I recently realized that a lot of my online job hunting was falling short not only of getting a job, but even applying properly. In my mind, I had sent out dozens of queries, while in reality, I have spent several evenings reaching new peaks of technological frustration.
Here is the On-line Job Hunting Process, as experienced by me:
1. Find an interesting, or even excellent, looking company that is looking to hire. Check out the amazing array of positions I am totally qualified for. Notice all but "janitor" require a college degree. And "janitor" requires fluency in Spanish.
2. Find a similar looking company with lower standards that is also hiring. Find a position, and then edit my resume to match that position to a "T," as instructed by HR mentor.
3. Go back to the website and click "apply on-line." Spend twenty minutes creating an online account which is denied because of incompatability with the Firefox web browser. Move to PC in office which has Internet Explorer.
4. Repeat step 3 and discover that the PC in the office is actually, in the eyes of this website, a glorified Abacus. Move back onto laptop, this time boot up Windows 7 instead of Ubuntu.
5. Repeat step 3 and start filling out on-line application. Suddenly realize that my updated resume is on this laptop, but saved on the Ubuntu system, not Windows. Can't get to it from here, or even open the copy sent by e-mail for some reason.
6. Click the button that says "save and finish later," restart computer using different boot menu, and spend some time transporting a beautiful but useless resume from the Ubuntu Word program to a more compatible system.
7. Eventually make my way back to website and log-in to find that my half-finished application was not saved, as was expected, but SENT. Half-finished, lacking any useful information.
8. Freak out and decide to download Adobe version of application. Thoughtlessly download to laptop, which makes filling out all those little fields very difficult due to finicky tiny keyboard and over-sensitive mouse-pad. E-mail half-finished, tediously typed copy to self so as to finish on the PC.
9. Oh yeah. You can't save, much less e-mail, information on this Godforsaken form. Save under a different name...why can't you do that with this form? Why are there only two choices: print or save blank copy?
10. Save it as a text document, and discover that all the fields are wonky. Half the typed information won't show up, would have to totally re-create the form for this to work...
11. Realize it is 1 in the morning and I have been at this since noon. Go to sleep.
12. As I sleep, convince myself I actually accomplished something. Then feel frustrated when employer never calls.
...I did finally fax an application (downloaded, filled out, and printed) the day before yesterday, and intend to do so on a regular basis in the future. I'll consider all this hassle practice for a future in bureaucratic paper shuffling!
5 comments:
Online applications are horrible. They take forever and they can't adapt for nontraditional applicants. I wouldn't let your lack of a college degree stop you from applying some places. A lot of times, hiring manages will accept experience in place of some education.
Yes, online applications stink. But once you have one for a company, usually the next one for that company is not so bad.
As for applying for jobs where you don't have all the qualifications, sometimes your application will get chucked immediately, and sometimes they will realize that the qualifications they said they wanted aren't the qualifications they really wanted. After my boss's boss got hired without having the REQUIRED master's degree (only a bachelor's degree), I vowed I would apply for any job I thought I could do, regardless of whether I had the stated qualifications.
I have friends who apply for jobs they don't even know how to do, planning to learn on the job, and they do.
I'd say in general, it's easiest to get a job when you know somebody. And if you don't (none of my friends are working in fields I have any interest in), it's easiest to get jobs with either high turnover or where they need a bunch of people at once. In other words, desperate places. But you can move up (and out) from there. (Or not--sometimes there's nothing even wrong with jobs like that.)
Following up on what Debbie said, I agree that it is easier to get a job when you know someone at the company. However, if you have a target company, you may know people who know people there. This is the premise of LinkedIn, which my husband used to find his last job. So if you have a target company, ask around among your friends to see if they know anyone there. Then ask them to help you set up an informational interview with their connection. This allows you to (a) learn if you'd really like working there and (b) if a = yes, then you now know someone internally.
Employers are always looking for competent people with a passion for what they do. For instance, we need a new hourly worker here at the farm, but we aren't posting online, because it takes a full-time HR person to sort through the trash that you get from an online posting for the few nuggets of gold. Instead, we are asking around the people we know have an interest in sustainable food of they know anyone they think might be interested. (btw, if you know anyone you think might be, you have my contact info:)
So if you have an idea of what you are looking for, ask around everyone you know, from your co-workers to the guy you strike up a conversation with at the bus stop. Your job may be floating around out there, just waiting for you to ask the right person about it. Don't give up hope!
Yes, ask around family and friends. A career coach once told me that up to ten hours a day should be devoted to active job searching and networking. You mentioned you did data entry, could you do more of the same in a corporate setting. Your computer skills seem very good so perhaps you could emphasize them.
Can you go to an employment agency or take temporary office work, very often they will offer you permanent work eventually.
Good luck and dont forget when the job application process is driving you nuts - its all part of the process !
Following up on what Lizzie said, you also can write. This is sadly rare, especially in technical companies. I know a guy who only interviewed okay for his last job, but he blew away the favorite candidate with his essay (required at the interview) and got the job, which he still has today, several years later. (By "blew away," I mostly mean that the other guy had an embarrassingly bad essay and my friend's had basic things you get taught in elementary school.) Nowadays with younger people accidentally writing in texting lingo, you'd look even better.
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