The job dimensions and qualifications are clearly stated on various job sites.
When I've searched through job postings in the IT field, either systems support or programming / development, the list of experience requirements, education requirements, and knowledge requirements make it such that the only people "qualified" have already secured full time jobs for $80+k/year, while this job posting is finding that same person for $45k!
I can almost guarantee you're wrong about the level of clarity. The overwhelming majority of employers nowadays do a terribad job of writing job descriptions. First, you don't bother to show how you define common ambiguous titles like "analyst." Secondly, you write the description either with no details whatsover, or go so far down in the weeds of day-to-day insider minutia that it's worthless. Finally, for screening you rely completely on professional qualifications or expertise in your specific business processes and completely ignore equally important factors like overall business acumen, adaptability, and what general skillset tools and mentail traits the candidate would bring to solve any of your typical business problems. Then you act all surprised when you pick the guy with "20 years experience" and he winds up being a completely useless tool who can't work on a team and looks like this:
As odd as it sounds, I could actually understand if unqualified people apply for jobs thinking maybe nobody else will apply and they'll get it by default.
So much THIS. I've been keeping an eye on Sys Admin positions in my area. City government had a posting wanting 5-10 years experience not just in general Windows or Even Linux admin, but 5-10 years in SAN and VMWare admin. NetApp and VMWare certs preferred. They were offering $47k/yr. I literally laughed out loud when I saw that. VCP alone typically puts you in the $80k-$90k range around here.
Yup, this is the root cause.I can almost guarantee you're wrong about the level of clarity. The overwhelming majority of employers nowadays do a terribad job of writing job descriptions. First, you don't bother to show how you define common ambiguous titles like "analyst." Secondly, you write the description either with no details whatsover, or go so far down in the weeds of day-to-day insider minutia that it's worthless. Finally, for screening you rely completely on professional qualifications or expertise in your specific business processes and completely ignore equally important factors like overall business acumen, adaptability, and what general skillset tools and mentail traits the candidate would bring to solve any of your typical business problems. Then you act all surprised when you pick the guy with "20 years experience" and he winds up being a completely useless tool who can't work on a team and looks like this:
I don't get why they think someone with 10 years of experience in those fields would take 47k. You could consult for probably 4x that if you actually know what you're doing (which you damn well better after 10 years).
In fact, I don't think anyone with any level of experience with virtualization and netapp and their certs would work for 47k. I was paid more for level 1 help desk.
So do those jobs eventually pay more, attract the worst of the worst, or never get filled?
So my point is please invest time in networking so when you are applying for something, you can leverage being referred by someone or know people who can alert you to positions. Join trade groups, local civic groups, volunteer at the food bank, whatever. Those things are run by people with connections and it's not hard to volunteer for something where you find yourself working with someone on the Board of Directors. Impress that person after a little time, and you have a great new personal reference.
Lol, I apply even if I don't meet all the "requirements." No cover letters either. Pretty standard as far as I'm aware. I don't think I know anyone that has applied having met all the "requirements" (i.e. HR fluff).
super excellent post!!I'm involved with filling a job opening. People must apply online where people upload a resume and a cover letter. The job dimensions and qualifications are clearly stated on various job sites.
There are 18 applicants so far, of which exactly 2 have the required qualifications.
Three others do not fully meet the qualifications but provided compelling cover letters that directly addressed the position requirements along with a resume that could sway me to at least interview them to see how they would convince me they could do the job if they had some OJT. That's worked out for me before.
The other 13 had no business applying. They don't have the qualifications, their background is not relevant, and provided no explanation to support why they think they would be a good fit. Some of those didn't even provide a cover letter.
This is why companies use automated systems to screen applicants - too many people applying for jobs they aren't qualified for and they don't even take the time to offer an justification. If an applicant was referred by a respected employee, that is huge and can overcome a lot of apparent shortcomings. If Bob tells me the person he referred to me would be able to learn the job very quickly, and would be 100% committed to getting up to speed, and I know Bob is trustworthy, I'm going to seriously consider that person even if I might not have otherwise.
So my point is please invest time in networking so when you are applying for something, you can leverage being referred by someone or know people who can alert you to positions. Join trade groups, local civic groups, volunteer at the food bank, whatever. Those things are run by people with connections and it's not hard to volunteer for something where you find yourself working with someone on the Board of Directors. Impress that person after a little time, and you have a great new personal reference.
They were thinking, it isn't that hard to give estimates at the entry level when provided the information by "Senior Estimators" and put it into a program. Any reasonably intelligent person can figure out how to enter the shit into a program that calculates it. They can't be expected to be able to estimate without knowing factors within your company, so that is going to require training, regardless of experience.
You also give stupid dimensions like "provide <something my company does> to <person above you>" without giving any actual indication of what that entails or how it is standardized. "Ensures all estimates are properly recorded" And, that requires absolutely zero experience in anything except "monkey see, monkey do".
super excellent post!!