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Thanks for Submitting Your Résumé to This Black Hole

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Re: Thanks for Submitting Your Résumé to This Black Hole

#91

Post by jsmthrowaway »

madamelic wrote: post #14
smbullet wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Facebook "black holed" me after two phone interviews. Had to email them them a couple weeks later to see what was up. Never seen that before. Edit: I guess "black holed" isn't the right term since I did get an interview but you know what I mean

I call it 'Ghosted'. Basically, you are talking, you both like each other and then suddenly you don't hear from the other person. I had a few companies ghost me and it was annoying. I don't entirely mind if I apply and just never hear back, I just get to laugh at them when they email me two months later asking for interview.

I've heard this called the "California No," in both a personal and professional setting. Apparently it's extremely common in Hollywood and that's where the term came from. I've definitely noticed as I socialize in California that people avoid perceived confrontation more here, so maybe there's something to it. A new one I've noticed recently is what I call the "read receipt no," where someone will read a message, send a read receipt, then not reply to say no.

If someone does it to me I tend to lose some respect, but that's possibly because I'm an outsider. Maybe Californians expect that but I usually hope for the respect of a direct no. (Shrug.)

Re: Thanks for Submitting Your Résumé to This Black Hole

#92

Post by RyJones »

jdmichal wrote: post #46
pduszak wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What kind of background check costs $30k? Were they looking at past finances?

Six months and $30,000 sounds about right or maybe even a little low for a US secret clearance. There's a reason they're estimated to be worth about $10,000 a year. Insanely expensive and time consuming to get. (OP has mentioned in another thread that this was not a secret clearance, but very similar.)

Probably a level 5 or 6 certification of public trust.

Re: Thanks for Submitting Your Résumé to This Black Hole

#94

Post by el_benhameen »

amorphid wrote: post #60
kintamanimatt wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Part of the reason is that rejected candidates tend to ask why they were rejected, which is a massive time sink. The logic goes that it's better to black hole than it is to be inundated with requests for reasons.

When recruiting, I chose to reject thousands of people. For obvious rejections, I sent an auto generated email that looked like it could be from a human. If someone asked why they'd been rejected, I'd simply say the hiring manager chose to focus on more obvious matches for the position, and that was the end of it. Maybe 1 in 100 asked for feedback, but I didn't keep stats. For a few candidates who were unlikely to be…

I'm surprised that you posted a c-level position on Craigslist. I've always thought of cl jobs as entry to slightly above entry-level jobs. Did you get good candidates for the job from cl in general?

Re: Thanks for Submitting Your Résumé to This Black Hole

#95

Post by salesguy222 »

rhizome wrote: post #59
loteck wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I sympathize deeply with this sentiment. However, let's switch modes. Please suggest your solution for the problem of receiving 1,874 resumes for a job posting and, 42 days later, finding your likely candidate on the 244th candidate you reviewed.

Please suggest your solution... This is completely unfair. GP is not an HR professional by any indication. If your accountant says your website looks ugly, do you hire them as your designer?

Lmfao dude, these days, if you want most people to take you seriously, you need to criticize AND suggest alternatives.

Anything else is just complaining.

I don't need to know the minutia of a specific field before I can criticize and suggest alternatives.

An accountant does not need to know node before offering comments on site usability, feel, performance. Nobody is hiring them to execute a redesign. They're asking them for an idea on how to improve.

Re: Thanks for Submitting Your Résumé to This Black Hole

#96

Post by enraged_camel »

arvinsim wrote: post #90
crispyambulance wrote: post #54

The best way to avoid the "black hole" is to not throw your resume into it in the first place. Instead, use your professional networks and friends. Reach out to actual human beings. Find any way you can to bypass the bullshit online job application systems and HR departments. When people (or programs) go through a stack of resumes, it's all about finding reasons to eliminate as many as possible as quickly as possible…

So you're screwed if you didn't invest in contacts early in your career even if you have the needed experience and skills? Having a good professional network is not something you can just "turn on" at will.

You would be surprised. With a few months of investment attending local meetups, you can meet a lot of people. If you take the extra step and, say, volunteer for speaking engagements, you can establish yourself as an authority in your area of expertise fairly quickly. You won't become a DHH overnight, but you'll still be miles ahead of those who still play the resume game.

Re: Thanks for Submitting Your Résumé to This Black Hole

#97

Post by im3w1l »

TsomArp wrote: post #49
ryanSrich wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

100%. The sooner you build a network and put yourself in a position to not have to apply to jobs the better.

How do you "build a network" at companies you have never worked before, and you have no contacts at? You start adding them to your linkedin and then spamming them with messages saying "please be my friend"? I am asking because I heard this recommendation (build a network) all the time, but it is really really difficult to do, more so if you consider the number of companies where one can apply...

You build a network by making friends where you are right now. In a few years they will leave your company / be out of college.

With luck, one of them will be in a company or organization you want to apply to.

Re: Thanks for Submitting Your Résumé to This Black Hole

#98

Post by jjoonathan »

compuguy wrote: post #75
LightskinKanye wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hey guys, this guy has Secret Clearance!

(Even though this isn't OP's actual clearance level) you shouldn't be screaming out that a person has a certain level of US DoD security clearance (or DOE, DHS, etc).

We've got Dodgson here!

Re: Thanks for Submitting Your Résumé to This Black Hole

#99

Post by tempestn »

loteck wrote: post #30
apsec112 wrote: post #3

In my job search, I've been surprised by how often you submit a resume online, and then you don't even get a rejection email. It's a true "black hole" in that you never hear back, not even with a "no thanks". I think it's disrespectful of candidates to ask them to spend time filling out an application, and then leave them hanging because you're (presumably) too lazy to read it.

I sympathize deeply with this sentiment. However, let's switch modes. Please suggest your solution for the problem of receiving 1,874 resumes for a job posting and, 42 days later, finding your likely candidate on the 244th candidate you reviewed.

In my experience, it can be useful to include a request for (straightforward) additional information to be included with an application. I use a fizzbuzz style question that can be described in a couple sentences and solved by a competent programming in under 5 minutes. Anyone who doesn't include at least an attempt at an answer can be auto-screened. That usually cuts out the majority of applicants, since most are just shotgunning every available job.

Re: Thanks for Submitting Your Résumé to This Black Hole

#100

Post by haberman »

rhizome wrote: post #59
loteck wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I sympathize deeply with this sentiment. However, let's switch modes. Please suggest your solution for the problem of receiving 1,874 resumes for a job posting and, 42 days later, finding your likely candidate on the 244th candidate you reviewed.

Please suggest your solution... This is completely unfair. GP is not an HR professional by any indication. If your accountant says your website looks ugly, do you hire them as your designer?

It's also unfair to criticize things as broken if no reasonable alternative exists. Should people get hate mail or get called "lazy" for failing to solve all of the world's problems?
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