Some folks I have coached have said, "It's depressing to think that most job openings are never posted. How am I supposed to know what jobs are really out there?"
It's Like Deep Sea Fishing
I like to compare on-line recruiting to deep sea fishing. A business owner is looking for a sword fish. He puts his bait (job posting) in the sea and the bait attracts a large number of fish, unfortunately, most of them are "carp." They are not sword fish...they are carp. They are not qualified for the position, but these carp feed off of every job in hopes that they'll be considered for "something" available.
Here's What Happens
As a recruiter myself, here's what I see. I post a job opening on Friday morning or afternoon. This gives candidates, particularly those who aren't working on the weekends, the opportunity to look at the jobs recently posted. I will invariably receive over 200 resumes over the weekend, and by Monday morning, I remove the job opening. It's too much. I can't do a really effective screening of 200 resumes. Instead, it's a weeding out process. Try to narrow it down to the top 10. So, the 190 resumes that were weeded out, unfortunately never hear anything back.
On-Line Postings Age Quickly
I tell folks, (who do happen to use on-line searches), in many cases, a job that's been posted for longer than a week is already "dead." It's been saturated with resumes. You won't likely get even a look. So, if you're going to consider applying on-line, which is still ok, just know that you have to hit it when the job is freshly posted, and make sure your resume stands out.
"So," you ask, "if on-line job searches is somewhat a waste of time, then what's a better idea?" Next time, I'll talk about the effectiveness of networking to find the next great job.
Kathleen Lapekas - PHR
Action HR Consulting
For Personal Attention To Personnel Matters...http://www.actionhrconsultant.com/
No comments:
Post a Comment