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"Dear Hiring Manager" is nothing any hiring manager would have any problems with. This question comes up all the time. I even get resumes addressed to "Dear Sir or Madam" which although hilariously outdated I've just skipped the introduction and gone right to the meat. Edit: if you do know who the hiring manager is you should direct it to Mr/Ms/Dr X. As a side note if you have to spend time looking for the hiring manager's name they probably don't want you to know it. Except for a tiny handful of extremely weird companies it really is that simple -- cold calling the company trying to figure out who's hiring for the position (yes, I've had this happen), will always lead more harm than good. It really isn't some sort of hide-the-ball puzzle you're expected to figure out, just a screening process. Unless maybe you're in high pressure sales or something.
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Jul 18, 2014 03:14
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Here's an odd one. Stopped by a business I applied to a month or so ago, just to check and see how things are going. They mentioned offhand they might be hiring, but the manager had the day off. As they already had my resume, I didn't drop off a new one, so they shouldn't have realized who I was ( I planned to stop by tomorrow to try and meet with the manager and see what was happening ). Left for work, and on the way noticed I had an email from said manager asking me if I was still interested in a position with the company. Quickly wrote up an email on my phone saying I was, and gave my availability. Now that I'm back home, I checked my email account to see if I got any reply, and noticed the email he wrote wasn't even "sent" to me. IE in the details box it says "From" <hiring manager guys email>, "To" <email that isn't mine>. It's not actually addressed to anyone specific, so I'm guessing he just mass sent them out, it's just a bit weird to not see the <me> in the details of who the email got sent to. Googling this other persons email ( they have a Google + set up, and a blog ), leads me to find out they are top class musician that works at one of the symphonies here in Seattle? Not exactly a career that lends itself well to the line of work I'm applying to. So how do I move forward from here. Obviously it'd be nice if he just emailed me back, and this was gmail being broken in a really terrifying way, but what if he doesn't as the email WAS meant for this other person. If that's the case, he's probably going to assume I'm some creepy stalker who hacks emails if I show up tomorrow interested in the position and wanting to talk to him. Or would it not be a faux pas for me to show up tomorrow to mention that I received an email sent to another person, but I'd also be interested in the position.
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Jul 18, 2014 03:19
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What kind of business?
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Jul 18, 2014 03:21
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Were you invited to show up tomorrow? Showing up in person uninvited is weird, this is 2014. You got an email and replied to it. Stop overthinking it and keep applying to other places. In other news, getting asked to fill out a background check authorization is a good sign right?
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Jul 18, 2014 04:55
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It could be. You'd think places would only do it for the last few candidates max since it tends to cost money, but there are also those who just make everybody do it for various reasons. Some places in say Philadelphia might be doing it for drat near everybody to sneak around the "can't ask if you're convicted of a crime" law (although most people don't know that law so some places still just ask anyway, I think) or I know that Penn State does it for god drat near everybody as well but that's part of the paranoid rear end-covering policies they instituted after they covered up for a child rapist for several decades. Hell I had to have one on file as a student after that mess because the society of physics students goes out to schools and does physics demos or whatever and they can't let you officially interact with kids without one. Seriously paranoid.
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Jul 18, 2014 13:03
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I need some help here. I interviewed for a job that I'm pretty sure I will really like yesterday, got an offer about an hour ago. I told the HR person I would get back to her by this evening but she made it seem as if it would be okay if I didn't get back to her until Monday, as she's out of town until next Friday anyways. About 20 minutes after I got the offer I got an interview with a company I REALLY want to work for, next Wednesday. I'm going to interview with them regardless, but I was wondering how I should go about handling the first company's offer. I've never been in this situation and would rather not decline a sure thing at a great place with amazing benefits, but the second company is a place I saw myself working for from the first time I heard about them.
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Jul 18, 2014 19:48
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How can you tell if a phone interview went well? If an interviewer doesn't setup a meeting for the next interview is that generally a bad sign? I have no idea what I am doing during these things. I'm talking about myself and answering questions but I can never really tell if the interviewer is pleased or not.
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Jul 18, 2014 20:36
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Xeom posted:How can you tell if a phone interview went well? If an interviewer doesn't setup a meeting for the next interview is that generally a bad sign? I was in the same boat a little while ago, so here's how it went for me: I had one that I thought crashed and burned like a NASCAR race, but I still sent a nice thank you letter anyways. They arranged a 2nd phone interview based on what I put in the letter, in which I clarifyed some of my answers from the interview and re-answered one question I had flubbed pretty hard. Second one went much better, and they were saying in not so many words that I was going to be invited for an interview in person if my references checked out. I had also done some more thinking about the job, and practiced so I wasn't nearly so nervous and mealy mouthed, etc. A week or so later, here I am arranging that in-person interview. So, if you're nervous, make your thank you letter/email good, because that's something that is in your power to effect. It's not the convention, from what I understand, to set up the 2nd interview right at the very end, because usually they want to sit down and compare notes and figure out who they like, especially if it's a team that did the interview. But if you haven't heard from them in a while, that's also not great. Hence why the thank you should be sent within 24 hours. It might seem small and stupid, but it helps remind them that you're interested in the job and that you're courteous, as well as the aforementioned opportunity to fix an answer or two. The sucky thing about phone interviews is that they deny you all the facial expressions and body language that the in-person gives, and unfortunately there is little you can do to fix that. You can usually get a feel for how they like you through laughter, ease of conversation, tone of voice, etc., but that missing ~55% of the conversation really stinks... 
Toph Bei Fong fucked around with this message at 21:49 on Jul 18, 2014 |
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Jul 18, 2014 21:47
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Yeah I had one just now, went pretty rough in some respects and great in others. Basically sold myself as intelligent, good logic skills, quickly trainable, but not quite at the ideal skill level in a couple spots. They have frequently taken people like me in the past and trained them up so it's not a "no", just a matter of whether they have such an opening right this second. God I hope they do e: They didn't. But at least I got a lovely three week temp job entering data so I won't go broke 
Shugojin fucked around with this message at 01:43 on Jul 19, 2014 |
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Jul 18, 2014 22:15
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Wait you suppose to send thank you letters for phone interviews too!?
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Jul 19, 2014 02:41
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Xeom posted:Wait you suppose to send thank you letters for phone interviews too!? Hell no. Most people born after the 70's don't even care about them for in-person interviews. yohoo posted:freaking out However, "I'm going to interview with this place regardless" may work against you depending on how close-knit your industry is. Also, sorry to sound jaded, but you have no idea what working for "company I REALLY want to work" is like unless you're pretty drat close to someone that's actually worked there, very preferably in the position you're interviewing fore. Everyone in every reach of the internet keeps posting "my dream job" and "this amazing company" and yes, there are dream jobs and amazing companies, but with 100% certainty there is no way to know that from the outside.
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Jul 19, 2014 11:31
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seacat posted:Hell no. Most people born after the 70's don't even care about them for in-person interviews. Speakers at this networking meeting I attend every week keep strongly suggesting to send letters and cards. All of them are old enough to be my parents, except of course the one mid 30s guy old who works in HR that says emails are just fine 
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Jul 19, 2014 14:08
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I had professors in college say the best way to send your resume to a company was by physically mailing it to them. I can't think of a better way to get your resume deposited in the trash as soon as it arrives.
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Jul 19, 2014 16:55
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Aquatic Giraffe posted:I had professors in college say the best way to send your resume to a company was by physically mailing it to them. I can't think of a better way to get your resume deposited in the trash as soon as it arrives. There are still people that argue that showing up in person is the best approach. It is if you're canvassing the mall for an after school job. Not so much for an engineering job.
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Jul 19, 2014 16:57
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Literally the best way to get in places is to know people who can throw your info to a relevant person and plug you. No better way. I mean if you know the boss then maybe walking in and asking him would work, but a total stranger? No.
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Jul 19, 2014 17:41
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Most companies have pretty tight security, too. So if you try to show up without an employee escort or pre-arranged meeting they're going to send you on your way if you can even get into the building at all. If anyone is set on cold-calling a company they want to work for most companies have a way to submit your resume on their website even if there isn't a specific job posting open that you're qualified for. I got my current job through a combination of networking and using that feature on their website. The COO of one of my subcontractors pointed me to them as a good company to work for but didn't have a specific person to talk to, so I submitted my resume on their recruiting page and name dropped him in my cover letter and heard from HR shortly thereafter. Took a few months for something to open up, but once it did I was in ASAP.
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Jul 19, 2014 19:30
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Xeom posted:Wait you suppose to send thank you letters for phone interviews too!? I'm applying for a job at a college, so they tend to be a little more old school about proper etiquette. The corporate world might be very different. The idea is more to keep your name in their head, and make it clear yet again that you want the job, in the same way that sending a thank you card for a present says "send more presents" in addition to "Thanks!"
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Jul 19, 2014 19:55
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Aquatic Giraffe posted:I had professors in college say the best way to send your resume to a company was by physically mailing it to them. I can't think of a better way to get your resume deposited in the trash as soon as it arrives. Hahaha, the old "Overnight fedexing your resume to the VP of operations makes it seem more important!" poo poo that the boomer generation throws at us. Deposited the trash is a lucky outcome in that case. The unlucky outcome is the important recipient gets annoyed at having his day interrupted and blasts you publicly to all his executive friends and you get branded with a "do not hire". Ironically I actually saw of the senior VPs, a near-senile 70-year old hunchbacked dude, go on a 10 minute rant about how so-and-so will never work at this company. (f'ing hypocrite) poo poo's almost as bad as the "just walk in and ask for the job" advice your grandpa gives you. Hard for the older generation to come to grips with the fact that things don't work the way they used to. E-mail and online app systems (crap as the latter may be) are used for everything. In the science corner of the manufacturing field, recruiting agencies are used heavily -- it's where I started my career as a temp lab tech. Do not physically show up to apply unless it's in retail, restaurants, fast food, maybe hospitality. Absolutely dress formally and conduct yourself professionally - that hasn't changed. Do not throw away a single penny on resume paper, printed thank-you cards, or any other gimmicky poo poo. Mak0rz posted:letters and cards Spoilers Below posted:applying for a job at a college, people more old school about etiquette seacat fucked around with this message at 22:21 on Jul 19, 2014 |
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Jul 19, 2014 22:14
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Yeah I really hate online application systems. Like, they're not terrible, but jesus loving christ it pisses me off that I have a million accounts with different password requirements so I can barely keep it straight. Some people have for some godforsaken reason set their Taleo implementation up to not allow special characters in passwords (why, exactly?) and not actually tell the user until they've tried to register a password. But that's not the worst I've encountered. Oh no. I had one earlier today where hitting tab didn't move to the next field. I had to loving click the next field every god drat time. SO ANGRY ABOUT INTERFACES 
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Jul 19, 2014 22:22
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If I get a sentimental/respect vibe from an interview, I'll fire off a thank you e-mail but I frequently don't if I feel like it's not needed. I believe it depends what field you are in too. My main pet peeve with application forms is obviously Taleo but also website that let you upload a resume then make you fill out 7+ pages of crap. Or worse, they parse your resume and butcher it into slots. Half the time it's completely wrong and I have to edit it out or clean it up. Why bother letting me upload a loving resume if I'm just going to fill in a bunch of pages anyway? That's why I have a hard and fast rule now that if your resume form is more than 5 pages, I am probably not going to fill it out. If your application is that onerous, how bad is working for your company?
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Jul 19, 2014 22:55
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Is it appropriate to put a few sentences explaining a gap in work on your resume, or leave that for your cover letter? Currently on my cover letter I have the following quote:I have recently finished an 18 months period where I applied to, trained for, and ultimately attended the United States Air Force's Officer Training School. Due to medical issues surrounding running and my ankles, I did could not complete the program and was subject to "Entry Level Separation" with an "Uncharacterized" character of service. My dad is convinced that I should have this or similar on my resume as well to explain why I haven't worked in 18 months, but I don't know where or how to put it there. Not under work expereince since it wasn't really work (and I was only actually employed for 3 weeks), not under education, maybe just a floating paragraph at the top?
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Jul 21, 2014 16:41
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Xenoborg posted:Is it appropriate to put a few sentences explaining a gap in work on your resume, or leave that for your cover letter? It would be awkward to see it in a resume, yes. I've never seen anyone do it. Generally the idea is for your resume to market you, not to point out any shortcomings. I find many people are more worried about work gaps than they should be. Obviously employers are gonna be wondering about them. A year and a half is a fairly long gap, sure, but why not just say you were in USAF training at that time (you were?). You'll always be asked work gaps by any sane hiring manager. Any sane hiring manager will also not discredit you for valid responses - taking care of children or parents, enrolling in a FT educational program even if you didn't finish, personal medical problems including mental health problems, and (most common reason I've seen) laid off in the Great Recession (yes, it's over, and there's still people looking). If your work gap is because you were serving time for child molestation or something that's different. In many cases I wouldn't advise to point out work gaps in a cover letter since that's designed to market you as well. But I might suggest dropping a line in there that you attended USAF and were unable to complete it for legitimate medical reasons and are now looking for civilian opportunities -- presuming of course you have attendance and discharge paperwork to prove it. I know this country has a long history of treating its returning veterans like crap but there are a TON of companies (my own included) which look upon military service very favorably (our CEO, COO, CFO, and inventory manager are all Air Force vets). Still totally up to you but it's very very unlikely that anyone will count it against you.
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Jul 21, 2014 17:22
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I think a short sentence in the cover letter explaining that you were in Air Force OCS and had to drop out due a physical injury is a good idea. Don't need to focus on it too much, but it should it be explained and honestly, it's pretty impressive to even be accepted, so it's worth a mention.
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Jul 21, 2014 17:44
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Thanks for the input. I'll leave those two sentences as above in the cover letter, and in the resume add the following under education:code:Xenoborg fucked around with this message at 18:11 on Jul 21, 2014 |
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Jul 21, 2014 18:09
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Does anyone here have any experience with interviews assessing 'cultural fit'? I got through a phone interview and then the more technical/competency-based interview with who would be my manager. Now the final step is four or five short thirty-minute interviews with members of other teams in different functions to see if I would fit in at the company. What sort of questions come up at these things? Is there anyway to prepare? For context I'm trying to move from financial services to tech (in a support function), so I imagine there might be a few questions about why I want to change industries. But yeah, if anyone has gone through one of these interviews before I'd be happy to hear about your experience.
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Jul 21, 2014 19:56
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I had a job interview today and after being asked why I wasn't working in my previous job (my contract was for only 2 years and it wasn't renewed), I was asked about the competitive environment of my previous job. I have never been asked that before, is it a way to measure how competitive I am? or to make me thrash my former co-workers/employers by pointing out a toxic overly competitive job environment? I gave a friendly response ("Yes, everybody was competitive, and some had more luck than others") but I don't know what they were expecting. Also, I'm waiting for a call from a different company were I really want to work in; I was promised to get the interview early this week and a response before the end of the month. If chances are I get this job and the one I applied for today, what's the best way to reject the job offer?
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Jul 21, 2014 19:59
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I've been self employed doing consulting and scientific testing for various people/companies. How should I go about presenting this on a resume and interview? I don't have a supervisor or anything other than a tax return they can use to verify it.
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Jul 21, 2014 20:07
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radlum posted:I had a job interview today and after being asked why I wasn't working in my previous job (my contract was for only 2 years and it wasn't renewed), I was asked about the competitive environment of my previous job. I have never been asked that before, is it a way to measure how competitive I am? or to make me thrash my former co-workers/employers by pointing out a toxic overly competitive job environment? I gave a friendly response ("Yes, everybody was competitive, and some had more luck than others") but I don't know what they were expecting. That question is pretty complicated in that the answer can show lots of things, but they were probably checking to see if you're the type to badmouth your coworkers/boss. From the interviews megathread (which is distinct from this one for... I don't know, this one even says interviews in the title) FAN OF NICKELBACK posted:She Was Lazy, He Didn’t Listen and They Were Mean: If you talk bad about anyone, or much of anything really, then count yourself out. Remember, no one is there to defend themselves or the company, and all the interviewer will know for sure is that you badmouth people and companies to strangers if they do something you perceive as less than perfect. If you feel that you absolutely must discuss what you feel to be flaws in other people, change course and be a diplomat. Talk to how you understood the two of you communicated differently, or that your personalities may not have matched perfectly but the work always got done in a timely manner. Say you’re leaving because the company wasn’t able to support the growth you are looking for, but do not talk poorly about anyone, even in a vague way. Even if asked directly, “Can you tell me about a time you didn’t like someone at work?,” tailor it to a positive ending such as, “once I understood where they were coming from, and we learned to communicate better, we ended up being able to work very well together.” From your response I would get "corporate culture is highly competitive and may have bad things, but radlum will avoid saying bad things about people". Your second question is easier: if you get a position you like, and someone else makes an offer - you just say "I'm sorry, but I have already accepted a position at a great company where I am happy". Now if company B really really really wants you they may try to poach you and I have no clue how to deal with that, but generally hiring managers realize that they're not the only fish in the sea and frankly neither are you, they'll have backup candidates.
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Jul 21, 2014 20:21
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So my formatted resume is all on one page, but when I upload it to a lot of applications it stretches the format to be about one and a quarter. Does this happen to anyone else? I assume HR (or whoever) would realize that it's just their site changing the format a bit, or should I shorten it so it doesn't do that? I think it does this on Brassring.
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Jul 21, 2014 21:26
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Halisnacks posted:Does anyone here have any experience with interviews assessing 'cultural fit'? 'Culture fit' is as nebulous as it sounds. Are you a white male? Congrats, you will probably fit into their culture! Sometimes it's just to go around the company and see if you can get along with others and work with the team. Mostly to make sure there's no clash and you aren't going to end up at someone's throat over a month. Frequently (and especially in tech) it's to make sure you won't rock the boat too much. Or you're like them so they don't have as many dissenting opinions. http://valleywag.gawker.com/culture-fit-is-a-lovely-excuse-for-marginalizing-wome-1186914306 quote:People will say “not a culture fit” without having to define what that means. It's almost this sacred space which lets them uncritically reject people from the company or from the team. On the surface level it tends to mean “We just don't like you. You're different from us. We don't want to figure out how to work with you.” “Not a culture fit” gives us a really easy way to disregard your experience and you as a person. Stanos fucked around with this message at 21:38 on Jul 21, 2014 |
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Jul 21, 2014 21:30
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Thanks that's good to know. If it's mainly about being agreeable with a bunch of different people and being generally friendly, I'm hoping I'm alright. I'm mostly worried they are going to go in with the impression I'm a stuffy banker type.
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Jul 21, 2014 22:09
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Xenoborg posted:Thanks for the input. I'll leave those two sentences as above in the cover letter, and in the resume add the following under education:
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Jul 22, 2014 01:54
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Yeah I like it too, it explains what you were doing during the gap, demonstrates some value, and only uses three lines.
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Jul 22, 2014 02:06
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I've got two questions about an application I just submitted and might have screwed up. First, how do you deal with application systems that don't accept cover letters? The CTS I just dealt with (which was otherwise one of the more pleasant one's I've interfaced with) only lets you select a job ID number and then select one resume from a small number you're allowed to upload to the site. They ask for no other information except for basic contact info. How do you deal with that normally? Is that their way of saying they don't want to be bothered with your cover letter? Should I have submitted a two page document with a CL on the first page? The situation is unfortunate because this is a position I would be really, really well suited for but would have liked to frame that narrative a bit. Second question, if there's two similar positions being advertised that differ only in experience level, say Cool Project Dude and Cool Project Senior Dude, is it a terrible idea to apply to both? Sometimes you're on the cusp and I'd hate to miss it because I overshot or get turned away from the lower position for being overqualified. I'm asking particularly in the context of a large multinational company.
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Jul 22, 2014 03:58
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We brought a candidate in for a series of interviews; for my company the first round is typically a phone screen, while the second round is an on-site series of 3-4 interviews of 30 minutes each. I was one of the 4 sessions, and all told we're asking the candidate to set aside 2 hours, maybe 2.5 if the interviews run over. During my session, the candidate had 2 phones he was fidgeting with when I walked in, one of which kept vibrating over the course of the interview. While I docked him for not turning off his phones before the interview process, I thought he handled it well, waiting for a pause between questions to click a button on his phone and stop all that vibrating. However, in our internal debrief after I find out that during the 30 minute session after mine the candidate not only had the interviewer wait a minute at the start so he could do something on one of his phones, but that about halfway through the candidate took an actual phone call. Yes, he actually stopped his interview, answered the phone, and talked for around 2 minutes, so well beyond the "I have to call you back" phase. Keep in mind we're a fairly standard 9-5 business; we're not in the healthcare space dealing with some doctor on call or similar on-duty employee for whom it's critical to stay connected at all times. Is taking 2-2.5 hours out of your work day that much of an inconvenience that you would even consider pretty much tanking your entire candidacy right out of the gates?
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Jul 22, 2014 10:46
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Hoopaloops posted:We brought a candidate in for a series of interviews; for my company the first round is typically a phone screen, while the second round is an on-site series of 3-4 interviews of 30 minutes each. I was one of the 4 sessions, and all told we're asking the candidate to set aside 2 hours, maybe 2.5 if the interviews run over. You sure he wasn't a drug dealer who wanted to stay on unemployment?
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Jul 22, 2014 13:16
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Hoopaloops posted:During my session, the candidate had 2 phones he was fidgeting with when I walked in, one of which kept vibrating over the course of the interview. While I docked him for not turning off his phones before the interview process, I thought he handled it well, waiting for a pause between questions to click a button on his phone and stop all that vibrating.  Have a ballpark guess of how old this guy is?I'm trying to not feel bitter about these people getting this far in the process while I'm struggling to just get callbacks  
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Jul 22, 2014 13:48
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I'm going to assume anyone fiddling with two phones is either on-call with a work phone (not applicable, probably) or doing some shady poo poo and needs burner phones. I kind of thought 'turn off your loving phone during an interview' was standard but from the stories I've heard I guess not!
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Jul 22, 2014 15:00
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A couple days ago an interviewer said "I'm not saying anything about your chances, but you should really try to smile more." So I guess that's the next thing to work on.
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Jul 22, 2014 15:45
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I had an interview yesterday with four potential team members who were in their late 40s/early 50s. One thing I genuinely wanted to know was whether I'd have regular interaction with people closer to my age. I didn't ask because that kind of question could be interpreted negatively, e.g., "I don't like you guys because you're old." Is there any appropriate way to ask such a question? If I had to do it, I'd say something about how camaraderie with my immediate peers is important and then ask if I'd be working with any other relatively junior people (being careful to not explicitly refer to age).
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Jul 22, 2014 17:13
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