I'm also amused by how you think you differentiated" yourself in college.
Have you ever needed to hire people for your own business? What you're probably not getting from his post is all the major PITA of the whole process that can never be escaped. It's really frustrating to deal with idiots who want the job you posted even though they have no business applying for it. I'm about to go through this again and I'm dreading it.
There's no perfect solution. You either post a job with low qualifications and get 11ty billion responses, which will cause you to miss the diamond in the rough, or you elevate the qualifications to prevent the bottom of the barrel applicants from wasting your time. The latter method has other implications, but there's no way to do it perfectly. Trying to score a good employee (the latter option) is the only sensible option for a business.
Evidently tailoring your resume and making a cover letter is the first step.
I've been on both the hiring and applying side of the table, so you calling me a "moron" doesn't phase me. If anything it goes to show how clueless you are when in one breath you talk about wanting "least amount of work" for yourself and then complain about those
who "don't want to work hard for a good job." So basically you want to hire someone with a better work ethic than you.
I'm also amused by how you think you differentiated" yourself in college.
No...you actively source. The best candidates are most often passive candidates and will rarely apply unprompted.
I do both. 4/15 of my employees were referrals, but I can't rely on that obviously, so I also run ads.
Referrals aren't sourcing. Referrals are reactive. Sourcing is proactive (e.g. boolean searches through search engines, resume databases or social media sites; networking either through events or social media)
I didn't write out my entire hiring procedure for you to review. When I need someone, but time isn't a big issue, I look through business cards from conferences, LinkedIn (I found an employee on LinkedIn in April, met him for lunch, and hired him that day), and sometimes I browse monster.com, but rarely.
"Wanted: 5+ years experience in this new-ish technology that was invented 2 years ago"...
Yeah, most job requirements are so very meaningful.
The problem is that many companies for a long time have either been too heavy handed (nobody has those qualifications) or have simply put the qualifications there to dissuade some applicants.
How is a job applicant to know that you really do mean they must be a/b/c when many other companies don't care?
Hell, even in your description, you are saying "But we would take them if they gave us a good reason why they don't meet the qualifications". Is it any wonder that applicants ignore required qualifications?
Confirmed that all applicants came through sites like monster. No recruiter involved.
Just want to point out again, my construction estimator scenario was an example, not the actual job. The similarity is in needing to use a specialized software tool that I want someone to have a year's experience with. Or if not, write a cover letter that convinces me that it's not a must-have. I had one of those a few years ago, might have another one this time.
But I am very comfortable saying that a resume from someone with zero relevant experience and no cover letter to tell me WHY they should be considered given they do not have the qualifications, is going in the round file immediately.
It's certainly possible I could be missing a diamond in the rough, but at least put up your hand and explain to me why you're a diamond. I'm not going to interview two dozen people on a long shot as long as I have actual qualified candidates to talk to first. And I have no clairvoyant powers that enable me to read a resume from a warehouse manager with no relevant experience or qualifications and detect that's the person I need.
Here's a semi related question for you guys. What do you do when you can't get interviews for even the most basic positions, with requirements like: G.E.D. and desire to learn?
Start a business and hustle like a mother fucker.
Here's a semi related question for you guys. What do you do when you can't get interviews for even the most basic positions, with requirements like: G.E.D. and desire to learn?
That's what I did soon after graduating, and might be causing me problems getting work now.
Because often times HR creates the listing. Get limited feedback from the IT staff on their requirements. HR person doesnt know any better.
Kranky - I feel for you but its part of the environment that's been created. Businesses are no longer listing for what they will except - just what they hope they can find. Job postings have forgotten what 'Required' even means. Too often I have seen 'Requires X years of experience' where in reality they would gladly accept the much lower Y years. How is a job applicant supposed to know what is actually required anymore?