Eight Things Job-Seekers Are Sick Of Hearing. Have you experienced this?

PO1 John Miller — Wed, 04 Nov 2015 05:03:24 -0500

How many of you have experienced all or any of this when interviewing for a job?

Job seekers put up with a lot of grief. They take a tremendous amount of abuse from thoughtless recruiters and clueless corporate interviewers.

Sometimes their friends and family members make things worse by asking them “Haven’t you found a job yet?” or suggesting that they’d be back in the workforce already if they’d just stop being so choosy.

Here are eight things job-seekers are sick of hearing, with suggestions for how to respond to each brainless remark.

http://news.monster.com/a/business/eight-things-jobseekers-are-sick-of-hearing-3aa60a?intcid=Sec2_P1&wt.mc_n=CRM_US_B2C_NEWS_Exp_151102

Eight Things Job-Seekers Are Sick Of Hearing - Monster.com

Job seekers put up with a lot of grief. They take a tremendous amount of abuse from thoughtless recruiters and clueless corporate interviewers.Sometimes their friends and family members make things worse by asking them “Haven’t you found a job yet?” or suggesting that they’d be back in the workforce already if they’d  just stop being so choosy.Here are eight things job-seekers are sick of hearing,

Response by SCPO David Lockwood made Nov 4 at 2015 8:12 AM

SCPO David Lockwood — Wed, 04 Nov 2015 08:12:34 -0500

Never had anything like that ask of me.

Response by COL Vincent Stoneking made Nov 4 at 2015 10:23 AM

COL Vincent Stoneking — Wed, 04 Nov 2015 10:23:48 -0500

Speaking as a hiring manager, the second one (about volunteering) is flat-out wrong. Volunteering is NOT the same as paid work, for a number of reasons. The very first is accountability. A close second and third are organizational authority and dynamics. Fourth is rounded out by the fact that you likely were not competitively "hired" for that position. Rounding out the top five is the fact that volunteers often get to make up their own titles and "job descriptions."

The part of the answer about "pay for previous engagements" not being anyone's business is also flat-out wrong. Compensation levels are often used as a proxy for understanding organizational authority. It's very rough, but it's better than nothing. A "Director of Marketing" who made $80K a year and had a staff of 7 is an entirely different beast than a "Director of Marketing" who made $0 a year and "worked with" 23 volunteers and donors.

NOTE: None of the above should be seen as disparaging volunteerism or volunteers. When I hire people, I more often than not will look at volunteer gigs positively (depending on the overall package). A good interviewee will spin it as a decided positive due to the nature of volunteer gigs - "I had to get things done working with stakeholders with multiple different interests, where I had no official authority. This required me to get very good at understanding other's needs and crafting win-win solutions that everyone could get behind. An example is when we needed to...."
But don't try to hide/misrepresent the nature of the gig. When I find out on the reference check (and I will.... despite what you were told about how nobody checks them or shares anything), THEN it will be an issue that you can't overcome.

Response by Capt Seid Waddell made Nov 4 at 2015 10:29 AM

Capt Seid Waddell — Wed, 04 Nov 2015 10:29:10 -0500

Yes. It is all in the game and probably for the best. It is better to find out that there is no fit with a company during the interview process than to find out six months into the new job.

Response by CSM David Heidke made Nov 4 at 2015 10:35 AM

CSM David Heidke — Wed, 04 Nov 2015 10:35:09 -0500

There are tons of problems with today's recruiting process that will jump up and destroy HR when the economy gets good enough for the job seeker to have the upper hand again.

And HR is arrogant in the way they do things and respond to criticism. I've done it on LinkedIn. I went to a HR forum and told them that they have an adversarial relationship with the job seeker and people get jobs in spite of and around them rather than with their help. They didn't like my comments and I don't really care.

The resume software era has given companies candidates who can write to fool the system and not who can actually do the job. LinkedIn gives real quality job seekers the ability to go around the morass of HR and go right to someone who can get your name in front of the hiring manager. It's HR's nightmare. They become a lot less relevant.

I would love to see more articles about how companies are shooting themselves in the foot when it comes to hiring competent people.

Response by SPC(P) Private RallyPoint Member made Nov 4 at 2015 11:28 AM

SPC(P) Private RallyPoint Member — Wed, 04 Nov 2015 11:28:54 -0500

A lot of these things in the article are simply a way for recruiters to allow you the opportunity to expand on your resume and show your salesmanship. I tell everyone that the most important thing you can learn to get yourself hired is salesmanship, because really, you are the product you are trying to sell to employers. You have to know your value, know what you want, and clearly sell that to the employer no different than you would a piece of equipment. If you are trying to sell a $100 piece of equipment to someone for $200 you are not likely to make a sale. If you are underselling it, it is going to be viewed as 'cheap' or 'having something wrong with it' and you are likely to have a hard time making the sale. If you walk into an interview confident that you are selling your skills, experience, talent, etc at exactly what it is worth and you sell that to the employer you will be hired. Exemplify in the interview how the experience you have will make the companies production more efficient (why you, not them), be clear and up front about what YOU want out of the job, and find out what THEY want out of you so there are no misunderstandings over expectations.

Response by Tom Warner made Nov 4 at 2015 2:53 PM

Tom Warner — Wed, 04 Nov 2015 14:53:56 -0500

Response by SSG Private RallyPoint Member made Nov 5 at 2015 7:39 PM

SSG Private RallyPoint Member — Thu, 05 Nov 2015 19:39:48 -0500

I'm a recruiter myself and I get to the point. You either know what you're talking about or you don't. show me confidence and also explain your answers. We don't know you, all we know is what you have on paper.

I love to help everyone, but especially our veterans. I know what is like to not have a job and have a family to feed. please google interview techniques and be able to elaborate on what it is that you do.

Carlos