Will the Phone Ever Ring?

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I must say I get more phone calls from professional IT staff looking for new opportunities this year than we did last.  I was asked by one why we do not call every single person that applies back.  I thought about it a moment and actually believe that it would be a huge difference between us and other companies if we simply called each and every applicant.  But the time involved with the amount of applicants would pull key staff away from tasks that are essential to the operations.  I looked across the internet, read some blog postings on the subject and although I agree with some of the conclusions, I believe they are all missing one of the most important reasons the majority of professionals do not get calls back from resumes that are submitted.

Referencing it before and I will certainly do it again, www.glassdoor.com, had a great post on the subject.  Take a look at the post called “Why Employers won’t call me back” and they cover most of the basics.  However it appears to me that one of the most critical reasons is consistently or intentionally being left out.  Possibly because it is politically incorrect, or people do not want to address the issue head on.  Applying for roles that you are not qualified for is the biggest issue when looking at the volume of applicants today.  HR and hiring managers must take time to sift through hundreds of resumes per position, only to quickly realize more than 50% do not meet even the lowest level of screening.  That takes time, wasted time, and it causes HR and managers to not want to call applicants back simply out of frustration.  Why are cooks applying for IT jobs requiring 7 yrs experience when all they have is an Associate’s degree?  Possibly the applicants do not realize the negative impact this behavior causes but there are several situations which arise from this method of applying.

  1. Managers cannot adequately take the time needed to screen the resumes that are solid fits, as they have a limited time slot to review resumes.  This causes quick reviews and the possibility of missing qualified applicants due to the shortage of time managers have for such activity.
  2. Frustration building reference finding the right candidate.  When the first 10 resumes reviewed do not meet the skills, managers might stop reviewing fearing the entire stack is the same and the effort is a waste of time.
  3. Blasting resumes out and applying for anything and everything also works in the negative for the emotional perspective of the candidate applying.  “I sent out a 100 resumes and no one called me back”.  That breeds a behavioral outlook that no good jobs matching your skills are available even though that might not be the case at all.

Apply for jobs that you fit.  Apply for jobs that you have the basic skills for.  Apply for jobs in your industry or ones where transferable skills are allowed and match up.  Be smart; do not waste your time or the managers.  It is better to send out 10 targeted responses, follow up with those resumes with a phone call, try to meet a hiring authority, and have a plan to address the position than it is blanket the city with resumes and have no focus.  You might here more is better, but that is not the truth.  If you want responses, stay focused on what you do well and the skills you know.  This will allow for your search to gain traction and supply you with some much needed positive momentum

By Jason, Workfanatic

By Marie Larsen