Because my job is nearing its final weeks, I’ve been updating my resume on the sites that I’ve been using to shotgun myself across the Internet. The fact that my position is ending isn’t a great surprise (temporary work on a seasonal project), so while I’m not actively looking for work just yet it’s nice to reaffirm who I am and state my new experiences, and just get a feeling for who all might be looking for somebody like me.
The thing is, with all the websites I use (Monster, CareerBuilder, etc) there’s a lot more to it than just putting up a resume. There are forms to fill out, checkboxes to click, and such. The thing is, each and every response I get of “I saw your resume, call us back” ends up being another staffing agency, who will then ask all the same questions that were asked by the website when I posted my resume.
Yes, I am a valid US citizen and can prove work eligibility! In fact, I clicked the box that said so! I do have experience in C++ and Java! That’s right there under ‘Skills!’ I am currently employed! That’s there too!
All these companies ask the same fucking questions that have already been answered for them by the goddamned website. I’m sure that’s why the website asks in the first place. So why the hell don’t they bother to read that? Christ, you’d think that all I did is put my name and phone number on a billboard and hope.
I think my favourite response to my CV still has to be the email telling me about job vacancies at MI5 … sounded fascinating. Of course, there was the minor detail that the vacancies were all for people who could translate Middle Eastern languages … and that I don’t speak any Middle Eastern languages … and this is apparent from even the most cursory glance at my CV. Hmm. If this is the level of fact-checking the intelligence services go in for … well, draw your own conclusions.
BraheSilver: Come on, man. These are the same companies that ask you for your name (Last, First, Middle), Social Security Number and address FIVE TIMES on the same damned application. You actually expect them to cross-reference two entirely seperate documents? I want some of whatever it is you’re smoking.
That’s temp agencies for you. And each one must have you do all of their paperwork, and all of their tests, because if you just tested with the agency down the street yesterday at 60 wpm, with high-level Word and Excel skills, and you have the documents to prove it, you might have lost all those skills overnight. The real deal, I figure, is it’s mostly a test of how willing you are to jump through hoops.
I have to agree with you BraheSilver, this is kinda annoying in this day and age, but you have to do everything their way, according to their format. It does get tiring whatever the reason.
And another related gripe which you didn’t mention, but probably have also experienced, is their calling you for positions for which you are completely unqualified for based on one word taken out of context on the resume…
For instance, I have a section summarizing my major skills, like C, SQL, PL/SQL, etc. Then down further, in the chronological part, I have brief descriptions of what I did and for whom. There may be something like this in that part: “Extracted and formatted data from PeopleSoft system to build load files for Hyperion Essbase multidimensional cube.” Well, I think a lot of the tech agencies just do a keyword search and never read the resume, because I am all the freaking time getting calls from them looking for an Essbase administrator, or Essbase designer or a Hyperion Financial Modeling guru. WTF? I only said I developed files for this company’s system, not that I designed or implemented it!
My theory is that a lot of agencies just go for the shotgun approach, figuring it is better to contact 1000 people in the off chance that they actually find someone suitable than actually spend 2 minutes of their time giving potential resumes that they find a quick scan to see if the skill sets truly match their client’s needs. Which makes me very reluctant to work with them, by the way.
(FYI: No, I do not switch jobs every 3 months. I am an independent database consultant and thus use the on-line job boards a great deal, is all.)
That’s why I was looking forward to building an electronic job applicant tracking system for a former employer. The idea, as brainstormed out by HR and me, was when someone comes in for an interview, instead of handing him a stack of forms, we hand him a laptop. Basic information, such as name, address, and even education and work history would already be filled in based on information we’d already received from the applicant such as a resume or even an on-line application. The applicant would, of course, be able to change this information, but there would be none of this business of giving the same information 15 times. In theory, we’d make everything more efficient for us, waste less of the applicant’s time, and hopefully impress the applicant with how high tech and efficient we were.
Unfortunately, a higher priority was automating sending termination notices to the appropriate people. I had it working nicely when the universe decided it was time it had a joke at my expense. You guessed it. After a week of e-mailing myself termination notices while I was building and testing this system, I was laid off. :eek:
I still say that HR app would have been a very good, useful, efficient application which would have made the lives of our HR person and our applicants easier. Our HR person agreed. Unfortunately, corporate headquarters, who were one state over, apparently figured someone had to go to cut costs and I was the one.
I’d still like to build that app someday, though.
CJ
