ARGH! Don't you people care WHERE you work?

The BBQ Pit
1

I don’t get it. I thought I was being clear on the job order. It’s field season again, time to find a new little group of enviro techs.

So far I’ve gotten some excellent resumes. But then, I’ve also gotten the ones from people with no experience in the environmental field whatsoever.

I went back to the job order and re-read it. Yup, it explains what we require as far as experience.

So WHY are ex-military secretarial clerks and truck drivers applying?

Don’t people care where they work? Aren’t they aware that if they aren’t qualified that it would be just as miserable for them as for the company?

Sorry, I guess this isn’t a very heated rant, it’s more of an exasperated one.

Do any of you here in SDMB send out resumes to any and all advertisements just for any job? If so, why?

And if you aren’t qualified, but are hoping to just somehow “BS” your way through, why do you do that too?

Wouldn’t it be more pleasant to have a job at which you are experienced and do well?

I’d be interested in knowing everyone’s perspectives and other rants on this.

2

Well Canvas, my understanding is that the US economy is currently in the toilet (which is actually good for me, but that’s a whole other post). Additionally, the US job market is sucky.

I think people are desperate for work and submit their application broadly in the hopes that someone will interview them and see what a great person they are.

What I mean is, experience isn’t EVERYTHING. For instance - I have a lot of experience doing many different things. This diversity could easily translate into compitence at a job that I don’t have any DIRECT experience with. If I was desperate, and there were no jobs falling in my EXACT area of expertise, you better believe that I would be applying for ones that were at least in the same ball park.

Obviously, someone who’s got 20 years experience as heavy equipment repair person is going to have difficulty translating that into competence at fashion shoe design, but things that are less extreme than that can sometimes work quite well.

3

It probably has more to do with the bad economy and desperation than with the intelligence of the job-seeker.

4

Hey Canvas…

My take on it is - when I was unemployed, I was desperate to do ANY kind of work. If I didn’t know what the job entailed, I’d apply anyway on the basis of, well its the cost of a stamp and my letter and you just never know…

Given the economic turndown in the economy, you could find at least a percentage of people are thinking along these lines.

Then there’s the other thing where people are so bored and disillusioned where they work (say, for instance, as a secretarial clerk) that they want a new job and one that deals with the environment might attract people - thinking probably that when the job spec says you need experience, well, you never know.

Its my “you never know” theory of employment - actually worked for me a few times lol…

5

The ‘you never know’ theory is a sound one, but I bet there’s more to it. People may apply for a job knowing that they don’t meet all of the listed requirements with the theory that perhaps none of the applicants who do have all of the requirements are suitable for the job, i.e. there may be problems with their resumes that preclude them from even getting a second look. Once those people are out of the way, then the next layer of applicants would be those who mightcould be competent but don’t have the experience to back it up.

6

Obviously the job I would be good at would not have a requirement for accurate spelling… :rolleyes:

7

Honeydew, you must be with the Department of Redundancy Department. :smiley:

8

I’ve been known to apply for stuff I was underqualified for because I felt that I could do the position justice, and just in case there was any shortage of applicants, perhaps someone would give me a chance.

9

Adding to the above mentioned points, a lot of people have come to realize how preposterously overblown many job requirements are in advertisements. Not to say this was the case with your ad specifically, mind you. But it is somewhat commonplace for employers to inflate the requirements in their ads, hoping for a lucky break on someone with lots of experience and a low salary requirement only to end up settling on someone with much less than the “minimum requirements” anyway. A lot of people expect this and as such aren’t daunted by not meeting the requirements up front, since often they don’t matter in the end.

My last job was like that… I had about 15% of the “required” experience, but in the end what they really wanted was someone who could work hard for cheap, and learn on the spot. That’s some positive reinforcement to not be daunted by application requirements in advertisements, “just in case.” (Although really, hopefully I’ll never have to be in quite that position again…)

10

Years ago I got a job that I was not actually qualified for, by being in the right place at the right time and it worked out fine. It was a management position that was created during a reorganization and without any management experience or a degree I got the job.

If someone is honest, has a strong work ethic (that can be hard to come by these days) and the job does not require years of study or a difficult to get license, they should be able to learn it in a reasonable time. I did and all it took was persistence on my part and patience on my bosses’ part. So if you do not have an outstanding applicant in the pile it might be a good idea to look at some that do not have direct experience and see what they do have to offer, they may be a diamond in the rough.

11

Well, I understand the whole desparation thing, I’ve been there myself. But I pretty much stuck with jobs that like AIW says, are at least in the general area.

I feel bad, don’t get me wrong, and I’m sure it’s not a question of intelligence on the part of these people, their cover letters show that they are at least able to write fairly well, etc.

But the job order specifically states that certain certificates, such as a HAZWOPER, and experience is required.

And then I get some lady who runs a home day care and is on the board of directors for some kid’s advocacy group.

HUH?

Okay, we are environmental people, we go out into the deep mean ole muddy gross woods, we sample, characterize, classify and remove icky old heavy drums containing nasty stuff (among other projects).

We assist clients with compliance to EPA and ADEC RCRA, EPCRA, TSCA (etc etc) regulatory information. If you have no experience in those areas, how are you going to help a client with them.

I imagine it would be the same if there were a law office and I was to apply. I know very little about research, or law of any type. I’d be lost and miserable, and the company would be out lots of money trying to “bring me along” when they could have hired a law clerk that DID know something.

My years of experience in enviro would do me very little good in other industries.

When I’m out of work, I apply for work either in my industry, or interim jobs like waitressing or clerking. I don’t try to cross over into some completely unrelated field.

I guess that was part of my question.

Again, I’m not dissing these folks, just curious.

12

Now see THIS makes more sense. See, for instance in my industry, we have several different levels of enviro-tech, so for instance if we’re looking for a “Science/Tech 5” and we’ve got a real go-getter of a beginner who has just barely acquired his certs and with a bare minimum of experience but whom obviously will be “up to speed” in no time even without a degree, then that person would definitely be considered.

And likely hired. We’ve done it before.

But people without even the required certs are applying. And the certs that are needed are listed as requirements (as in non-negotiable), right on the job order.

13

Years ago I had a job helping people looking for work. One of the things I learned was that the people who write job ads frequently have NO idea who the hell they’re looking for or what the job is etc. etc. I would tell people “apply for anything you are even remotely qualified for, the folks who write the job ads are not always the ones who know what the job really is, and even then, they don’t always know how to ask for what they need.”

I’m really comfortable with that advice, based on what I’ve seen in job ads in the past.

14

Yea, I saw some job ads that’d blow your mind. People looking for people with 5 years of Java experience (when Java had been out a year). Or people looking for people with 10 years of experience, a Ph.D., and willing to work at minimum wage.

15

Oh yea, and “entry level positions” that required 3 years of experience.

16

But “entry level” generally refers to where the position stands in the hierarchy of that office, doesn’t it? An entry-level position in a sales department would just mean a Junior Salesman, and that might well require some actual sales experience.

17

Yeah if I am not qualified, I would definitely BS my way into it simply because I interview well and learn fast. I have gotten promotions that way. But at the same time I have been told I was OVER qualified at times too. With the economy the way it is, you might find both situations more prevalent than usual.

18

To answer the question: No, I don’t care where I work, as long as I do.

Never kiss an animal that can lick its own butt.