Posted on 12/28/2002 1:15:10 PM PST by Rodney King
Resume black hole
BY ADAM GELLER Associated Press
Doug Ecklund totes up 11 months of job searching with these figures: about 1,000 resumes sent out via e-mail, just two interviews in person, one over the telephone, and zero offers.
But if the lack of success is discouraging, what irritates the systems analyst is the overall dearth of return communication. Only about 50 of his resumes drew a response, the rest netted nothing at all.
"We grew up in that era of where a courtesy was nice," said Ecklund, of Huntley, Ill. "Most (recruiters and employers), if they do respond will send you back an automated response. 'We got your resume, thank you for your letter, by the way, check out our Web site.' That's it."
Ecklund's frustration is all too familiar to the ranks of job hunters, now swollen by the recent economic downturn and waves of layoffs. More employers, deluged with resumes and increasingly leaving it to computers to sort through them all, are abandoning the courtesy letter and the polite callback as quaint, but outdated customs.
Who's to blame?
When the obituary is written for the courtesy note, technology will be listed as the cause of death. Many companies now use computerized resume management systems to scan, store and auto-respond to inquiries. Internet job boards like Monster.com and Hotjobs.com lets jobseekers spot and instantaneously reply to dozens of listings in just a few minutes.
But the decline of the courtesy note is about people as well as machines. The economic downturn has left many more people searching for work, and corporate cutbacks have included reductions in the very personnel and recruiting departments charged with handling the tide of resumes and cover letters.
"This is how rude the workplace has gotten," said Robin Ryan, a Seattle-based career counselor, who blames the lack of responses on corporate cost-cutting and the tide of applicants.
"You come in for an interview and they ... just leave you hanging. You usually have to call them back," she said. For many companies, "I really think it's the 37 cents. It's gotten so expensive that they choose not to do it."
Too many resumes
But some employers, who note that they do try to respond to all inquiries, point out that they're swimming in resumes.
Abbott Laboratories, for example, says its personnel department has received about 200,000 resumes so far this year, roughly double the number for all of 2001. Microsoft Corp. says it is getting 45,000 resumes each month, up from about 20,000 a month two years ago and 30,000 a month last year.
Both companies say they have policies of replying to all resumes with at least an automated response sent by a computer via e-mail.
The sea of applications has deepened because many job seekers have turned into what Peter Weddle, author "Weddle's Job Seeker's Guide to Employment Web Sites," of calls "graffiti applicants," sending out multiple electronic cover letters and resumes to employers, frequently for jobs they're not qualified to do.
"Everybody can just press 'send,' 'send,' 'send,'" said Kate Wendleton, president of The Five O'Clock Club, a New York career counseling firm. "You have to assume you're not going to get called in. You have to find some other way in."
That advice is repeated as gospel by career counselors and the people they advise. Jobseekers increasingly assume that, without a personal connection, they're not going to hear anything from many employers, even in the form of computer- generated "thank you" notes, said Kathy Andre of The Career Place, a publicly funded employment office in Woburn, Mass.
Working contacts
Many jobseekers, frustrated that their resumes are being swallowed in a black hole, are flocking to networking sessions, looking for someone who has a friend who knows a manager who might be hiring.
At the Barrington, Ill. Career Center, a single Tuesday morning networking meeting used to draw about 15 people. But on a recent Tuesday, back-to-back sessions drew a combined 104 jobseekers.
Networking has its own frustrations. Ecklund says when he's called people inside his former company on behalf of friends looking for work, he's been told five times that they should just send their resumes to the company Web site.
In an environment where employers can afford to be picky and take their time, even an interview doesn't guarantee communication.
Bob Creech, an unemployed credit manager from Arlington Heights, Ill., said after an interview six weeks ago, he immediately sent "thank you" notes off to the people he met with.
"I never heard 'boo' back from them, not even on e-mail," Creech said. "I think the trail's gone cold by now."
However, I have news for the guy who sent off 1,000 emails: Email is not the way to apply for a job. Sure, it has worked for some, but you need to get off you butt, buy some resume paper, write a decent cover letter, and send via US MAIL.
Why does their have to be someone to blame?...guy picked a field that is saturated with talent, his does not meet the standard for whatever reason...He has no right to a job...to damn bad...learn a new trade...or maybe trying knocking on doors instead sitting on your butt sending out emails...what a joke...
I will bet you if this guy picked the one company he wanted to work for and went their everyday (ala Bud Fox)...he would get his job...Having run several business...persaverance of this type always won me over...
Really? I always thought that would be annoying. However, at the very least he needs to mail a letter, follow-up with a call, etc. You can't just blast out 1,000 emails and hope that somebody cares.
Pure nonsense. I wouldnt give a rats Arse if some guy sent me a thank you...I would evaluate the field of candidates based on merit and my own instinct, narrow it down...ask myself can I do better then this?...if not select one...if so...re-canvas for recruits...
There is no more widely spread discrimination in this country than the discrimination against older job applicants. At the same time, no discrimination violation is more widely disregarded.
Do a Lexis/Nexis search an you'll find lots of cases of age discrimination suits involving the TERMINATION of older workers but few, if any, involving an employers failure to hire an older worker.
Once an HR weanie has decidied that a candidate or a stack of candidates or a file cabinet of candidates will not be hired, there is no reason to waste on time on them, there is no profit in it, no return on effort. And, it doesn't count against the oufit in a competition like the Baldwin Awards.
2.3 million in the "Systems Analysts and Programmers" category are being replaced by H1B workers
You can't have it both ways. Either there is a real shortage of Programmer/Analysts and the 2.3 million H1B imports are justified -- or an excess in this category has been artificially created to drive down the cost of this type of resource and/or eliminate the jobs of 2.3 million Americans.
I can't wait until managers and lawyers get replaced with illiterate foreigners; then the real squealing will start.
I dont think so.
Everybody who has ever worked for me, came to work each day knowing that they had to earn their right to come back the next day...and as a team...they would have it no other way...believe me you...If you might think I am tough...their co-workers were ruthless...and the last thing I would ever do is let the team down, by hiring somone who thought they were entitled to a job...
Nearly 60% of the people I hired over the years, went on to form their own business, or partnerships with other former employees of mine...I used to tell my people: "If I am not bidding against you in 5 years, I will fire you anyway...so you have two choices...be the best...or take a hike..."
You know I would bet this fellow who went to the interviews mentioned how "unfair" the job market was....Instant door pass when you hear that kind of crap...
I especially like the guys that would offer to work for two weeks without agreement...so confident were they, they would take a risk like this...I liked risk takers...these guys would come in an kick butt...and end up negotiating from strength...not weakness for their contract...born leaders too most of them...
That won't happen. Illeterate foreigners will not occupy these positions any more than they are occupying the Programmer/Analyst positions.
Looking around the local Walmarts, you wouldn't believe that.
Famous last words. The diploma mills in India (or elsewhere) can print up an MBA or JD, or any other degree or certification, just as they have been doing for Computer Science degrees and certifications for the last few years.
Whatever it is that you do, there's someone overseas who will do it cheaper -- either there, or we can import them to do it here. Quality doesn't count. The whole purpose is to relieve you of your income and assets.
Speaking of resume black holes, Washington Mutual is the worst. Its a joke at the local Java Users Group meeting that they're just collecting resumes. And they keep on advertising more jobs. What's up with that company?
Send them a thank you note? Hah!
Who has time for that these days?
When I interview people for open positions for the company I work for, I never tell them either way if they got the job or not. That can be an implied verbal agreement.
There are way too many legal land-mines to imply anything because of gender, racial, ethnic, age or disability issues that pond scum lawyers will sue you in a heartbeat over.
Every applicant is given a full interview and thanked for coming in and told they will be considered with all the other applicants.
The ones I like and are qualified, I call back for a second interview.
You would be shocked on how many don't come back because never wanted the job in the first place.
Maybe it has something to do with the generation that, 35 years ago, was screaming, "Don't trust anybody over 30!"
Hard to go when you have a mortage, and hard to retrain when NOBODY can promise you a job at the end of the training, save some medical specialties.
I was asked to come to Los Angeles for an interview (as one of 3 finalists), with an offer to pay for my parking and meal expense. I drove 400 miles, arriving the night before. When I got to the client no one was expecting me, the recruiter hadn't bothered to book an actual interview, the hiring manager was out, and the recruiter had no desire to cover my expenses. I noticed the guy the client finally hired left recently...before a year was up.
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