Human resources and hiringI think most HR departments are in business to reject people by ticking off boxes. I mean, I applied to a job I was more than qualified for: crisis communications intern at a PR firm. Sent a resume and cover letter outlining exactly how I filled the bill on everything they were looking for and never received a reply. Three weeks later I see that the vacancy notice has been renewed. So I'm guessing the rejection process went something like this: 1. Armed Forces Europe address: nope, can't possibly be relocating. Never mind that I state "willing to relocate" twice. 2. Currently in the U.S. Army: nope, can't possibly be getting out, even though it flat out says in my cover letter that I am looking to make a career transition and in all likelihood will be much more reliable than some college kid. Nor could I possibly have any job skill that would be related to the position (wrong; spent a year as a public affairs officer and ten months as a media analyst). 3. More than one year's experience: probably wants too much money. Duh, I want the experience. And those are my issues with Human Resources. I know that this is frustrating but maybe it really went something like this - We need someone now. This person is not available now. If you are still interested in this position you could address the possible resistance differently. If you think you know what it is.
Your welcome and good luck. There are always ways around resistance! Especially if you are creative about it. You are right though that the initial round probably hit the rejection pile because it wasn't clear that you "fit" their need. So this time just make it clear that not only do you fit their need but you are the PERFECT "fit". You could even go so far as to say that you noted that they had not filled this position yet and you are still interested. This would give them something to think about. You might want to use the Resume and Cover letter boards here to get some assist. And maybe it also went like this- 142 applicants for position. 37 that had "some" experience. Ranked in order of most experience to least experience, you were number 17. The top 10 were interviewed. The top 3 were interviewed again. The top 1 was hired. Or, 142 applicants for position. 86 had college degree with major in communications. It sounds from your post like you don' t have that? Then 36 had experience... Even though job postings list the MINIMUM qualifications, generally speaking, whomever is hiring takes the MOST qualified across the board. In some cases they value X over Y or Y over Z and that can vary from hiring manager to hiring manager. The last time I hired someone (internal posting), HR was screening out people who weren' t already at the right grade level. I stepped in because I was more interested in someone who had had some experience in an obscure field. I' m sure the 20 something people that weren' t hired for the job thought they were totally qualified too. They could check all the boxes that are normally important in my company. They couldn' t check the direct experience box though. What no "Rejection Letter" again? Just learn about your rejection when you saw it re-posted? Maybe it went like this: No job openings. In Human Resources toads coming in late, taking long lunch, leaving early, as usual. I HR weenies decide they' d better do something to justify their existence, schedule internal meeting, compete with coffee drinking and donuts eating contest, to draw up qualification spec for mythical opening. I HR clucks run add for mythical position, conduct multiple interviews, select multiple candidate, notify them the have the job, run them all through dry run hiring exercise, with repeated delayed start date. They probably have a betting pool on all the candidates, with a prize for whoever picks the candidate who will put up with this the longest. Meanwhile, management notes how busy the I HR dept appears to be and gives them all a bonus.
Actually, I realized there's another scenario to this whole ad thing: Company has candidate in mind (boss' brother, guy from old unit, etc.) but in order to qualify for government tax breaks, has to make position open for any applicant. So they run an ad that matches the guy's qualifications exactly, thus ensuring no one else can get the job. I saw an ad that went like this: Intelligence Officer -Must have 20 years experience -Used to operating in mountainous terrain -Prior infantry Tell me that they didn't have someone in mind already. What is it with HR people? My spouse is applied at thisgreat big company about a month ago. The posting has been online altogether 2 months. The interview went very well, all the good signs. Two weeks after the interview, hiring dept manager called him to check if he is still available and that they are doing internal interviews. Couple days later an email came from HR that they have lost his application and that they need him to fill out another one. He came in, filled it out again, and hand it to the HR person. Now it has been another 2 weeks without a word from these guys. They have not even checked the references. What's up with this? Is this company even worth bothering with? It's just sad that the incompetence of one person or one department makes the company look like crap.
"Intelligence Officer -Must have 20 years experience -Used to operating in mountainous terrain -Prior infantry" Oh MAN, I saw the 20 years experience....there's NO REAL job opening out there that has requirements that says "Must have 20 years experience" Apparently there was this secretary where I worked, that I had overheard that they were specifically opening the position for her. Only reason I knew about it, because I can overhear things, and of course working there helps. It was just a mere Administrative Assistant position of some sort...but an admin #### that required 20 years of experience. LOL But it was more of a "higher level" of admin ####. She was at the company for 20 years so she was the only one that qualified. LOL | |
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