Yeah, I work as a consultant internationally. While “energy-sector company with HQs in Bilbao” is pretty much a dead-on-arrival giveaway, if they don’t even want to tell me what country (or countries) are involved, how am I supposed to calculate the rates? And the Maintenance needs of Pharma, Utilities or Hotels companies are completely different, please mention the sector. I’ve had agents refusing to do either.
This really does turn me off instantly. The last time I was really looking for just a menial, part-time job, every place that had online applications demanded SSNs. The way the forms are, you can’t write “Available upon hiring” or something similar. Or all zeroes.
Do I want to put a fake one in there and then click on the “I swear this is all true” button? That’ll make a great impression on an interview. “Oh hai, I falsified my SSN on my app. Here is my real one. Your website sucks.”
It’s an impossible situation because no one seems to have physical applications any more. If you go to XYZ Big Box Retailer, they have the application kiosk and it’s the same situation as doing it from your own computer.
I am not always super security conscious and I will give the SSN to people who need it, but I don’t feel that I can trust a company that insists on having it for an application. How do I know what they’re doing with the data, that it’s being destroyed or secured? And I think it says a lot about a company that insists on personal details at such a preliminary stage.
I don’t have time to read the rest of the thread right now, but I just saw this while idly browsing craigslist.
http://losangeles.craigslist.org/wst/sci/3017963935.html
"Therapeutic Stem Cell Science is now hiring scientists that have familiarity
with stem cells, for full time positions.
Please Fax resumes to: (xxx) xxx-xxxx"
Really? you want me to FAX something to you? No option to e-mail?
No thanks. You must be a seriously archaic company. Skip
It’d probably be your loss. Most people can fax documents from their computers, or the receiving company can receive faxed resumes into their computer system. Either way, it’s not that much different from e-mailing a document.
I know how to fax documents from my computer. That’s not really the point though.
The point is that there is no option to e-mail. There is no good reason to not accept emailed resumes or other electronic submission in this day and age. It is the current standard and has been for almost a decade. Why would I want to work for a company that doesn’t keep up with the times?
And in reality I wouldn’t have bothered with that company anyway. It’s not my particular brand of science. I just saw this ad while idly browsing craigslist.
- no hint about salary
- proprietary job forms/apps
I think those are my two biggest pet peeves. The salary one is just such a waste of everyone’s time, IMHO. I know job seekers and HR are at different ends of a tug-of-war on that number, but at least giving me some insight if you’re paying hourly or salaried and a range of what that might look like is so helpful.
I had that conversation once in an interview for an admin position. “So, how would you feel if you got screamed at while you were at work? Would that bother you? Israelis tend to tell it like it is.”
What the hell kind of stupid question is that? And, no, I’m sure that it’s not all Israelis who “tell it like it is,” I’m sure it’s that your company has a culture of letting its higher-ups do whatever they want including yelling at employees and those higher-ups just happen to be Israelis. So not only have you let me know inadvertently that your company culture sucks, you’ve also managed to make a slur against an entire nation of people in one fell swoop.
Actually they often do give a helpful indication – $Competitive, $Excellent etc
:rolleyes: