Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Ten Reasons Online Job Applications Are A Waste Of Time
Forbes ^ | Liz Ryan

Posted on 12/04/2018 2:32:09 PM PST by SeekAndFind

click here to read article


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-48 next last
To: Eagles Field
Yup, the trick is to find the hiring manager ... you. Professional persistence and sincerity will get an interview.

Yup! As they say in Chicago,"We don't want nobody that nobody sent."

21 posted on 12/04/2018 3:28:37 PM PST by Don Corleone (Nothing makes the delusional more furious than truth.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 20 | View Replies]

To: Ouderkirk

If they’re desperate for knowledge and experience even if temporary.


22 posted on 12/04/2018 3:33:11 PM PST by SkyDancer ( ~ Just Consider Me A Random Fact Generator ~ Eat Sleep Fly Repeat ~)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 18 | View Replies]

To: Cowgirl

That’s how I started out, followed by a phone interview followed by an HR interview.


23 posted on 12/04/2018 3:33:59 PM PST by SkyDancer ( ~ Just Consider Me A Random Fact Generator ~ Eat Sleep Fly Repeat ~)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 16 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

My GD got a job from an online application.


24 posted on 12/04/2018 3:52:45 PM PST by tiki
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Ouderkirk
Damn straight.

I'm 51, with arthritic knees and a long background of mostly physical work that I can't reasonably do anymore. Every day is a kick in the teeth in this mainly factory-driven area I live in. I can't even get Walmart to look at me.

Let's talk about screwed, here.

25 posted on 12/04/2018 4:02:04 PM PST by thescourged1
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 18 | View Replies]

To: Professional

Did that today. Walked into a branch, asked for the Manager, got the Assistant Manager, and pitched like hell. Asked how to get the job. Demonstrated the skill I have, and pointed out the ones I clearly would have to learn quickly. Asked how to enter banking in any case given the wide variety of roles.

Left a cover / resume specific to their job.

Went to the website AFTERWARDS and submitted the resume.

Sent thank you letter in email same day.

I have a LOT of assets at that bank. And I’ve made huge money for my other employers, demonstrated on the resume. Hopefully, that will strike up an interest.


26 posted on 12/04/2018 5:00:57 PM PST by Uncle Miltie (XY)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: Eagles Field

H.R. Departments are LIBERALS.

You will be sniffed out.


27 posted on 12/04/2018 5:03:41 PM PST by Uncle Miltie (XY)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 17 | View Replies]

To: Uncle Miltie

Foot in the door...

Once you are in a bank, all they care about is sales. If you can sell, then you just grab the best paying sales job they got. And if the bank doesn’t pay well, if you got the sales volume, then you just find a bank that pays better and they’ll beg you to join them.

I was lucky and worked for the investment division of WAMU for the 10 yrs running up to the fail. The investment division was very well run compared to the bank. In hindsight, the bank failure was directly attributable to the President Steve Rotella who clearly sabotaged the firm for the sake of JPMorgan/Chase. One thing they did was get rid of all the good bankers and promote the truly awful ones... By the end, the bank branches were all run by toxic petty craps that made squat but loved to boss others around. 95 percent vimmins too.


28 posted on 12/04/2018 5:21:54 PM PST by Professional
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 26 | View Replies]

To: Uncle Miltie

True! The seeds of corporate destruction lay in the HR departments. When making money is second to political correctness and feel good social causes, the hand writing is on the wall! Lots of big tech firms being run just like that today.... oh how the mighty shall fall....


29 posted on 12/04/2018 5:23:42 PM PST by Professional
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 27 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

Unfortunately, for non-professional jobs, most employers nowdays only accept online applications.


30 posted on 12/04/2018 5:25:39 PM PST by katnip
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Ouderkirk
Except if you're over 55. Then you're pretty much screwed. They are all looking for 38-45 years old.

I'm 55 and I got hired for a good job that let's me work from home. A number of my co-workers are also middle-aged. My last position was at a regional bank, and plenty of older guys there, too. It all depends on the company.
31 posted on 12/04/2018 5:30:29 PM PST by Dr. Sivana (There is no salvation in politics.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 18 | View Replies]

To: IronJack

“I highly doubt anyone even looks at online apps.”

Ten years ago I was in H.R., and was Project Manager for instituting an online application system. It is impersonal, but all were printed out. All were reviewed by the Recruiter for that job.

What I don’t like is that when they’re printed, they all look identical because the doc fields are populated by the text the applicant submits. You never see an original resume’. I hated that because my resumes looked beautiful.

It made me know that when I submitted my app online, my resume looked like the Big Dope’s resume’ who pushed the “send” after me. Fortunately, grammar and spelling remain as they’re entered, so that can be reviewed by the Recruiter and weeded out.


32 posted on 12/04/2018 5:31:00 PM PST by MayflowerMadam (Great things never come from comfort zones.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: Dr. Sivana

“A number of my co-workers are also middle-aged.”

Hubby’s career was with a major defense contractor. About five years ago they started courting retirees to come back to work because the “new kids” are horrid employees. The over-55s generally have a strong work ethic and don’t have a sense of entitlement.


33 posted on 12/04/2018 5:33:30 PM PST by MayflowerMadam (Great things never come from comfort zones.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 31 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

Sounds like an ‘underpaid’ reporter taking out her ‘issues’.


34 posted on 12/04/2018 5:54:32 PM PST by BobL (I eat at McDonald's and shop at Walmart - I just don't tell anyone.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Dr. Sivana

I have a MS in Applied Physics, and 25+ years as an engineering manager, and 12+ as an engineer.

I can’t get a job. I can’t get past the EEOC screening. A white, middle-aged male, non-disabled, not gay (yes I’ve seen/been asked this).

Found myself out of work when the Exec-C suite decided that their failures were everyone else’s fault.

I go to interview(s) and you can see the unmistakable and stunned look in their eyes of “Oh...you’re older than I thought”. It’s pretty much over at that point and the conversation descends into some oddly worded question about how I would do X.

I’m 56 and in good shape and sharp as a tack.


35 posted on 12/04/2018 6:21:07 PM PST by Ouderkirk (Life is about ass, you're either covering, hauling, laughing, kicking, kissing, or behaving like one)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 31 | View Replies]

To: Ouderkirk

Defense work might be a good option. Sure, they’re looking for veterans and people with existing security clearances — and you may not fit that profile. But in Defense work, the average age of the workers is higher than average. Not a lot of millennial hipsters are trying to build weapons. Therefore, the people who conduct the interviews are just expecting to see a bunch of older white guys come in the door. They can’t afford to turn away skilled people just because they have gray hair.


36 posted on 12/04/2018 6:31:31 PM PST by ClearCase_guy (If White Privilege is real, why did Elizabeth Warren lie about being an Indian?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 35 | View Replies]

To: Ouderkirk
I’m 56 and in good shape and sharp as a tack.

Well, if you are applying at universities and government institutions, the EEOC thing could be a problem. Usually employers should be able to deduce your age based on your year of graduation. I have certainly tried to obscure mine. I actually got hired on the basis of a phone interview, and my wife claims I sound youthful, for what that's worth.

When my job was eliminated and the company was moved from Illinois to North Carolina, I took a substantial pay cut to take a contract position 90 miles away to pay the bills. The job wasn't great, but I was able to use it to redefine myself from IT Generalist to backup specialist, which isn't glamorous, has a low ceiling, but absolutely has to be performed. My pay picked up when I went from contract to full-time with the regional bank. Now I work for a large IT firm where I can work out of my home, and the only image anyone has of me is the one I put as my Skype/Circuit Avatar.

If you have skills in demand, there's stuff out there. It picked up NOTICEABLY after the Trump Tax Cuts.
37 posted on 12/04/2018 6:42:44 PM PST by Dr. Sivana (There is no salvation in politics.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 35 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind
Networking is the best way to get a job. It really is about who you know and having people vouch for you.

I can track my own career this way. At 14, I was delivering newspapers. One of my customers was so impressed with my dependability he invited me to apply to work at his supermarket (where he was a manager). Once there, I excelled and moved quickly from bagger to dairy clerk. At that point, I was asked to apply to a restaurant where one of my supermarket co-workers had gone to work...this pretty much lead to where I am today 30 years later, a regional vice-president for a major corporation.

I never "just applied" for a job. I was always recruited or recommended by people who knew what I could do. I was never just a name in a stack of resumes.

In my many years as hiring manager, almost all my hires are based on referrals and recommendations.

Bottom line: Network, network, network.

38 posted on 12/04/2018 6:43:54 PM PST by SamAdams76
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

Go to job boards like dice.com. Use linkedin.com. If you are in high tech go to seminars and meetups. If head hunters are after you dont waste time with clueless ones who cant match canidates skills to job descriptions.


39 posted on 12/04/2018 9:33:17 PM PST by AndyTheBear
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Red Badger

When I was a Boss and hiring IT people, I would get 400 resumes a day from Monster. You cannot process that. You resort to asking your team who they know.


40 posted on 12/05/2018 5:20:29 AM PST by Jimmy The Snake
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-48 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson