Barriers to job applications getting ridiculous

[pete6032]

I miss the old days of cover letter + resume. I just applied for a Mid/Senior level consulting job that asked for the following:

Cover letter
Resume
Graduate transcripts
Undergraduate transcripts
Writing sample
1 hour quiz/personality assessment

I have been out of grad school for 7 years now and they want to know how I did in college and graduate school and have me take a 1-hour quiz of logic problems and work style questionnaire, all before even talking to anyone. That's nuts. It's a good company but definitely not a top tier firm.

 

[ultimatebob]

That sounds like a total waste of time.

I've found that the best way to get into a company is to know someone on the inside who can bypass HR and get your resume to the hiring manager directly.

A reference from brianmanahan helps as well, as his work skills are legendary.

 

[s0me0nesmind1]

It's because a lot of the jobs today are just about rubbing the right balls I mean shoulders for getting the position.

My last... 2 jobs were recruiter based (1 was internal recruiter, the other was external recruiter) where essentially they interviewed me and then AFTER I pretty much had won the job they then had me fill out an application where nothing was really asked other than standard info (Name, address, work experience, school, etc.).

My job prior to those 2 were through a good friend of family who was a partner at a Big 4.


I've also never written a cover letter and I never will. If the average time spent on a resume is ~6 seconds (or whatever it is, I forget the exact time) - then what the fuck do you think happens to a cover letter? References are dumb as well, you might as well call it "Here is a list of people that I made friends with and won't shit on me".

Agree with @ultimatebob . Fuck filling out stupid childish shit.

 

[shortylickens]

That sounds like a total waste of time.

I've found that the best way to get into a company is to know someone on the inside who can bypass HR and get your resume to the hiring manager directly.

A reference from brianmanahan helps as well, as his work skills are legendary.

Every civilian job I've acquired has been thru some sort of placement agency. Direct applications NEVER work for me. Also they do almost all of the work.
Was surprised when I found my most recent job though. Had to submit to a background check and citizenship verification and a couple other things.
I work in a boiler room.

 

[sdifox]

Every civilian job I've acquired has been thru some sort of placement agency. Direct applications NEVER work for me. Also they do almost all of the work.
Was surprised when I found my most recent job though. Had to submit to a background check and citizenship verification and a couple other things.
I work in a boiler room.

Chekov?

 

[Red Squirrel]

They do on purpose, they want to make the process as painful as possible so people either don't bother or they mess up a step, then they can show they tried to hire someone but nobody was qualified, then they outsource it or higher a TFW for cheaper.

Same deal with lot of tech jobs asking for 10 years of experience in technology that has not even been out that long.

 

[sandorski]

You just lazy due to all that sweet free Covid money......

 

[purbeast0]

If I saw a job requirement that needed all of those to apply I would immediately close the tab and never want to work for that company. That alone tells me that the company is one that I would never ever want to work for.

 

[s0me0nesmind1]

Just to clarify: I still fill out applications like that - I just don't address it. I think I've had cases where it asks for stuff like a Cover Letter and it required a PDF/Doc upload... so made a blank one and uploaded it heh.

Same thing with required fields for shit like GPA..... I graduated ~10 years ago now or so, do you honestly think I know or care about my GPA? Enter 4.0 and move on. Things like that matter for "Straight out of college" jobs - not mine or anyone else that are already in the working world.

In general I'm just an overall fan of shoot fish in a barrel as far as applying for jobs. Make them HR monkeys work a little

 

[Exterous]

Hmmm...I don't even know where my transcripts are. Come to think of it I don't even remember what is on them just that it was more than enough to graduate

 

[Artorias]

What jobs even ask for an GPA? An intern position straight out of school I understand, but anything that requires even some previous work experience has no need to ask that.

Grades in school only matter to get your foot in for a first job, after that its all about how you actually preform at work.

 

[zinfamous]

Seems kinda nuts, but also sounds like an attempt weed out the actual thinking people from those managed to acquire the same paper despite their own worst efforts.

 

[Greenman]

In one of my brief stints as an employee I was hired to run operations in Northern California. A couple of weeks after starting I get an email from HR asking for my resume. I called the fellow that hired me and asked "why the fuck do they want my resume?". Turns out it was a real big deal to HR, and after ignoring continued requests for a few weeks I got a call from the guy who hired me, "give them your fucking resume".
My first brush with corporate politics, and I lost.

 

[sactoking]

I could see an employer asking for a transcript to verify that you have the degree you're claiming, especially if you're in a visible enough position, given all of the big media coverage of that over the past decade or two.

 

[s0me0nesmind1]

I could see an employer asking for a transcript to verify that you have the degree you're claiming, especially if you're in a visible enough position, given all of the big media coverage of that over the past decade or two.

verifying a degree comes with a background check.

Asking for a transcript is asking for GPA and grades for each class.... entirely separate things...

Also, like I said - this is something that is only asked for by "opening careers" where the typical applicant doesn't have prior experience to compare with.

 

[sactoking]

Does a standard commercial background check verify education? I thought it verified criminal history, liens, address, etc. But didn't think it verified education.

 

[Red Squirrel]

I would imagine they can get that info too. That's why you don't want to lie, they are probably going to check it themselves before you actually get hired if you do make it that far. I'm not sure if it's actually illegal to lie or not though but I suppose it would definitely get you fired if they find out after you've beene hired.

 

[Fenixgoon]

That sounds like a total waste of time.

I've found that the best way to get into a company is to know someone on the inside who can bypass HR and get your resume to the hiring manager directly.

A reference from brianmanahan helps as well, as his work skills are legendary.

Can confirm. My current job I got because a friend called me up and asked if I wanted to apply. Put in my resume and a cover letter. Phone interview a day later, in person interview 5 days later (which required to fly to site), and an on-the-spot job offer (which I totally wasn't expecting).

 

[pete6032]

What's funny is that both of my career jobs I have had came from submitting applications to places where I didn't know anyone. I guess I am an outlier in that sense.

 

[SonicBlisk]

It's a waste of time if you are an outstanding specialist. Why didn't you thought of working as a remote qa tester jobs? There you could choose the domain that suits you better. Also, you have the right to choose between part-time and full-time employment. You would also have a lot of perspective for the future. Also, they are not checking your grades from high school, but they are testing your skills and offer you a training course to increase your abilities. I'm afraid I have to disagree with companies that request your graduate transcripts.

 

[blackangst1]

It's so hard to get a good job now...

Depends on what field youre looking in.

 

[shortylickens]

Depends on what field youre looking in.

I bet a hundred bucks he's got some way to fix all your problems, with the 21st century equivalent of snake oil.

 

[blackangst1]

I bet a hundred bucks he's got some way to fix all your problems, with the 21st century equivalent of snake oil.

lol just noticed his join date and post count

 

[brianmanahan]

lol just noticed his join date and post count

his job is selling free ipods

 

[Captante]

And companies wonder why they end up hiring incompetents half the time despite all this nonsense.

Simply shocking that deciding which candidates deserve to have their resumes reviewed by a live human who is familiar which the jobs actual requirements based on use of trendy "buzz-words" results in hiring complete idiots a lot of the time.

Thing is actually interviewing and determining if a person can actually DO a job effectively (or even show up for it on time/regularly) requires EFFORT and is as much an art as a science.