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What Employers Need To Know About Job Applicants
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| What Employers Need To Know About Job Applicants |
| 05.08.04 (3:36 pm) [edit] |
Note: My concerns expressed here only apply to those employers who do what I believe needs to be fixed otherwise they are adding to the problem of the growing unemployment rate, focusing on that which does not answer the question they need answered: Can this person do what I need done in this position?
1. If a job is posted as being open - it should be. Employers and temp services need to stop posting jobs that aren't real and stop collecting resumes for 'IF' jobs. Job applicants spend a lot of time looking for suitable positions. The least employers could do is stop wasting their time with posting positions that do not exist.
2. Job applicants spend a lot of time crafting their resumes. The least any employer should do is read the resume before the interview not during it.
3. Employers need to stop always looking for what is wrong about a person when they read their application or their resume and start reading these materials with the sole focus of: 'Can this person do what I need done for this position?'
4. If employers are going to behaviorally interview a job applicant then they should expect and accept they can be behaviorally analyzed too. Otherwise, employers ought to realize job applicants don't like to be psychologically analyzed anymore then they do.
5. Job applicants cannot read the minds of the employers evaluating their resumes for a position and therefore cannot write the resume specific to what the employer wants to read. They can write to the job description, but not the reader.
6. Employers need to stop telling job applicants their resumes need to be redone. Instead, the employer should give examples of resumes they would like to see. Otherwise, the employer's comments are of no use at all to the job applicant.
7. Employers need to stop asking stupid and insulting questions during interviews especially when their answers are already indicated or implied in the resume or application. For example, if the job applicant shows years of purchasing experience the employer should not have to ask if the job applicant has ever filled out a purchase order. Such an inquiry is simply insulting to the job applicant and tells the job applicant the employer is either unprepared for the interview or isn't all that smart or both.
8. Employers need to stop thinking that job applicants will be sticking around for long periods of time if they accept a position that pays near or at minimum wage or an entry level salary. Employers need to be realistic that most job applicants are not looking to spend an eternity in a low paying job. The only time an employer should seek a long term applicant is if they know the applicant does not need the position to live on.
9. Employers are always demanding that job applicants polish their skills without ever considering polishing their own hiring skills or keeping up with the changing job-seeking environment.
10. Employers need to start spending serious time reading resumes and stop complaining they don't have the time. Job applicants take a lot of time learning about the companies they wish to land a position in, crafting their resumes for the position they are applying to, sending out their resumes for the position and in completing the employer's application process. The least employers could do is spend more time learning about the people interested in the positions they have open. Employers need to stop acting as if they are in a resume speed-reading contest. They also need to stop thinking they have to read every single resume they ever get for an open position. They don't. With the amount of money employers plan on paying to an applicant for any position they have open they owe it to themselves to be spending more time in reading the resumes they receive for the position. After all, job applicants need to know that since they are going to give a lot to the employer if they land the position that the employer will be giving a lot back to them for doing so. That needs to come across during the hiring process.
11. Every employer that posts an open position needs to acknowledge job applicants they have REALLY received their resume and/or application materials. Employers need to stop sending out replies without actually seeing the resume and/or application materials. For those open positions applied to online employers need to acknowledge those who apply with a bit more then the reply that comes with hitting the submit button which sends out a reply regardless of whether or not a resume or online application was actually received on the employer's side. Submit buttons online simply call a software routine to email a reply.
12. Employers need to personally test their online application process. Too many times it is clear to the job applicant that this has never been done.
13. Employers need to know that job applicants are pretty tired having to justify every tiny bit of space between jobs. Employers need to stop asking for such information as it does not apply to the positions they have open unless the applicant wants to supply such information.
14. Employers need to stop asking for a job applicant's social security number on an application. This number should only be asked when filling out the W-4 forms for tax purposes.
15. Employers need to stop doing credit checks on job applicants unless they can supply the same information about themselves to job applicants.
16. Employers need to have read the job description advertising the open position prior to the interview. Most don't.
17. Employers need to stop lying about keeping applicant materials on file. Job applicants know this isn't true. If it were true - employers would hardly ever have to advertise open positions asking for more resumes and applications when they would have so many of these materials on file.
18. Employers need to be on time when they set a time for a phone interview.
19. Employers should invite an applicant to the company for an interview if the applicant lives nearby instead of doing a phone interview. Otherwise, job applicants feel like a number or that they are unimportant or that the employer is trying to hide something from them.
20. Employers should look up and confirm if an applicant's resume and/or application has been received. Too many times job applicants learn the employer never received their materials. Employers need to stop complaining they don't have the time, the resources or the means. Job seekers know better. Afterall, if the employer can't look up the information for the job applicant then how can the employer find it? And if employers don't have the time to look up if applicant's materials have been received because adequate resources have not been put in place to do so then the position should not have been announced in the first place. If the employer isn't willing to show as hard of work in filling the position as the job applicant is working to get the position then the employer should not start the process till they are ready.
21. Employers need to give positive feedback and real reasons as to why a job applicant was not considered for a position instead of sending out blanket letters of rejection with the politically correct, public relations, corporate communications, business appropriate, least liability and snobbery flair. If employers want job applicants to better meet their needs then the applicant needs informative and useful feedback. Otherwise, job applicants have nothing to work with the next time they apply for a position with the employer and the employer has no reason to be complaining applicants aren't meeting their needs.
22. Some employers are obsessed with hiring only the 'best' people. They claim, for instance, those with degrees from private colleges are of a better 'pedigree'. They also claim those from the biggest name companies are automatically better then those from lesser known companies. And if you are over the age of 45 then you can't possibly be an effective contributing member of any company then those who are younger. In other words, you don't fit their perception of who is their idea of the 'best'. Employers need to know they tread on unfounded assumptions and project prejudice that could land their companies with employees who turn out not meeting their expectations necessary to meet the requirements of the positions they will be working in. Employers need to know job applicants want fair consideration based not on how elite the school is they attended, how old they are, what big name companies they have worked for, but on what they have learned, what they have acquired from their experience, what they know, have actually accomplished, and how they are able to translate their background to what needs to be done in the open position they have applied to.
23. Employers need to stop playing games when they announce their open positions. One game includes experimenting with what day to post the openings. Most of us applicants will search on Sundays because some of us work on the weekdays. Don't post your openings on days when we are less likely to be looking hoping to snag someone that looks everyday as if that is something of value. Those of us that plan on Sundays to look are just as valuable if not more so because we plan our weeks to fit in job searching. We also look on Sundays because that's been the norm for when jobs are posted. Employers need to realize that if they don't post their openings on Sunday they lose out on valuable candidates.
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