A friend of mine was applying for an IT position posted on a staffing/recruiting company website. The position was for Director of IT for a Dallas energy company and it seemed like a good fit for her.
She went to the staffing agency website, entered in the basic info and uploaded her resume. She was then sent to a secondary page for more details (Contact info, etc). After filling out the contact information, she was directed to a page that had specific questions related to the job.
Imagine her surprise when she starts answering the questions and gets to #4…there’s no question (See image below). Question #5 has no question either…yet both ‘questions’ are required before you can proceed.
(Click Image for larger view)
She took a second to think about the type of company that would would require someone to fill out an answer for a non-existent question. She surmised that it was a simple mistake…we all make mistakes right? She decided to go ahead and submit the answers and she wrote “this question doesn’t exist” on #4 and #5…and took a screen shot just to be on the safe side.
She’s glad she did. She received an email a few days later stating “Because you didn’t answer all of the questions, your resume isn’t being considered for this position”. She responded with #4 and #5 being blank and sent them the screenshot, which they flatly refused to accept.
Needless to say…she wasn’t’ real heartbroken by not getting an interview. She passed along this story (and screenshot) to me and I immediately asked to use it on my blog (which she agreed to of course).
Moral of this story? If you use technology to screen candidates, at least make sure it works.
7 responses to “The job hunt”
That is insane. That company should not be allowed to exist.
Another reason we need to focus on the “human” side of Human Resources!
Bet your friend didn’t lose any sleep over the lame response and best of luck to her in finding a great position with a solid company!
Raven – Spot on comment. That’s exactly what people need to start doing…focusing on the ‘human’ side of the equation.
Two points…
I’m fond of the expression “we eat our own dogfood”. IT should use what it builds, if possible, and it should sit with or try the role of the user. I’m an IT consultant, and in every applications project I’ve managed, I tried as much of the application as possible. It’s eye opening.
Point two: Your friend has a great opportunity here. She should call the appropriate executive – HR or IT, as she thinks best, offering to help fix their recruiting! Press the case and ask how many resumes were accepted. I’ll bet they have a real problem with the return on their site investment!
Steve
Stephen – Great point….and your are correct. We should eat our food…if we build it, we should use it.
I’ll pass your Point Two along to her and see what happens.
Thanks!
Eric
About.com just released their Top 10 List of the best employment sites:
http://jobsearch.about.com/od/joblistings/tp/jobbanks.htm
If you’re looking for a job, I’d start there
Maurice – Thanks for the link. I’ll pass that along to a few folks who are looking.