Unreasonable job qualifications

[IronWing]

What annoys me is when public agencies tailor their listing to the person they already have picked for the job. When I was job hunting last I came across a listing for a guy I went to school with. He was literally the only person on planet earth who met the desired qualifications. "Must have a PhD with research emphasis in xxx in this geographic area, 5 yrs experience with tatter twaddler yyy, and a publications history in zzz." Tatter twaddler yyy had been invented by the guy's research advisor about five years prior and this guy was the only one who knew how to run it. I was further annoyed because the agency did not have such a machine, no way to obtain such a machine, and no foreseeable need for the machine. They just wanted to make damn sure no one else would qualify for the position. He got the job.

 

[IcePickFreak]

Seems like most places want someone with 5+ years of experience in essentially their own place. There's so many variations of software, machines, etc and they want you to have a bunch of experience in their specific combination.

Machinist is probably the worst where they want you to have experience with a ACME Widget Press from 1956, after all there is still 12 of them in operation in the continental US. Then of course you need to be familiar with ASDGF v23.56.27.47.953b for inventory management.

 

[darkewaffle]

i applied for a job last week and received a phone call from the person who posted it (was a recruiter i believe) and she was like "i havent been trained yet in what Spring and Hibernate are - do you know what they are and could you tell me a little bit about htem?"

at that moment i kinda facepalmed a bit and explained to her what they were. that is the last phone call i will be having with her.

That sounds more like a recruitment question to me lol

 

[Saint Nick]

Seems like most places want someone with 5+ years of experience in essentially their own place. There's so many variations of software, machines, etc and they want you to have a bunch of experience in their specific combination.

Machinist is probably the worst where they want you to have experience with a ACME Widget Press from 1956, after all there is still 12 of them in operation in the continental US. Then of course you need to be familiar with ASDGF v23.56.27.47.953b for inventory management.

I literally LOL'd at my desk... wow hit the nail on the head there. Good god.

 

[SunnyD]

edit - and I'm talking about TODAY (2012), not 11 years ago

The only difference between today and 11 years ago is that there are a lot more unemployed people (including IT) out there. And again, most of them feel entitled to a 6 figure salary that they don't deserve.

 

[Stuxnet]

The only difference between today and 11 years ago is that there are a lot more unemployed people (including IT) out there. And again, most of them feel entitled to a 6 figure salary that they don't deserve.

And as both a hiring manager and developer, I'm telling you you're wrong. If you're good, you'll come damn close to that six figure salary (and maybe even surpass it). Not every piece of the country has demand, though. If a dev can't find work, it's either because they're in the wrong place or they're an unremarkable developer.

Fun fact: in my last position, we had to start recruiting out of state to fill jobs. If you were good, we might even help with your reloc costs.

 

[fatpat268]

The only difference between today and 11 years ago is that there are a lot more unemployed people (including IT) out there. And again, most of them feel entitled to a 6 figure salary that they don't deserve.

No, but people also don't want to be insulted with a terribly low pay for the qualifications.

 

[l0cke]

I'm just looking for internships, but a lot of them are like:

Requirements:
Basic understanding of electrical circuits
Basic Verilog or VHDL experience
Must be enrolled as Senior in PHD program

That is, basic requirements with some silly grade level requirement attached. Any reason that this happens?

 

[Fritzo]

You should be here in SE Michigan where employers want the world and want to pay nothing.

I've seen ads for Machinists where they want 10 years experience with a wide range of different computer modeling programs and tool pathing and cost assignments and on and on for $14/hr.

I'm just below you in NE Ohio. Same deal

 

[spidey07]

Employers like that haven't learned the age old rule that you get what you pay for. Pay somebody that low, and you'll get the bottom of the barrel.

 

[GotIssues]

Why are people getting their panties in a wad over this?

If they are being unrealistic, they won't find anyone to fill the role and stuck with an open position that they, in theory, need to fill. If they are able to find someone to fill the role, it's obviously not unrealistic for them to ask for what they asked for. If they can't, they'll sit there losing the productivity and potentially causing other issues for their organization by not filling the position.

You are not required to apply for it, so if you feel that it's undervalued, don't apply and move on to apply to positions you feel are more appropriate to what you are looking for. But keep in mind, maybe they aren't the ones being unrealistic. Job markets change.

 

[GotIssues]

And as both a hiring manager and developer, I'm telling you you're wrong. If you're good, you'll come damn close to that six figure salary(and maybe even surpass it). Not every piece of the country has demand, though. If a dev can't find work, it's either because they're in the wrong place or they're an unremarkable developer.

Fun fact: in my last position, we had to start recruiting out of state to fill jobs. If you were good, we might even help with your reloc costs.

Bolded the key part of your post.

If you look for quality, you have to pay for quality. If you don't care and just need warm bodies, you can cut pretty low. You'd be surprised. Just because you didn't hire at those rates doesn't mean there aren't people out there that will accept those rates.

 

[CPA]

I love it when people ask for experience in completely unrelated fields... like asking for a senior database administrator who also knows how to program in Java and administer VMWare vSphere.

Doesn't any employer with half a brain know that those are three different specialties?

or in accounting where a company looking for an accounting manager/assistant controller wants 4-6 years in Public Accounting (ie, audit), preferably as a manager. Uhhh, not all of us CPA's went into public accounting right out of college, and you certainly don't need that much PA experience for that level of job. In fact, in my experience, auditors suck at understanding real world accounting.

 

[sygyzy]

My company does the same thing. They post job listings say for a Director position and then someone gets it but they don't even nearly qualify. I think they aim high but when they realize they can't find that candidate for that price, they say "ok you'll do"

 

[yllus]

There should be a way in which you can provide anonymous feedback to job postings to tell them how ridiculous they are.

 

[IcePickFreak]

There should be a way in which you can provide anonymous feedback to job postings to tell them how ridiculous they are.

Management doesn't listen to their employees, you think they'd listen to anonymous people on the internet?

 

[airdata]

I always get people from careerbuilder and monster emailing me saying they found my resume, and then they go on to pitch me on a job where they want something like 5 years experience and ccnp which I don't have if they read my resume.

 

[PingSpike]

One time my wife went for an interview for a entry level lab tech position and the company started asking her all about her management experience because they were looking for a lab manager. Which was news to my wife. I don't know if they were to lazy to write a different job description or to incompetent to run the correct ad but they still had her come in for an interview despite her not having any managerial experience on her resume. And then they said they were looking for some one with experience in that area. So basically, they wasted their time, my wife's time and their company's advertising money since they were highly unlikely to get the fish they wanted with the wrong bait.

I guess my point is, these are the idiots you're dealing with sometimes.

 

[waggy]

I remember when i was working we put out a add for a tape jockey in the computer center. All they do is take out tapes when full and put in new. A very entry level job in IT.

so what did they want? a BS in computer science with 2 years exp. ...for a $10 an hour job.

 

[Rage187]

I love the:

10 years managing a team of at least 6 reports
5 Years experience working with Y


Then at the bottom of the listing:

Job Level: Mid Career (2+ years)

 

[FoBoT]

Management doesn't listen to their employees, you think they'd listen to anonymous people on the internet?

 

[Saint Nick]

Just applied for this:

Qualifications:

• BA/BS in Computer Science or related technical field preferred. Associate’s degree with 3+ years of post-degree web development experience will also be considered.
• 2 years experience with HTML and JavaScript required.
• ColdFusion and/or PHP experience preferred.
• Demonstrable database proficiency (MySQL, Oracle, SQL Server).
• Understands multi-tier system architecture.
• Ability to apply strong analytical and problem solving skills.
• Detail-oriented with the ability to multi-task and meet deadlines.
• Communicate quickly and effectively with others.
• Self starter.

I have probably two years of HTML/JS and some CF and PHP experience. Here's to good luck...and I just got a job, too...too bad I get no vacation or sick days. Current job isn't what I thought it would be :/

 

[Hugo Drax]

I get a daily feed from Monster.com listing jobs I might be interested in (I'm employed, but I like to be aware of what is out there). I got two listings this morning:

"HEALTHCARE IT LABORATOEY ANALYST" (that is how they spelled it)



WTF? Two 4 year degrees for $40K a year. LOL, good luck with that.

H1B visa. They are doing that so they can then say they cannot find qualified Americans, so they then will hire the Indian on an H1B visa with two degrees from "Caltech"* That is a standard procedure, anytime you see weird listings like that.























* Calcutta Technical Institute

 

[Red Squirrel]

I learned to take job requirements with a grain of salt. My current job had CCNA/CCNP as a requirement. I work at a NOC. We barely touch anything Cisco. We see a piece of equipment go down, we make a ticket. When I asked about it they said that no, I don't need the cert.

I'm guessing they purposely always set the bar higher than required to weed out the unqualified people.

 

[Gibson486]

What pisses me off is when they ask for credentials, but they ar enot willing to make sacrifices.

For example, there was this company that has been looking for an EE for over a year and a half. They wanted 3-5 years experience. I only have two years of what they wanted and 3 of what they did not. They said "No" at a phone interview because I was missing that 1 year. A year and a half later, they are still looking....