Feature:Geek Jobs

Joseph Walsh wrote in to talk a little bit about his experiences lately getting a new job. It talks about using the various online services to try to get a geek job. It doesn't provide any answers but I think it raises a lot of good questions that are worth thinking about. As hiring becomes more automated, we'll see much more of this kind of trouble.

The following was written by Slashdot Reader Joseph Walsh

Getting a Geek Job

A few days ago, I was enjoying the hum of the half dozen servers in my office when I decided to do a quick check of the online job search engines. I wanted to know whether there were any worthwhile jobs listed. So I went to one of the larger job search sites, and typed in Linux. No luck. Java? Nope, not without a whole lotta web site design skills. C? Not unless I was willing to master a half dozen semi-dead languages before applying. Sigh.

So I plugged in my current position's buzzwords -- Novell NetWare, WordPerfect, GroupWise, Windows 95, Paradox. Plink! A job description popped up that fit me pretty darned well. They were looking for someone to run a Novell NetWare LAN who also knew WordPerfect and Paradox. And they were willing to pay at least 20% more than my current employer!

After pressing the "submit resume" button, up popped an email. Ah, okay. They wanted an email. So I composed a nice cover letter (pointing out the strong correlation between my skills and the job requirements) and attached a copy of my resume. Of course, the attachment was in WordPerfect format, which made sense to me in light of the fact that WordPerfect was listed as a required skill. (Those of you who are more familiar with this process are no doubt groaning at my nievete'.) I didn't expect to hear anything back, but I thought I might as well give it a shot, right?

A couple of days passed, and I essentially forgot about the whole thing. But last night, what should arrive in my in box but a response to my submission! I opened it up, expecting the standard "thank you for your resume; we'll keep it on file blah blah blah" letter. After all, I have a degree in Human Resources Management, so I have some idea how this stuff works.

Which is why I was rather surprised to find that, instead of a standard acknowledgement letter, I got a one-liner which read in its entirety:

doc or rtf

The brevity of this missive puzzled me. What did this person mean? Is it some sort of garbled language, or a dialect with which I am not familiar? I made my living as a freelance writer for a while, so I pride myself on being able to figure out the written word. But this had me stumped.

Then I remembered my attachment. It was in WordPerfect format, and this person seemed to want it to be in either Microsoft Word or Rich Text Format. When I realized that the file format of my resume was the cause of this brief email, I admit I became a little angry. But when I understood the whole situation, I was furious.

The situation is this: I submitted my resume in WordPerfect format to what turns out to be a temporary and permanent employment agency (as opposed to the actual prospective employer). As anyone who has changed jobs in the last decade knows, these agencies are becoming the gatekeepers of all jobs. Soon, no one who changes jobs will be able to do so without going through an agency of one sort or another.

That's all fine and dandy, except that the people who are employed as gatekeepers rarely have the knowledge required to accurately judge people in highly skilled professions, such as the computer field. So, this "doc or rtf" person, who can't figure out how to import a WordPerfect file into Word, who can't even write a civil and intelligible email, is deciding whether a prospective employer will ever see my resume. That frightens me.

From conversations with colleagues, my experience is not at all uncommon. It's necessary to please these functionaries in order to get a job. And on top of that, there is often a Human Resources Information System at some point in the process (I should know; I implemented the one at my current place of employment). That HRIS will likely be used to automatically scan resumes, then only those which are buzzword compliant will be looked at by humans. The rest will be summarily thrown in the bit bucket. So if the HR person at the company to which you have applied is looking for someone who has "JDBC" on their resume, while you have "Java Database Connectivity" or even "Java Data Base Connectivity", you're out of luck. No human will ever see your resume.

And even if a human did see it, he or she probably won't be someone who is qualified to judge you or your accomplishments. It will almost certainly be a functionary who can barely operate a computer, who might have a list of buzzwords and terms given to them by some pointy haired boss. If those terms aren't on your resume, forget about getting a job at that particular company.

Once all of the above had gone through my head, I got a wee bit depressed. I started to question whether I wanted to continue in this industry. How else should a sane person feel when confronted with sheer insanity? Should he embrace it, or run away from it?

But, before I give up, I'd like to make a solid try at fixing this system. There just has to be a better, more reliable way for geeks to find jobs. Does one already exist? If not, can we invent and enforce one?

How do we get ourselves out of this idiotic morass?

Comments

Re:Putting a resume on your web page

[gavinhall]

Posted by Dahakbert:

This is great for college students, but if you're working, I highly suggest putting your resume up, but WITHOUT any phone numbers. Most recruiters I've dealt with have been annoying as hell, calling me at work, telling the front desk that they are "returning my call" even though I've never talked to them, so they will be passed through. But since I revised my resume, put only my home address and NO phone numbers, only an e-mail address for contact, it is much more managable. Here are a few tips I would suggest for people who want to put their resume's up and NOT be annoyed:

1) don't put any phone numbers on there. Only e-mail addresses. That way, you can easily return messages and have it take up less time

2) if they call you at work, and you never put up a work phone number, DO NOT TALK TO THEM. Here's what they did, they looked at your resume, got your current employment's number from directory service, and are xcontacting you a way you did not ask for. This should always be highly discouraged.

3) if the recruiter tells you they heard about you from someone who highly recommended you, 9.9 times out of 10, they are lying. Recruiters usually say things like this to make you believe that they are really interested in you... if you ask who refered you and they refuse to tell you, guess what...?

4) do NOT answer any questions about your current business, how many employees are working there, what they do, etc. Tell them if they are that interested in your company, you can refer them to a sales person, tell them you do not want to answer too many questions about your business which can get you introuble for non-disclosure. Trust me, they have no qualms about being unnecessarily nosy. Most likely, they are probing you for info so they can decide to target other employees at the company who you work with for recruitment as well.

5) if they want a resume submitted to them by fax or mail, that is ok... however, tell them you want to know who they are recruiting for if you give them that. If they refuse, they are wasting your time. The best recruiters I've dealt with told me whom they are recuiting for and what the job is within one or two e-mails to them.

6) Always have an enemy or a wate-of-time's e-mail address or contact information infront of you, so if you get a recruiter who just annoys the hell out of you, you can say, "I am not at all interested, but let me give you the contact information for someone who might be." In one case, I explained to someone I wasn't interested, and they proceeded to tell me how I really was and I just didn't know it, so I explained it to them a little more forcefully, and highly suggested they contact the career center at my previous university. I knew this would be a waste of time for them, so ... :)

All in all, from my experience I still think the best way to find your dream jobn is the old fashioned way --- either know someone, or send in a resume to a company directly using newspaper adds or with a job fair. Most of the time, recruiters are going to be a waste of your time and energy.

-- Dahakbert

As a receiver of resumes, I delete any attachments

[Kurt Gray]

I'm sorry but sending a WordPerfect file is really
like asking them to throw your resume in the
wastebasket.

I've had to sort through piles of incoming resumes
and this is how it goes on the receiving end:

1. Garbled attachments (delete)

2. BinHex'd attachments (damn Mac users - delete)

3. doc files (I don't have Word and I'm not
impressed by you doc formatting skills - delete)

4. WordPerfect attachments (are you kidding me? - delete)

5. doc files with macro virus (oh why thank you,
get a virus scanner you friggin' putz! DELETE)


The best ways to send a resume online:

1. Plain text in an email message

2. URL where the resume is posted online

Tried recruiters and gave up

[dattaway]

I wouldn't go that far, but I will say I haven't had luck with them. I moved down here to Mississippi to marry a sweetheart who was finishing a PhD. I tried headhunters and mass mailing my resume. The companies that headhunters returned were quite a drive or what friends told me were sweatshops. Resumes just got headhunters refering me to out of state jobs that seemed to require frequent traveling.

I gave up on the suit and tie resume job hunting shit and went to the local state employment center here. After a few weeks of checking in with them, she finally picked up the phone to call someone, "I think I have the person you are looking for." They got me what seemed like a decent job at a local manufacturing plant. I interviewed with an engineer, took the employment test and heard back a month later they wanted me to start the next day. I kept getting reviews and rewards every few months until my 40 hrs/week salary matched those of my engineering degree holding buddies.

I enjoy the hell out of my job. My resume didn't get me here, but the usual approach that any normal worker tries. I would say showing up unemployed at the employment center got me a good job. The job I have gives me 100% vesting, all the paid overtime I want, paid vacations, insurance, and job security. Its a good feeling working with older, more mature people as they don't quit, but retire or die.

evolutionary tension

[The Mad Hawk]

This situation bothered me a bit, as well, during a recent job search. Then I realized something: Organizations that rely on such "generic" HR resources to select new employees are going to get employees that match their efforts: people who throw around buzzwords in attempts to impress management types, not people who actually know what's going on. Eventually, these organizations will be at a competitive disadvantage as the highly skilled information workers end up other companies - their engineering efforts and products will suffer, and their more highly skilled competitors will move into dominant positions.

Yes, it's frustrating now - the environment is changing and the situation has not yet evolved to meet the new environment. This is an annoyance, yes, but a temporary one - the history of the world is driven by the resolution of such evolutionary tension.

Putting a resume on your web page

[dmorin]

Here's something that I've seen work. Got webspace? Put your resume up. Then submit it to some of the search engines. Make sure it's got the right buzzwords (I find that Java CORBA does it nicely). Within days you'll be getting calls. Mostly from recruiters, sure, and most of them suck. But isn't getting called at all better than no calls? I've had lousy recruiters and mediocre ones (haven't used them enough to have found a really good one).

I've had my resume online since I had web space (about 3-4 years). Only recently I had to take it offline because I was getting too damned many calls (about 2 a day). However, when a friend of mine exhausted her real-world resources, I put her resume on my page, and within 2 days Microsoft called her (she didn't go, of course :)).

Re:Putting a resume on your web page

[dmorin]

Another one....don't ever let the conversation go like this:

"So, are you looking?"
"No, thank you, I'm quite happy here."
"Oh, well, do you know anybody that's looking?"
"Nope, as a matter of fact if I did, I'd hire them, we've got openings."
"Oh, really??? What kind of openings do you have?

Instantly they go from wanting to place you somewhere else, to wanting to place someone else where you are. They've all got two faces.

Favorite recruiter story : After telling her no thank you and goodbye on the phone three times and her ignoring me, I hung up on her. I then got an email from her (turns out someone really *had* referred me) saying "I've never been hung up on before!" I told her she must not have been in the business long. Ironically, 3 months later I was looking, so I told my colleagues "Watch this. I could go over to her house and kick her dog, and she'd still love me and want to place me." Sure enough I called her and told her I was looking, and all bad feelings were forgotten.

The View from the Other Side

[dewey]

I'm a programmer at a headhunting company, and I can give you an idea of what it's like on the receiving end of the deal. Disclaimer: I realize the situation described in the original article is not the same as what I'm talking about here.

We get literally hundreds of resumes each week, by snail-mail, fax, and email. We probably ask for about 10-20 of those from potential candidates. The rest are unsolicited. Most are not for a specific position, just for "anything that fits my background". Most of the resumes are from unqualified people -- certainly over 80% of them are garbage.

Our Web site tells people exactly how to send resumes (plain text in the body of the email), yet we still get dozens of attachments in all formats -- Word, Word Perfect, PDF, HTML, even TIFFs of scanned resumes.

Given the following facts: (1) these resumes are unsolicted, (2) there's an 80% chance that they're trash, (3) the submitter can't follow directions, and (4) we have a couple hundred other resumes to process this week, we generally delete such resumes without even replying. We feel the chances are low that we're losing any good candidates this way.

On the other hand, the thread that says headhunters are morons has some truth, too. Their job is to do a buzzword-level screening of a large pool of candidates and bring a few to the client for in-depth interviews. They need to bring good candidates, but not necessarily the best ones. So if they can do that without the clerical overhead of doing a lot of document conversion, you can bet that's the route they'll take.

If you're applying for a job that's being filled through a search firm, here's what you need to do:

• Put together a brief resume with lots of buzzwords on it. These folks have a lot of resumes to dig through, and yours is only going to get a few seconds of attention.
• Follow their directions for resume submission. If they have to convert your resume to .doc format, your few seconds are up.
• Make sure your contact information is correct and easy to find. Most of the time, if your resume looks good they'll want to call you to chat in person.
• Remember the headhunter is trying to fill a particular position as fast as possible -- not help you find a job. You're raw material. Don't expect that they'll be willing to go out of their way to help you find exactly the right job. They're going to see if you fit any of the positions they're currently trying to fill.
• If you get an interview with the client company, make sure to ask lots of questions about the company and the position, because the headhunter may have oversold the position to you. Also make sure that the company gets a fair picture of your skills, because the headhunter may have oversold you to them.

Re:Techies Unite!

[Izaak]

If there were a unionization of tech people there wouldn't be this problem.

Uhg what a repulsive thought! Unions are great if you are in a low skill job where the employer can treat you like a replaceable cog in the corporate machine, but if you are in a high skill / high demand field. Do you really want a union dictating wage scale based on seniority? Or making it near impossible to can the code monkey who is dragging down your project?

Personally, I LIKE the fact that I can work as a free agent, define my own work conditions and pay scale, and basically make out like a bandit for doing something I love to do.

Here is a major clue alert. It is a seller's market right now for programmers. YOU are calling the shots. Don't be afraid to ask for what you want.

Thad