Comments on: What I Learned While Speaking @ Mediabistro

By: Angry Candidates of the World, Unite!

Angry Candidates of the World, Unite! — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 20:47:17 +0000

[...] attendees were out of work that it turned into a discussion about job hunting. One of the things she said she learned was that when people don’t hear back from a company after submitting a resume, they blame [...]

By: Come to Recruitfest! | Punk Rock Human Resources

Come to Recruitfest! | Punk Rock Human Resources — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 18:47:30 +0000

[...] forgot to mention that I met Gary Vaynerchuk, last week, at mediabistro. He inspired me to focus more on video blogging, but god dammit, I’m not a natural. I need to [...]

By: GenerationXpert.com

GenerationXpert.com — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 17:06:35 +0000

I can’t agree with you enough on #1. I interviewed at Davenport University for a teaching job in 2007. I still have not received a rejection letter. I drove my rear end all the way to Flint to interview, and they can’t be bothered to respect me enough to tell me they hired someone else.

I would never apply or interview for another job with them. Oh, and a month after that interview, I got my current job which is so much better than that one would have been.

By: allison

allison — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 16:13:03 +0000

Something amusing happened to me in regards to #1. I’ve applied for several jobs in the past 6 months or so and recently got the typical “Thanks, but we’ve gone with someone else” that was generated from their recruiting program. The only problem is that there was no indication what company it was for, not in the return address or email signature. To me this seems like a big faux pas.

So if you are sending out these emails, do a test copy to yourself to know what you are putting out there.

By: H Aria

H Aria — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 15:57:37 +0000

I’m amused by all this talk of job boards, key words, and auto-applications because I’m thinking WHAT ARE THOSE? I don’t know any companies who use them. Everyone in my immediate network of HR gurus works in small to mid-sized companies, despite the fact that I live in gigantor corporate land (Seattle). There are so many HR types right now covering all bases in an understaffed, underpaid, reduced hours workplace. In my case, the HR Director and the HR Assistant were laid off. So that leaves…me! Yay me! And all my HR peers in my industry are in the same boat. We are doing EVERYTHING, including Accounting functions in some cases. And even though we’re not hiring right now, we’re trying our damnedest to read resumes and make sure they get under the correct hiring manager’s nose. (Hiring managers who will never make a decision about anything if we don’t pester them on a regular basis.)

All this to say – I feel for you, job seekers, I really do. I know you’re frustrated and sick about how to pay the bills. I’ve been where you are. But, in this bad new world order, you need to suck it up and get your game on. You HAVE to show up at industry functions and put yourselves in front of the hiring managers. If you don’t golf, learn now because every professional association has a tournament. So many job seekers still are not doing what they need to do, despite the fact that we’ve been up this creek for well over a year. I can’t even begin to tell you how many resumes say “Dear Sir” or just come with an email that says “My resume is attached.” Or they’ve figured out the hiring manager’s name but spell it wrong. And even when we’ve done informational interviews, NO ONE has used the wealth of information on our website to hone in on our needs.

If your career relies on working for a large corporate entity, you have my sympathy. But if you’re aiming for small to mid-sized companies, there’s so much you can do to stand out, so do it! So many seekers are in the desperate ANY JOB WILL DO mode, and I totally get that. But don’t act like that to potential employers.

By: Laurie Ruettimann

Laurie Ruettimann — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 01:35:09 +0000

@exec They are suspicious that their resume falls into a candidate database and probably won’t be seen by anyone in HR unless there is a keyword match. I told them it’s worse — the people who are hired do have their resumes in the database, but they found the job by avoiding HR and job boards and leveraged their network. They found a way to put their portfolios, CVs, resumes, etc., in front of the hiring manager. I advised that candidates should never eliminate a pathway into a company (i.e., a job board) but they shouldn’t rely upon it. There are better ways to find a job.

http://www.mediabistro.com/mediajobsdaily/thecircus/career_circus_laurie_ruettimann_goes_rogue_123452.asp

http://www.mediabistro.com/mediajobsdaily/job_search/punk_rock_hr_will_work_for_free_123466.asp

By: execrecruiter429yrs

execrecruiter429yrs — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 01:29:29 +0000

“Employees are super-suspicious of your job board” – Odd, I get the exact opposite feedback at my seminars.

Responses back should be mandatory.

By: Laurie

Laurie — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 18:33:38 +0000

@CAC Awesome!

@OldMan You know, I read through some of the comments and we talked about this practice, quite heavily, @mediabistro. Young kids came up to me and asked how they can find internships that pay. I don’t have amazing advice on this subject, but I told them not to accept internships that DON’T PAY. Send the marketplace a message and augment the power structure.

By: OldMan

OldMan — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 17:52:37 +0000

Actually if you read the comments that follow on the link HRputer provides you would find that there is considerable disagreemtn on unpaid internships, especially if college credit is being received. We pay interns, but can tell you that DOL audits for some customers have validated the use of academic related unpaid internships.

By: CAC

CAC — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 17:42:10 +0000

I’m glad you had that conversation with them. We are big fans of Mediabistro.