Today I received a request that seemed genuine on the surface.  After I thought about it more, I realized I was (ultimately) being asked to make our company liable for $$.   

I’m paraphrasing here, but this is the gist:

“Hi, I don’t like what I’m currently doing and that job over there would be so much better for me because of X, Y and Z.  I’ve been working for you for years, and I depend on this income.  I also know that the job over there is short term, and I can’t come back to this job when that one ends.  Don’t worry, when I’m out of work because that job over there ends, I’ll just file for unemployment.”

Hmm…good for her?  Sure!  Good for us?  No so much.  Unfortunately for this  job hunter, my job in HR is to help limit the company’s liability.  I just can’t grant her request and I’m sure I will be hearing from her again.

Please keep in mind that we take electronic applications.  Not only can we tell when an old application has been updated, but we can also see when someone has submitted a duplicate (or several duplicates) application.  That’s fine – we want everyone to be able to update their information.

What’s funny is this.  These people used to work for us.  These records reflect their performance – good, bad or ugly.  These people do not mention their prior work with our company during their interviews.  To look at their interview results, I have to scroll through their applications, INCLUDING their prior work history with us.  Hmm – no mention of our company and their work while here? 

I wonder if they think, ‘maybe she won’t remember me’ or ‘maybe she won’t know that I was asked to leave for X reason’.  It was worth a shot, but nope – I remember.  And if I don’t remember, the system does!

So a word to the wise…be forthcoming on your applications and any other interactions with a company.  If you’ve had experience with them, just admit it.  It may not be pretty, but you’re a bigger person by acknowledging it and we’ll consider you much more seriously for it!

-NR

This post is a small set of tips for those newbies to the job-seeking world.  They may be students looking for a part-time job or college grads ready to enter the professional world.  What I’m told is these young adults are not taught the skills they need until they have already needed them!  That bothers me.  In fact, that’s why I have a folder full of surprising emails that I use for reference on this blog!

Here are a few tips that I would like to pass along.  They are not law, they are not absolute, and they may not even be agreed upon by others in the field of Human Resources.  What I can tell you though, is that these are things that I encounter EVERY DAY and cause people to get or not get jobs with my company.

1.  Get a resume together.  Have someone proofread it.  Have someone ELSE proofread it.  Now keep it updated!    p.s. – be honest  Nothing will get you fired faster than an employer discovering you lied on your resume.

2.  LOOK FOR JOBS!  They are out there, but they usually won’t come and find you.  Try Monster.com, Yahoo jobs, state and county job banks, job boards for industries that interest you, etc.  You can even find jobs posted in the Thrifty Nickel! 

3.  APPLY for jobs.  When you apply, please, PLEASE send in a cover letter written like a cover letter.  Attach your updated, proofed, and honest resume.  Do not, under any circumstances, submit a cover letter that looks like a text message!  

4.  Follow up.  We recruiter-type people are human.  We do make mistakes.  We occasionally overlook a message.  If you have applied and have not heard back within a few weeks, please follow-up.  In an earlier post I mentioned that my husband got a job BECAUSE he followed up. 

In your job-seeking endeavors, be sure to ask for help.  Lots of people have done this before and will be glad to give you pointers.   You don’t have to go it alone.

That means that we want to know about you and your work history.  In our electronic world, many forms indicate which fields are required and which are optional.  In an application, it is better to include more information than not enough. 

Just because a section isn’t “required”, doesn’t mean you should skip it.  If you check that you have 5 years of experience in sales, and 7 years experience in accounting, I STILL want to know what your responsibilities were.  Maybe include where you worked.  Perhaps tell us how long you were employed.

Check boxes are a quick way for us to see if you have the required number of years of service in a certain field.  Beyond that, we want details man!

Keep in mind that not all companies request or even accept resumes.  When an application is the only way to introduce yourself and your skills, be sure that your introduction is complete!

Happy Applying!

In the past few weeks I have had several friends comment to me that they wish someone would teach/had taught their kids how to look for and secure a job. 

WHAT???  I thought that was part of high school.  As it turns out, not here and not in a few other areas that are nearby.  I am working an a series of posts for newbies to the job seeking world.  I truly think job search skills should be taught early in high school.  Kids need these skills for after school jobs, then later for post-high school and during college jobs.  By the time the start looking in the professional world, those skills should be solid.  Otherwise how will those young people secure a job when there are so many people competing?

More to come!

I honestly thought that this new year would find our company bringing on all sorts of new folks who were rearin’ to go to work.  New year, new job, new motivation, right?  WRONG.  Here’s what really happened:

A new group of people started this week for a well-known client.  They’d been waiting for WEEKS to get started.  On day one, almost FIFTY percent didn’t show up!  Now, when we’re talking 2 people, 1 no-show is 50%.  However, I’m talking about dozens of people and almost 50% backed out.  Not only did they back out, they didn’t bother to let me know about it.  Day one came and went with no word from them; only a big empty spot where those people were supposed to be sitting.  And I’m MAD about it!  These people were excited to get our offer.  They knew when they’d start.  They were perfect for the client.  AND  THEY  DIDN’T  SHOW  UP.

Do you know their odds of getting another offer with us?  Zilch!  But here’s what will happen.  In a few months, whatever better offer kept them from showing up this week will prove to be a dud, or it will end, or whatever.  They’ll come back to me with some lame excuse why they couldn’t join in and another lame excuse as to what kept them from being able to send a simple “I’m sorry” email when it mattered.  And chances are, they’ll expect me to just accept it and give them another job.  Not gonna happen!

Show some accountability!  If you aren’t interested, just say so.  If you accept and later find out you can’t meet a commitment, just say so.  Sure it may be a little embarrassing, but your odds are better for another opportunity later.  I would so much rather have someone let me know last minute that they can’t make it rather than have me expect them and then not show up.  To me, each and every one of these no-shows has proven that they are unreliable to some degree, and unreliable people are people we don’t need.

SO, 2010 has started with a bang.  That is, me hitting my head on the desk with a big BANG.  Let’s hope things go up from here!

“Wooooooooot!  Yes, yes, yes!”

and this:

“Woo Hoo Hot Dog!”

AND this:

“YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS ! I would love to “

What a wonderful feeling.  This is the best part of my job.  Thank you for making my week!

What I find is that job seekers today haven’t heard that advice.  Or, if they have heard it, they don’t heed it.  Now I don’t proclaim to be the all-controlling-job-giver.  Nope.  That’s not me.  But I’ll tell you this, if someone is ugly with me, I remember it.  To make sure I remember it, I’ll make a note on the application that the person was ugly.  I’ll also note just HOW ugly they were.

eat my shit you little slut

shutup

You people are idiots

I don’t do this to be spiteful.  I do this because I work in customer service.  I do this also because I’m sick to death of bad service from stores, restaurants, sales people, etc.  If someone can’t be civil to me, the person who holds the keys to their next desk, what in the world will they do when they get an angry customer on the line?  I shudder to think about it!

Please, remember that we are all human.  Yes – even recruiters.  It pays huge dividends to be kind.  A little patience is nice too.

Are you EVER going to contact me?

I’m embarrassed.  I actually said this.  Of course, I said it to a friend.  And I said it in confidence.  But the sad part is – I meant every word.

After we finished our conversation it occurred to me – I am a grammar snob!

My grammar is far from perfect.  Frankly, spell check is my friend because it catches my mistakes and points them out before I hit “send”.  However, if it can do it for me, why can’t it do the same for this professional person in a leadership position in my city?

And just HOW did this happen to me in the first place?  I’m a pretty down to earth type of person.  High maintenance, uppity, pompous, and other unflattering phrases like that aren’t what I proclaim to be.  (a little support here please?)

Look at that sentence up there.  I even end sentences in prepositions!  How can I be a grammar snob?

However it happened, it happened.  I can’t help it.  It hurts my head to read messages with glaring grammar mistakes.  It really hurts my head to see bunches of mistakes in the same message.  I draw conclusions that can’t be right.  But it keeps happening.  And even worse – I keep pointing it out to others!  ACK!

Maybe it goes back to me being a hyper-sensitive people pleaser.  Mistakes get to me, and they get to me fast.  I also worry what other people might think if I send them a message with mistakes throughout.  So, I fret about my correspondence being ultra-correct so that others aren’t offended by typos I might have made.  (I suspect they aren’t)

This just goes to show you that you never know who you’re dealing with when submitting that next job application.  Keep in mind that I, or someone as weird as me, might be on the receiving end of that resume.  The moral of this story…proof accordingly!

“I have no idea who you are.”

Me:  “OK, thanks for the update.  D. O. N. E.”  Email then goes promptly to my trash folder.

Or this person:

“Can you please tell me how you got my information.”

Me:  “Well, I got your information from the application that YOU sent me!!”  so THAT email also goes promptly to the trash.  And one other thing – questions usually end in a question MARK.    Not that I’m trying to be picky…

It’s Friday, so I have a few days to get over it.  Have a great weekend!