Nadeau (an avid OS2 supporter). See his site at > <http://www.os2hq.com/articles/seven.htm> in fact. He's right. Age > discrimination is common in the IT industry, and hasn't gone down since he > wrote the book. I am lucky to work for an organization where that doesn't > seem to be true, in fact I'm at the middle of the spectrum on our team's > age, with at least half the department, all hired after me, above my age, > sometimes by a fair amount. But that's the exception, not the rule. And > one thing we've learned from the laissez-faire economic strategy is that the > corporate world does not indulge in what's right or fair unless a) it makes > them more money than being unfair, or (often *and*) b) they are dragged > kicking and screaming, fighting all the way, into some tiny bit of fairness > by laws and regulations. Not so true in general of small firms, but it > still applies depending on the owners. For really big corporations, the > bigger they are, the more true it is. > > That said, putting on my search-team member hat, there are a lot of reasons > why people don't get replies and don't get interviews. It's not *all* age > discrimination. We've had times where we'll advertise an entry level > position and get 150 resumes, some of which clearly didn't even bother to > read any of the description we put in the paper. Frankly, if they can't > bother to read the description and are going to apply for something they're > totally not qualified for, then I don't think the employer is under any > obligation to even acknowledge receipt. Some come in with no cover letter, > just a vague resume. Some come in with a cover letter that has spelling > errors, grammatical errors, etc. Some have come in with cover letters that > include a complaint about some aspect of the institution or the application > process (maybe one should wait until *after* getting the job and making it > through the probationary period before dissing the place one is applying > to?). > > Frankly if people want a job they do have to at least come across as > professional and positive about the place they're applying to. Another > thing that will shoot down a candidate is if they've had 25 jobs in the last > 5 years or something. Or big unexplained gaps of employment in their > resume. If you're consulting and you have 25 different short-term > contracts, list one consulting job with 25 contracts, not 25 jobs and hope > the employer assumes you're doing independent consulting or contract > work. If you've been out of work and supplementing with consulting, show it > that way. If out of work due to injury, family situation, etc., then > include some explanation of that so people know. And finally we've had > people who apply who are clearly over qualified for the job at hand, just > got laid off from somewhere, and would be driving an hour to work at a much > lower-paying job. To the employer, that says you're desperate and that the > first chance you get at something closer to home that's more like what you > were doing and pays better, you're outta there. Nobody wants to be doing > another search 3 months after hiring someone. > > I am not saying anyone on this list doesn't know all this already. But I > figured after reading all the comments here about applying for jobs, it > might be good to throw in the other side. > > Flame retardant suit is now in place, fingers are firmly in the ears, and > I'm humming. So I make no promises to respond to any explosions this rant > might generate. > > -- > Tony Harris > Assistant CTO > Community College of Vermont > [email protected] > (802) 241-3535 > > Dwirze ski, evarre kolex. > (One by one droplets, eventually an ocean.) > ------------------------------------------- > PRIVACY & CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE: This message is for the designated > recipient only and may contain privileged, confidential, or otherwise > private information. If you have received it in error, please notify the > sender immediately and delete the original. Any other use of an email > received in error is prohibited. > > -- http://bradley-holt.blogspot.com/
