Posted on 10/24/2011 8:58:48 AM PDT by Haiku Guy
He doesn’t think it’s too much to ask of a job seeker. A resume, a statement of salary expectations and a single written paragraph that answers a question like, “What do you believe a good customer service representative’s attitude should be?”
(snip)
Stories are legion of inept or half-hearted applicants who submit resumes marred by misspellings, show up at interviews dressed for a beach party, make inappropriate jokes, fail to learn basic details about the job and company in question, and otherwise leave hiring managers aghast.
(snip)
“Who the hell is going to hire these people?” asks Heinemeier Hansson. “Who is going to read some of these atrociously bad applications and say, ‘Yeah, that’s the person I’ve been looking for?’ ”
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
Did they get the job?
When I was in school, we Engineering majors were derided as unimaginative losers who were only motivated by future earning potential.
To which we responded, “And your point is...?”
Why would anybody go to school for any other reason than to get a better job someday?
Unless it was for a roadie gig with Jane’s Addiction, I’m guessing ‘No’.
I think that guy lives in Chamblee, Doraville, and maybe a little bit of North Atlanta...
But they have a shelf full of last place trophies and a lot of self esteem!
No. And I kidded her that she hadn’t explained the employee discount very well.
Sounds like a sit-com line. LOL.
There is also the fact that many in HR are inept at interviewing hiring or even setting job requirements. Writing “shotgun” job requirements that mandate the job experience of an experienced person for jobs that are entry level or a little above are a problem. Others include things like 5 years experience in a technology that has been around for 2 years. Not all of the unemployed or job seekers are inept or even inexperienced. Much of this seems to be for the same reason technology companies continue to claim that they can’t find experienced engineers from the U.S. when there is a glut of engineering experience; they want an excuse to hire a foreign worker.
A lot of younger applicants will ask me how many "sick" days that our company provides each year. Really. Why would anybody applying for job ask a question like that unless they planned on banging in sick a lot?
They also tend to have limp handshakes, don't look you in the eye and have limited command of the English language (despite a "college" education). How can I put these people in front of my customers who are giving us thousands of dollars each year in business?
Another thing I notice is that they can't seem to tear themselves away their cellphones for more than a few minutes. I see them waiting in the lobby texting on their phones. Then even during the interview, they will glance at their phones every now and then.
While our positions require a "college degree" according to the application, that is really to weed out the worst of the candidates. We will happily hire people regardless of education who display a good attitude, a willingness to work hard and learn, a firm handshake and have a clue about customer service.
I’m always stunned at the inability to follow simple directions. “Send your resume and a cover letter to this email address.” How hard is that? And we still get people who submit their resume through the online application process. Then they call me, “Did you get my resume? I used the online process.” I always ask them, “Did you read the instructions on the job application?” And these are people who are applying to teach at a university... *Sigh*
The other one that gets me is interviewees who haven’t done any prep work to find out anything about the position or my organization. You’ve applied for a job teaching for me, and you have no idea what we even do here. Nice... So, how do you know you’ll be a good fit for our organization? Or that you’re qualified to work for me? Or did you just apply for all the teaching positions?
And don’t even get me started on people who can’t be bothered to tweak their resume to be relevant to the position they’ve applying. It’s a teaching position, why haven’t they listed any teaching experience???? Yes, I can see they have professional credentials, pages of them, in some cases, but have they ever taught anything? Idiots.
I'm seeing a LOT of that with teens.
“Having tattoos and body piercings don’t help, as well.”
I saw nice looking (18-20?) man; big, muscular…and with a penis tattooed from his ear lobe to the corner of his lip. I instantly pictured him 20 years hence, wearing a suit and applying for a “big-eight” accounting job. I have often wondered how he fared. Badly, I’ll bet.
When our universities concentrated on stuff like engineering, medicine, technology, and advanced business, a lot of things were just fine and a lot of students were the best of the best and cutthroat, which is what made our country powerful. Then universities became playgrounds for the idle rich with too much time on their hands, the schools became more about a cause than an education, we started to slip. I wonder, if parents alone had to pay for schooling and there were no substantial student loans, how many students would get away with running amok instead of learning something valuable.
I remember looking for a low-level engineering job back in 1990 in New York. A few months earlier, about 5000 Grumman engineers hit the bricks as the plant shut down on Long Island. There were guys with 20 years experience looking at entry-level jobs. I took a job for next to nothing, because prices for engineers were driven down so low.
After a year, I wound up moving to a job in New Jersey which was a little bit too far for those Grumman guys to look at, and the price of labor went up to a reasonable rate.
But when I had no choice, I took what they were paying. Better than sitting at home...
Nancy Schnitzerling, director of human resources at the Liberty Science Center in Jersey City, laments that the job seekers she sees are falling short on self-direction and basic problem-solving skills. She can’t believe the number of phone calls she gets from would-be employees complaining that portions of her computer-based job application require the use of Microsoft tools, when they use Macs.
That woman needs to hire Heinemeier Hansson's company.
o... m... g...
I hear you. I think he may have his own zip code.
“I had an applicant that I placed 4 ones and four quarters in front of, then produced a fiver, and asked her to make change for a $2.50 purchase. She started to cry, as she did not know how.”
These days, the best cash registers show a picture of the change due when you ring in the amount.
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