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Resume Spamming Redux

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the can't-say-it-surprises-me dept.

wiredog writes "Remember this story about the guy who spammed his resume? Well, now the Washington Post is reporting that resume spamming is a trend. Enough of a trend to have generated a backlash!" Amusing fallout from an amusing story, and hopefully a lesson for others too.

5 of 292 comments (clear)

  1. Spamming for jobs is not good by bildstorm · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I remember when I was in the process years back of trying to organise a startup. I would get spammed endlessly for jobs.

    I don't mind people sending me an unsolicited résumé, but the key is to know the company. Form letters can work, but make sure that what's actually in the form letter pertains to what we do.

    Currently I work for a company specialised in doing mobile entertainment using a Java platform. Don't tell me about your mad web skills with PHP and MySQL, because that's not what we do. Of course, if you hand-crafted a letter properly...

    At any rate, I can't figure out why these people think they'll get jobs. I'll buy a ThinkGeek T-shirt for the first person who can prove that they really got a job from résumé spamming.

    --
    The power of accurate observation is commonly called cynicism by those who have not got it. - G.B. Shaw
    1. Re:Spamming for jobs is not good by Rogerborg · · Score: 5, Interesting
      • At any rate, I can't figure out why these people think they'll get jobs

      And an important difference is that typical generic spam is a no-risk proposition. If you send out a zillion spams and get one bite, you win. If you get zero bites, you don't lose anything, because these weren't your customers anyway.

      But spamming for jobs is self destructive; you're actually closing off opportunities for yourself. Similarly, existing businesses who spam (though arrogance or more usually just stupidity) are cutting their own throats. You really have to wonder if it wouldn't be a better world if we took action to ensure that all spammers become, ahem, eligible for a Darwin Award.

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  2. Resume Posting Services by aridhol · · Score: 4, Interesting

    There are some websites that offer to send your resume to interested parties. Some of them send your info to employers that have signed up with the service, in standard headhunter style. Some send your resume to newsgroups in the *.jobs.* hierarchies. These ones almost always seem to have bad aim, as regional jobs newsgroups are flooded with postings from other areas. I wouldn't be surprised if other services spam your resume without your knowledge. Although this should reflect badly on the posting service, it is more likely to reflect on the person whose name is in the message. That would be the job seeker whose resume was spammed without his/her permission.

    --
    I can't say that I don't give a fuck. I've just run out of fuck to give.
  3. Re:Job sites by RazzleFrog · · Score: 4, Interesting

    There is a huge difference there. Most of the listings on Monster are not real employers but are headhunters listing their clients' open positions. They know full well they are going to receive tons of responses. Also, if they aren't calling you back it's because they don't have a job for your skillset. I had to deactivate my resume because I was getting swamped in emails. Thankfully I used the anonymous option and none of them got my real email address.

  4. I got Shifman's resume by wiredog · · Score: 5, Interesting
    At my home e-mail address. Not work, home. That's why it's spam. Sending your resume out to the hr departments at a zillion companies that may want you is targeted. Sending it to random people at their homes is not targeted, and is spam.

    Shifman got no more than he deserved.

    --

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