The Search for a Job - One Man's Experience and Advice

The Search for a Job – One Man’s Experience and Advice

A Selection of Essays Originally Published on LinkedIn.com

Copyright 2014 by Terry A. Maiers

All Rights Reserved

ISBN: 978-1-312-82234-4

Chapter One

HR – An Outsider’s Perspective

Terry A. Maiers

Project Manager, Researcher, Analyst, Designer, Seeker - Connect @ [email protected]

HR Lingo an Outsider's View - Part One

Jan 1, 2015

Introduction

This article is the first of a few that I will be writing over the next several days (I am not sure how many there will be at this point though). As someone who is actively seeking a new position I come across many phrases and descriptions in job postings that seem to indicate a real desire of the company to hire someone. They also use language that in other forums people are told not to use in their resume's because they are passe and out of date. These articles will look at each of these phrases from the perspective of people in the company and the applicant. (It must be noted here that I have not worked in or been involved in the Human Resources department of any company on a full time basis. The perspectives provided are those I have heard about through various connections and associates throughout my career.)

XYZ Company has an immediate need for (insert title)!

Definition

The Merriam-Webster online dictionary defines immediate as:

im·me·di·ate

adjective \i-ˈmē-dē-ət, British often -ˈmē-jit\

: happening or done without delay

: happening or existing now

: important now

Perspectives

CEO - From my experience in dealing with senior level executives they have a far different definition of what immediate means. When they say that they want something immediately, they actually actually wanted whatever it is yesterday or the day before. Since they could not have it then they want it as soon as it can be delivered.

Line Supervisor - The people in these types of positions have a similar definition as the CEO but for a different reason. The reasoning here is often times related to the fact that unless they get the help they need, these people will be completing the work themselves instead of doing the supervisory duties.

Line Worker - Unlike the supervisor and management the immediate needs of the line worker is probably the truest form of immediate need. The reason is that if the people in this area of a company do not get what they need then the whole process will breakdown and the company will lose money because they are not producing the products or services they sell.

Human Resources - Out of all of the people or divisions in a company the HR department has the broadest definition of immediate than anyone else. The reason has a certain amount of logic to it from a logistics point of view. This is based on what I think is estimated amounts of time required for the hiring process. Let’s do a quick survey of those requirements. These requirements include:

Developing and advertising for the position - 7 to 10 days

Advertising time frame - 7 to 14 days

Resume' & Application Review - 10 to 21 days

Contacting candidates - 7 days

Interviewing - 14 to 21 day

Evaluation of interviews - 7 days

Second round of interviews - 7 to 10 days

Evaluation and decision - 7 days

Job offer and acceptance - 7 days

Start of employment - 7 to 21 days

I will admit that these estimates may be out of line depending on the size of the organization that is doing the hiring because a sole proprietor can make the decision the very minute they find someone they like. At the same time larger organizations may have longer or shorter periods of time for their process. It is also possible that the processes make actually take longer. But if for the sake of argument we assume that the hiring for an immediate position is the very lowest time frame indicated above, then the process will take a total of 11 1/2 weeks before the person starts doing the job they were hired to do. That is almost 25% of the entire year!

Does that seem like something immediate?

Side Note

If there is one thing more frustrating than going through the whole process of applying for an immediate position that you believe you are fully qualified for and available to start immediately is seeing that same position posted two to three weeks after you sent in your information! This is probably the result of your resume' not having made it through the Applicant Tracking System (ATS) because you did not have all of the keywords the system was programmed to look for. Oh well, that topic something I have already covered in a previous article.

Image Credits

Sr. Project Manager

Terry A. Maiers

Project Manager, Researcher, Analyst, Designer, Seeker - Connect @ [email protected]

HR Lingo - An Outsider's View - Part Two

Jan 4, 2015

Recruitment - Resume' Writing Disconnect

Words Not to Use in a Resume'

Ms. Susan Adams of Forbes Magazine wrote an article titled The Best and Worst Words to Use on Your Resume'. Her list of the top 17 words not to use are:

1. Best of breed

2. Go-getter

3. Think outside of the box

4. Synergy

5. Go-to person

6. Thought leadership

7. Value add

8. Results-driven

9. Team player

10. Bottom-line

11. Hard worker

12. Strategic thinker

13. Dynamic

14. Self-motivate

15. Detail-oriented

16. Proactively

17. Track record

Some of these I am not sure I have ever seen in any type of job description posting or as Ms. Adams says "The top turn-off term, best of breed, strikes me as odd. I’ve never seen it on a résumé and wonder if CareerBuilder crossed its wires with a dog show description." However many of them appear on a regular basis. In this article I am not going to write much opinion of these terms, instead I am going to let actual job postings speak for themselves to show the disconnection between what HR is writing and what applicants are being advised to put in their resume'.

To save you the reader the time in doing the analysis of each of these searches I have provided the analysis below.

So, what exactly does this mean to the applicant? Simply that you have to make the decision on what you include in your resume' to make it past the Applicant Tracking System that is looking for keywords. You also have to be careful of what you read and believe when it comes to those people providing suggestions on what you should have in your resume'. There is an apparent disconnect between the recruitment process of the HR department and the advice provided by resume' writers or employment