LaunchPad - INW

Spokane Regional Networking, Social Media, Professional and Business Development

Help me help you!

Ever since I joined Launchpad I've heard the common complaint of the job recruiter, that clarion call that "life isn't fair!" that basically goes like this: "I've got 5.2 million resumes on my desk and none of them are formatted right, don't refer back to the job we're advertising, say nothing about the person, is some generic thing generated in Word, or is completely unqualified for the position." Because as we all know, it is entirely the job seekers responsibility to read your mind and know exactly what it is you're looking for.

I'm exaggerating of course, the truth is 99% of the responsibility falls on the job seeker to show they have the skills to do the job and that little extra that adds value to the company. I don't think there's any qualms about that. That said, I'm going to point out a job posting I just found on Craigslist:

"Seeking motivated individual experienced in the use of both Autocad and Revit.

Full-time position with benefits available immediately.

Mechanical experience preferred but not necessary.

Please respond with resume and cover letter - no phone calls please."

Now, just to be clear, here's the link because that is in fact the extent of the job posting.

http://spokane.craigslist.org/egr/2419401701.html

Here's the number one problem with this posting. I have absolutely no idea what company I'd be applying for. Why is that important? Oh let me count the ways. I can see they're looking for a mechanical drafter... but what kind? Aerospace? Communications? Cooling systems? I have no idea if any of my skills in any way can be translated to what this company does. How am I supposed to present an argument that I can add value to your company if I have no clue what you even do?

"Seeking motivated individual." That's good because I've never seen an employer look for a complete sloth. By telling the job seeker that you're looking for someone who's going to be motivated to do the work, in most cases that's like asking someone that just ran Iron Man if they'd like a drink of water. You'll probably eliminate 10% if that of applicants by stating this, but unless you're looking for someone to clean horse stables, this qualification is pretty much assumed.

"experienced in the use of both Autocad and Revit." They teach AutoCAD in High School, and there are three versions of Revit that span the entire spectrum of the construction and manufacturing industry. Without specifying exactly what type of work you do, or what exact process your looking for, this tells a drafter or engineer absolutely nothing.

"Full-time position with benefits available immediately." It's nice to know for people who are looking for full or part time work, and of course people will be looking for benefits. And maybe this entire statement is just to try and reel someone in, and that's reasonable... but how is it helpful when you've given no other relevant information about the job itself.

"Mechanical experience preferred but not necessary." This is actually the first time I've ever seen this, most manufacturing companies don't want just a rudimentary knowledge of the manufacturing process, they want someone with a mechanical engineering degree. Essentially what they are saying is "Don't worry if you don't know about this field, we'll train you." Which also says something else... they might go for someone who has experience in the field, but they don't want someone with a lot of experience in a related field. For instance if they manufacture PCB boards for electrical testing equipment, they don't want someone with 10 years of experience manufacturing and designing semiconductors. Why? Because you've been conditioned to work in a field someone similar to theirs and chances are you've got bad habits.

As to the last statement, I'd be hard pressed to write a cover letter for a company I know nothing about, it should be expected that I have a resume. And how am I going to call you when you haven't listed a number or given me any information about who you are?

This should serve as a warning to other potential employers; Obviously you don't want to give out too much information, you want to hear most of what you need to hear in an interview. But you have to at least put down enough information to give the job seeker what they need to determine if they can acknowledge that they would be a fit for your company. Believe it or not, most job seekers don't apply for jobs they know they're not qualified for. Yes obviously that isn't always the case but the exception doesn't prove the rule.

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Comment by Patrick M. Bopray on June 21, 2011 at 11:32am: I feel your frustration, Michael, but the solution to your quandary is an easy one: Hit the back button and move on. There is nothing wrong with being annoyed at the fact that a potential employer would consider that to be a post for a legitimate career opportunity. However, my suggestion is don’t dwell on it and take your focus off of seeking legitimate opportunities.

Clearly though, if there is an opportunity lurking behind that post, an employer who put so little into an effort to identifying a quality, “motivated individual” would not be worth the time an effort to interview with. If desperation for employment makes you feel as if you need to reply to every potential opportunity out there, then, respond in kind to the post. Send a resume and a short, generic note that states you will be happy to compose a more detailed cover letter if your resume generates interest on their behalf and they share more information about the position with you.

I only respond because I’m not sure I follow your logic on giving out too much information. Any legitimate employer should be wiling to give out as much information as possible so as to generate well prepared responses from the most qualified candidates possible. That said, I can’t speak for “most job seekers” but I will tell you that many job seekers respond to posts they have zero qualifications for.

If you want a piece of advice from a recruiter with 20 years experience I will suggest that surfing jobs boards be just a small percentage of your career search efforts.

I wish you the best of luck in your search!

Comment by Michael J. Wright on June 21, 2011 at 3:18pm: I think perhaps you misunderstood the spirit and direction of my argument, that while the job seeker is expected to put forth 99% of the effort in selling themselves in a contraction if presenting and receiving values, the above posting is just an example of how companies are perceiving their side of the transaction: so long as they can fill a seat, who cares how they go about doing it. This tells me not only how I'm expected to be valued as an employee of that company, but the standard by which they have chosen the rest of their staff... the entire organization is likely incompetent.

Now this is an example, I might be picking on one posting but you seem to be under the impression I spend my nights evaluating the nature of every job opening that passes my way. Granted, that would make me a sad individual indeed. In the interests of self disclosure I am essentially a full time student (yes I know, the oldest excuse in the book) at Liberty University working towards a masters in Pastoral Counseling. When I do have extra time to freely write on a subject I will admit I lack the time to put forth much more than an observational opinion, and perhaps it was foolhardy to bother writing on this subject at all knowing full well no one in a professional industry is going to bother with such advice.

As for the opportunity that is represented by the above posting, you've essentially stated the very reason why I've made the argument in the first place; many job seekers respond to posts they have zero qualifications for. In the above posting any graduate of ITT Tech could say they have qualifications for this posting. But from a mechanical aspect, what if the company deals with structural engineering? That is a completely different Revit package that no one at ITT has been trained to use, and the type of knowledge necessary to work in that field is not taught there. Essentially by providing such little detail, what I am saying is that a potential job seeker wouldn't know if they were qualified or not, and anyone in Job Placement at ITT or Worksource is going to tell them there's no harm in applying anyway. What I'm saying is that the harm is in the wasted amount of time, employer or applicant in trying to fill or pursue the position when a higher quality posting may lead to better use of time and positive results. And less paperwork for you, the recruiter to sort through.

Now to clarify on what I meant by giving out too much information, there are things that are perhaps not necessary in revealing in a posting, for instance the company address. The job could be closed and for months afterwards you'll have not only people in full suit and ties dropping off their resumes, but you're likely to attract office supply agents (for lack of a better term) whose sole purpose is to annoy your receptionist about buying office products from their company. (I actually have a somewhat amusing story involving a former classmate with this, but it's probably not appropriate here) Another thing you might (and probably will) leave out is the name of the HR director or person that will be interviewing for the job. After such a posting, seeing that name at the top of a cover letter shows an applicant that can do their homework. Another huge piece of information you want to leave out is how much the job pays. Too little is going to turn away qualified applicants that could easily be persuaded with other compensation... too much and dog walkers will be applying for the job. That's why "Compensation based on experience" is typically best. I had a job opportunity in Post Falls, which as most of you know Idaho's minimum wage is far lower and affects jobs across the board. Though oddly I've found the cost of living in Idaho to be so much higher than Spokane, I'm guessing from over-development. But I had this job opportunity in an engineering field that specialized in software I was familiar with. After I applied the department head had the wisdom to inform me of how much the job paid: $10 an hour. Now don't get me wrong, I grew up in Rathdrum and for Idaho I'd snatch up a $10 an hour job in a heartbeat. The problem is I don't live in Rathdrum anymore I live on the West side of Spokane. Now of course there are benefits that would have made the job worth considering, but take into account the commute eating away at my class time, the likelihood that gas alone would eat my paycheck, and I feel stupid even mentioning I formerly did the same job at $22 an hour, and that was because my employer thought I was being ripped off at the job I had before that at $14.50... I know good and well that if I'm going to step back into the same field I'm going to take a pay cut, anyone facing a similar situation should recognize the employment atmosphere right now is a buyers market. In my case however I won't be returning to my former field because that job no longer exists. (and if it comes back we're likely looking at 5 years or more) What I'm left with now is picking up the pieces of what I know and trying to find new job fields I can apply that knowledge and experience to for a period of time long enough to obtain my new degree, of which I've only just recently found a field that not only bridges the gap between what I did and what I want to do and has a real potential for growth, and that is corporate chaplaincy. (I can see you rolling your eyes from here, but think about it, how valuable of a benefit would it be to have someone on staff whose sole purpose is to build moral, help employees through the hard times like depression, loss of a loved one, divorce, the sorts of things that make people less productive... visit them in the hospital when they're sick, which is showing how much the company cares and values them... it's no joke and there's only apparently about two people in Spokane doing it so far) Unfortunately when you're doing all you can to stay on the Dean's list and being a piss-poor house husband (yes how pathetic is it I'm living off my wife, who actually just landed a higher paying job today that if we can suffer through the training period will supplement both our incomes) there is precious little time left for job searching. I mean in the time I spent replying to you I could have been working on a better resume... Nothing wrong with my old one, except that it's for a civil drafting engineer, and I haven't got a clue what sort of resume to write at this point.

Now setting aside my former comments about my seven years experience as a recruiter making me less human, I agree with you on surfing job boards being a minority activity in a job search. But I'm curious as you've had a great deal more experience, what sort of job search activity is more fruitful that doesn't involve a car? I've always kept a backup car in case one breaks down, but in my case I've got one that needs a $550 engine remodel (and that's just parts) and my main car which I can't seem to identify the issue, it drives a distance and then stops working for a time, a little over four hours, and then seems to run fine again... That pretty much leaves me with driving my wife to work for any kind of mobility so I'm seeing what I'm left with are job opportunities that I make for myself. Would you agree?

Blessings

Mike Wright