I applied for a temporary librarian post once that, apart from the expected special library/information blah, also wanted experience in “cereals management”. “Hmmm” thinks Celyn, while I realise it IS a government agricultural department, surely they cannot expect to get a librarian who also happens to know all about the diseases of crops and so on. Will they expect me also to be a vet and og-knows-what else?" That was all right in the end, though, as I reckon some idiot got muddled up by the word “serials”.
So I did get that job, but on some nice days, it might have been good to have an work-related excuse to leave the office and go for walks around fields and talk to the nice sheep and cows and guacano.
The only justification I can find for hiring someone with that kind of education is if there’s a need for someone with knowledge of historical landscaping. But even then, I’d think it’d be cheaper to hire a landscape architect once to lay out plans and hire a gardening firm or a high-school grad to do the work.
Nuclear Engineer Team Leader
[ul]
[li]Ph.D. in Nuclear Engineering[/li][li]20 years experience in nuclear material handling.[/li][li]10 years experience in ecological impact.[/li][li]10 years personnel management. Must include evidence of exemplary service.[/li][/ul]
ONE…I could probably count the people that qualified for this on one hand, even around here. TWO…I’d be damn sure with that much experience, they’re likely already employed, and rather safely I might add. THREE, even if they weren’t, with that kind of experience the LAST place they’d be looking for a job is the classified section.
Not an ad, but wow… I just got done applying for Borders (as mentioned on another thread). They gave me 185 psychological evaluation questions (e.g. how much do you agree with the following statements: I lose my temper a lot; I like to be alone; I worry about past mistakes; I like to lead). Obviously most of them repeated previous ones, but WOW, that’s the first time I’ve ever had to do anything like that for a damn retail job.
(PS: I was honest, even though I could’ve BS’ed the answers they wanted to hear. If they put my application in /dev/null for that, the hell with 'em. They shouldn’t have made me go through that in the first place.)
Hey, I came in to mention a library job in my home town a couple of years ago. Basically the same thing, MLS from an ALA accredited school, preference for library management, acquisitions, program development, cataloging, etc. At least 3 years experience.
Pay? $8.50/hr. Seriously.
And this was in a medium-to-large city with dozens of county and city public branches and two large colleges.
There was a 3 line ad in the Memphis Commercial-Appeal from the early 70s I kept for years. It was for ‘Adventurous People’ but listed no particular skills except the last line - Must not fear darkness, cold places or heights. For 30 years I’ve wondered if Arne Sacknusen was behind it. Or John Cleese’s mountaineering expedition. Or who was planning an arctic cave exploration in Memphic, given all the Everest-like places there.
All the big chains do that now. Somebody’s made a pile of money off those damn tests. I’m happy I’ve now got a job in a small privately owned shop where the interview took ten minutes and then my boss said to come back Thursday for orientation, after I did the application right there.
I just went through a job search in April. I was amazed at the number of job advertisements that listed a set of employment and education conditions that quite obviously would not be found on any honest resume in the entire world, or would require a level of career experience that would put you at retirement age anyway, or that would draw only people who would command three times the offered salary. I eventually concluded that the job descriptions were sheer fantasy and that the employers were just hoping to find someone who at least met some of the stated qualifications.
This thread has inspired me to apply for about 50 more jobs I wouldn’t have otherwise. Usually when I see “X years of experience required” I move on to the next listing without a second though.
Sounds like the test I had to take when I applied at Payless Shoes back in 1994. Many of the questions seemed to be directed toward catching shoplifters and/or weeding out potential thieves:
e.g., What percentage of employees do you believe steal from the workplace?
a. 0%
b. Less than 50%
c. More than 50%
d. 100%
I responded to the theft/shoplifting questions with the view that about 25 percent of people are dishonest. I was ultimately hired. My manager later told me that her mother took the test just out of curiosity. She answered the questions with the view that everyone is honest, and was rejected for employment (or would have been, if she was actually applying for a job).
My guess would be that they already have in mind someone they specifically wish to hire, but are required by firm, academic or government policy to advertise the availability of the position.
I really, really hate ads for jobs where they have no intention whatsoever of hiring *anyone at all *that answers the ad. In other words, the ad is just there for EEO reasons, and they already have their dude. :mad:
One other thing dudes: if an ad has one requirement that you do not have, but are otherwise well qualified for, like they want a BA and all you have is “some college” but more experience that they are asking for- go ahead and apply. Be honest, of course, but there is not need to emphasize the fact you don’t have the degree.
Leaper: Borders iz cool. The test* is *silly, but Petsmart is even worse.