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CarForumPoster posted:I'm interviewing peeps again and my most and least favorite thing as an interviewer: When someone has precisely one question, its answered clearly and concisely in the job req, and it is fundamental to doing the job. E.g. this is a FT in office position. "In Office" I do have some patience for because a lot of companies will use "In office", "hybrid", "remote" and mean way different things. But yes. I've also dealt with the "This clearly junior role that says 0-2 years of experience, can we make this a senior title?" or "I know you asked if I need sponsorship and I said No, but actually I need sponsorship. Do you offer it?" Which again I at don't blame the guy asking because shoot your shot but it's so energy draining.
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Dec 21, 2023 00:13
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Lockback posted:"In Office" I do have some patience for because a lot of companies will use "In office", "hybrid", "remote" and mean way different things. One of them tried to pitch me doing commission only work (while she def kept her day job). Lady this is a real in-office-necessary job that takes our best employees ~35 hours per week to do. You're not gonna talk me into a side hustle. Also I'm ~50% sure her Linkedin pic was AI generated. I dropped it into an "is this AI generated" web app that was 90% sure it was. Even weirder she was a mediocre interviewer at best, ringers doing fraud are supposed to be good at the thing and negotiate fixed rates. Weird day.
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Dec 21, 2023 00:41
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Have my 2nd interview for my 1st senior-titled position. Pretty nervous as I've been out of work for most of the year but HR and I seemed to click well so I've got that going for me. Going to actually wear a suit jacket this time as I've always done business casual before and felt pretty underdressed. It's a virtual interview so NO PANTS NEEDED
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Dec 21, 2023 14:30
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CarForumPoster posted:I'm interviewing peeps again and my most and least favorite thing as an interviewer: When someone has precisely one question, its answered clearly and concisely in the job req, and it is fundamental to doing the job. E.g. this is a FT in office position. My last interviewer asked me what I thought of the company's history and I completely blanked on intelligent sounding answers. I think that's my new least favorite bit because now I feel like I need to study the history of your widget factory.
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Dec 21, 2023 17:00
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"I thought the gas explosion that killed 36 employees in 2007 was unfortunate and the press release that lamented the damage without even mentioning them even more so, but your company managing to survive that is certainly impressive"
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Dec 21, 2023 17:06
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Eric the Mauve posted:"I thought the gas explosion that killed 36 employees in 2007 was unfortunate and the press release that lamented the damage without even mentioning them even more so, but your company managing to survive that is certainly impressive" I interviewed with a food company like a month after they killed a few people with listeria. Had no idea if I should bring it up at all to show I was generally aware of what was going on with them or if I shouldn’t because I’m sure they didn’t want to hear about it. I ended up not bringing it up and got hired
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Dec 21, 2023 18:10
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I just had an interviewer tell me she'd never spoken to a candidate with such a broad range of knowledge about her side of telecom and she started quizzing me on things outside of what I was interviewing for to see what else I might be a good fit for within the company. Feels like a good thing but I've gotten my hopes up before. Edit: And dammit, I just had a really good phone interview in a totally different industry.. Do I want to stick with what I know where I've been screwed over before or venture into the unknown where I could crash and burn? New Leaf fucked around with this message at 19:54 on Dec 21, 2023 |
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Dec 21, 2023 19:19
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Help me get my head on straight. Unemployed since end of February. After looking without luck since May, I overhauled and focused my approach in September (thanks in large part to the fine folks here) and started to gain some real traction. From late Sept through early Dec, I interviewed with 10 different orgs. 3 ended after the initial interview. 2 made it to the hiring manager. 4 or 5 reached the final round (one was ambiguous). So far so good! Of the finalists, 1 wanted to extend an offer but we could not agree on numbers, 1 I came second best to a better candidate, and the 3 others elected not to move on for reasons (or no stated reasons at all). The latest rejection came this week, and I felt it keenly because I thought I had a great shot but, based on the feedback, I think I admitted a weakness of specific experience that sank me (though it was honest, and spoken about in the context of all the work I've done to strengthen it, and I think they are very stupid). On the one hand, I'm thrilled at all of the interviews and that I've made the final round about half the time. On the other hand, I'm batting .000 in those final rounds. gently caress! I've always considered myself a good interviewee. I've always looked forward to them. In my professional history, I've consistently beaten out people with more experience. But I've never had to go through so many interviews before and I'm starting to worry I'm doing it wrong. But with 5 final rounds out of 10 shots, I'm obviously not doing it completely wrong. I keep telling myself that it's a process and that the process is working and to trust the process. Am I crazy? Or are these signs that I should take a hard look at how I'm presenting myself, beyond assessing and reflecting after each interview? Rawr.
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Dec 21, 2023 20:09
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You have to remember that... well, for instance, that interview where you didn't have this one piece of very specific experience. It is common for someone to be preselected for a job before it's even posted, and (especially if, as is often the case, that person is a straight white under-50 male) the qualifications list is tailored to his resume. So they can say with a straight face that they hired the best qualified candidate, if they have to. It's wise to always be looking for opportunities to improve yourself. It's also wise to internalize that a dry run of results on what in the big picture is a very small sample size doesn't mean anything. You may just have gotten on a run of interviews for jobs that were filled before the position was posted. And/or jobs where one other applicant happened to be better qualified or better connected. Keep positive and keep moving. Your time will come.
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Dec 21, 2023 20:27
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I completely agree. I think you're also taking an objective look at what went well and what didn't and that's also really good. You also aren't batting .000 if you got an offer and the money didn't work. That meant you nailed the interview.
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Dec 21, 2023 20:42
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Eric the Mauve posted:You have to remember that... well, for instance, that interview where you didn't have this one piece of very specific experience. It is common for someone to be preselected for a job before it's even posted, and (especially if, as is often the case, that person is a straight white under-50 male) the qualifications list is tailored to his resume. So they can say with a straight face that they hired the best qualified candidate, if they have to. Although I don't think any of the 4 final rounds (not counting where we disagreed on #s) that went nowhere are great candidates for the specific scenario you describe (pre-filled jobs), this is in essence what I have been trying to tell myself. poo poo luck, lots of competition, etc... It just doesn't help that several of those roles are still open and still reposting their ads, suggesting that I didn't lose to a particular candidate but landed somewhere on the hosed it up <---> didn't fit their needs well enough spectrum. It does help to know that I reached at least two of those final rounds over significantly more experienced people, so there are some things that I am doing right.  e: part of what is contributing to my anxiety is that, after 2+ months of rarely entering a week without interviews already scheduled, the last two weeks have been very quiet on the interview front (outside of some rejections lol). I attribute this to a combination of end of year + the fact that all of the interviews in Oct/Nov put a big dent in how many apps I was sending out (from 100 in Sept to barely 60 in Nov) and am not getting too hung up on it - yet - but it's a lot easier to maintain a positive interview when you've got other prospects. Habibi fucked around with this message at 20:53 on Dec 21, 2023 |
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Dec 21, 2023 20:48
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It’s end of year. Nobody is doing anything until January.
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Dec 21, 2023 21:27
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Exactly right. It's December. Nothing ever happens in December.
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Dec 21, 2023 21:54
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Thanks for reaffirming my suspicions and the other advice, y'all. When you're drowning in this poo poo for months on end, it's increasingly easy to lose perspective and increasingly hard to claw it back. On which note, I'm probably going to do a big post about my resume in the coming days, because I'm experiencing a form of semantic satiation - I've made so many of them that they have started to lose all meaning! e: coining it now - application satiation.
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Dec 21, 2023 22:38
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In Australia it's Friday 22 December (so last open office day) and I'm just now receiving a flurry of rejection emails for roles I've applied for over the past six months, all at once 
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Dec 22, 2023 02:45
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Nice to see all of these HR people completing their 'to do' lists in real time
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Dec 22, 2023 02:46
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What's the best way to word my response to this application question? I'm applying to a job, and the application has an optional question asking me to list all of the equipment of a specific type for which I have performed maintenance and repairs. The issue is that I haven't yet worked on the type of equipment they are asking for, but I want to at least give some kind of answer. I tend to view large machines as merely groupings of components. Once you understand that a multi-million dollar machine is nothing more than sensors, actuators, valves, and etc., then it becomes much easier to understand the equipment and work on it. Like, it doesn't matter if the equipment is a huge bottle blowing machine, or a 10-ton high pressure air compressor, or a forklift, or a garbage compactor. A mac valve will operate the same on all of them, as well as a photo eye, as well as a pneumatic actuator.
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Dec 27, 2023 18:52
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neogeo0823 posted:What's the best way to word my response to this application question? I’ve not worked on that specific type of machinery but many of the key electromechanical parts and diagnosis processes are similar to the transfer lines and robots I have 5000+ hours repairing. But reword for your situation.
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Dec 27, 2023 21:37
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CarForumPoster posted:I’ve not worked on that specific type of machinery but many of the key electromechanical parts and diagnosis processes are similar to the transfer lines and robots I have 5000+ hours repairing. My advice is similar but reframe your response so you front load the things you can do. Don't start a response saying a negative thing (imo)
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Dec 27, 2023 22:04
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neogeo0823 posted:What's the best way to word my response to this application question? If it is optional I would not list anything negative and be very broad while trying to tie it to what the company needs. Remember that likely the first person that reads this won't know much of the technical info but just have a list of what the answer should be...
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Dec 28, 2023 17:21
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Sound_man posted:If it is optional I would not list anything negative and be very broad while trying to tie it to what the company needs. Remember that likely the first person that reads this won't know much of the technical info but just have a list of what the answer should be... No offense but seems like bad advice. In my experience hiring, candidates who answer my "optional" questions are more interested, better candidates. This is more true with lower education jobs than Engineers/Lawyers but holds there too for entry level. You're easily 2x more likely to get an interview. Also I am completely immune to puffery and annoyed by vagueness. Give me data to make the case for hiring someone. You can be specific and non-technical for nearly any role. CarForumPoster fucked around with this message at 20:22 on Dec 28, 2023 |
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Dec 28, 2023 20:19
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Had an interview yesterday, went...fine. Five people in the room, plus me. Was nervous, forgot to write down names. I'm writing a thank you note and have remembered four out of the five people there. The fifth one...was in payroll...and was not Donna...so it's either Roxanne...or Anne. Can't stalk either enough to find a photo on the Internet to confirm. Should I give up and just say "thank you X and the other interviewers" or make a 50/50 bet on the name? Leaning towards the first?? Always a learning experience.
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Dec 29, 2023 02:32
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That's very thoughtful of you but I think a "good talking to you" email to your primary contact would be just fine. But don't guess on that name. Just put "to X and team" if you really feel the need.
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Dec 29, 2023 04:29
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I'm on round 3 of interviews of a job I'm not sure I want now. The pay would be what I'm asking, which isn't anything crazy, but it feels like I've been steered in a direction that I'm not really ready for. I went along with the interviews because I desperately need the work, but originally it was for a senior PC role at a bank's data center. Now someone high up in the department thinks I'd be a better fit for some sort of leadership assistant role helping with appointment scheduling and meeting planning and ordering catering and all that sort of thing. She's really nice and seems like she'd be a joy to work for, and she really seems to like me, and I need work.. I don't know what to do. Round 3 is on Jan 4. My sincere hope is that I get an offer from another interview before I have to go through with this. I have high hopes, it was a Round 2 and she said I had more knowhow and telecom knowledge than anyone she'd previously interviewed and was already brainstorming other areas of her department I could help out in. That role is much more in my wheelhouse and the pay would be about the same.
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Dec 29, 2023 22:11
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Would you not take job 1 at all or would you want to string them along? If the former I'd be upfront and say you'd like to pull out unless this is for the senior PC role. My guess is someone took a shine to you and assumed you'd do whatever as long as you got paid. You would need to be upfront about not wanting to do that, but it might mean cutting cut loose. I think you're right, this is probably not what you want to do. If you need to keep them on a string until you find out more about job 2, I'd probably let them know in the next communication you are in process interviewing at another place, or just keep mum until an offer and then say you need time. I'd just job 2 know that your interviewing elsewhere to try to get them to move though. Although with holidays they may not have any choice but be slow.
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Dec 29, 2023 23:31
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I'd take it and do my damnedest if the other job doesn't come through. I'm fairly confident about the one because of how positive she was about my experience and background and all the stuff I knew. The recruiter who was my main POC is back on the 2nd and she specifically said I'd hear from them when they're back from the holidays.
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Dec 30, 2023 00:05
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Goons: tell me what I am doing wrong with my resume (again). As noted earlier, I've had a lot of interviews over the past few months after tuning some things up in my resume and job hunt approach. This is great, but my 3% callback rate is, IMO, not. I would like to improve that. To that end, here are 4 resumes and corresponding JDs sampled in chronological order from early October to just last week to give you an idea of what I've been doing. Each was rejected, despite the role seeming like a good fit and having, as far as I could discern, low competition (because, e.g., it's on site). You'll notice I've been tweaking them to condense the content, with the first two being ~1.5 pages long while the latter two are one-pagers (which has been an experiment of the last 3 weeks or so). Please tell me what I'm doing wrong / poorly and could be doing better. Feel free - even encouraged - to be blunt and brutal. I'm open to ideas and rewrites are not an obstacle. Resume / JD #1 Resume / JD #2 Resume / JD #3 Resume / JD #4 Note that the margins look funny because I cropped the content - the actual resume margins are very normal. Thanks! Habibi fucked around with this message at 01:36 on Dec 30, 2023 |
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Dec 30, 2023 01:33
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Wow on top of all this my old job wants me back.. Old partner messaged me and said he was told they were going to ask for me back next week but no word on money or how it would go down. Not sure what to do at this point. They let me go once due to a telecom crash, but one of the jobs I'm expecting an offer on is going to be more of the same - someone rebuilding her team because they had layoffs around the same time I was let go.
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Dec 30, 2023 03:09
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Chase the money/prestige if you’re in a shaky industry since it helps you rebound higher
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Dec 30, 2023 20:15
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Habibi posted:Goons: tell me what I am doing wrong with my resume (again). You prob didnt get an immediate reply ITT because your role isnt one of the roles the hiring managers ITT probably have much experience with. I've only hired for a tiny company, so hiring an HR person is out of my wheel house. Grain of salt and what not. Still 10/10 job description and resume post so I wanna reply and help if I can. - I agree 3% phone/first interview rate seems low. For comparison on high applications jobs (100+ applicants) I tend to phone interview about 10%, up to a max of about 25% on lower applications jobs. I assume your 3% number comes from 50+ applications? How many total applications do you estimate having done? - Your resume closely aligned with the job posting for JD #1. Nice job. The chief stay at home parent line is cute, but maybe tone the cheekiness down a peg? I see by JD#4 you did that. - I always advise when I cant clearly diagnose: Google your name, does your email seem professional, is there something about the info you're providing that could be misinterpreted if someone went hunting for more info elsewhere. I once googled someone and found out they were the leader of a trump super pac. One which was implied to be a sham by a political blogger and for which the financials and mission didnt reflect well on that candidate. - Any one rejection could have nothing to do with you e.g. Job isnt really open, promoting from within need to get external candidates, hiring freeze for non SME staff is looming, job was posted a few weeks ago so youre late in the process. But you presumably have a large sample size, so I'm rather confused. I cannot figure out why that resume gets rejected 97% of the time. EDIT Ehh maybe I figured it out: Many of the stats seem kinda...bullshitty. Since I already consider HR kinda bullshitty, it makes me extra sus. What the gently caress are these stats and how on earth would one measure them: - streamlining management and communication 50% - raising "performance" and "productivity" by 20% [Theres no loving way an HR person increased some productivity KPI for all employees by 20%, literally impossible and HR people wouldnt know how to measure it] - "retention": how is it measured such that you can improve it by 40%? I'd assume this means that on average employees would stay there 20 months and you made it so they stayed there 35 months. That'd be a truly remarkable increase. However since you were only there for 26 months, I'd want some deets as to how you personally were responsible for a major increase in retention in such a short time. - "time to productivity": how many people-years worth of work does accelerating it 80% save? I dont think you should go deep in the technicalities of performance metrics in a resume of course, but the percentages wrapped with vague buzzwords make it seem like you're a bullshitter. The idea that an HR goon can make a team of software engineers complete 20% more story points, or a sales team qualify 20% more leads is almost laughable unless the way you did it is "hire 20% more engineers or sales people". CarForumPoster fucked around with this message at 07:24 on Dec 31, 2023 |
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Dec 31, 2023 07:06
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I definitely intend to give it a squizz, but the time between Christmas and New year's is a bit chockers!
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Dec 31, 2023 07:29
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A 3% call rate on a resume that is not obviously bad can only mean applying for roles that are getting hundreds of applicants (OP: are you applying only to WFH roles?) or it's getting screened out by software before a human ever sees it.
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Dec 31, 2023 15:12
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It might not be obvious your company B was a 5 year stint with promotions instead of a bunch of short jobs. That might be getting your resume auto trashed. How you have the dates makes it seem like you kept leaving at a glance. The JDs also seem to generally want 7-8+ years, which you technically have but barely. You might qualify but just generally be the greenest of that tier. Not much to do other than maybe try setting sights a bit lower and mixing in some lower grade, which is not ideal. Just looking at your resume though I kinda feel like you're more of a 5+ years guy for an industry like HR who tends to (over) value years of experience. You may be making first cut but they start calling back the more experienced people first and never get to you. Your titles look good but honestly my hiring Spidey sense says "inflated" which I think others might feel the same. It's a decent resume, though I agree metrics feel soft. I think this template works better for engineers or technical folk too, you might want to play with a different template for HR where you may get more play with a resume that has more pop or shine even if it's not as functional.
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Dec 31, 2023 15:56
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What is your job hunting process? If you are simply scouting job boards and applying to listings that seem doable, you should consider changing your approach. Otherwise, you will always be competing with hundreds or even thousands of other applicants for a position everyone is applying for. Without assuming you're already doing the following things, I have three bits of advice. 1. This might seem obvious but it's still number one: tap your network. By network, I mean, do you have any friends or family who can get you in the door for an interview via referral. Not your LinkedIn contacts, I mean people who know you and actually want to help you. Many hires happen via referrals and it's a way to beat other candidates to the interview, possibly before the job is even listed. 2. Similarly, don't just wait for positions to be listed. Make a list of companies you would want to work for and reach out to them outside of the channels of job listings. Cold emails, for example. Reach out, introduce yourself, talk about why you can bring their company value and why you'd love to work for them (and don't bullshit, you have to seem like you actually know about the company and like what they do). This gets you contact regardless of whether or not a position is open, and it shows initiative. Maybe there is no position right now, but you're more likely to be remembered when someone quits in 2 months and now a position is open, and you can circle back periodically. Congratulations, you have now formed a continuous relationship with a person of hiring influence in Company X. Companies also genuinely really like it when that kind of initiative is shown and they like it when you tell them, "I want to work for YOU because xyz" instead of just being another faceless application spamming every job listing that they might qualify for. 3. Quality over quantity. Put work into tailoring your application for each job you're applying for. If you're sending the same resume to every listing blind, don't. Highlight different elements of yourself based on what the job requirements are. Maybe not every single application needs a different resume, but you should have 3 to 5 different resumes highlighting different things based on the kind of position or company you are gunning for. Essentially, everything you can do to make yourself stand out and to be visible to companies regardless of whether or not they have a job listing posted is key. And I can't stress enough, again, if you can get referrals, use them. I am speaking only from the tech world, so if this stuff doesn't apply to other industries, I expect SA to keep me honest. But so many people, I find, go about job searching the wrong way. Don't be reactive, be proactive. fawning deference fucked around with this message at 17:06 on Dec 31, 2023 |
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Dec 31, 2023 17:00
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Ok, there's nuggets in there but some other things that will absolutely burn you out. 1. Yes networking is ideal. Do that. 2. Don't cold call unless you have some kind of in. Just randomly emailing will hit a brick wall and will feel very frustrating. If you do have a contact you can reach out, that goes back to #1. 3. You should do a combination of quality and quantity. If your job hunting full time, I usually say find 3-5 jobs a week that you spend time crafting a resume and individualized cover letter for targeting jobs that are dream jobs or very gettable, and the rest you use your stock resume (though you probably want a couple resumes if your targeting similar but different job titles). If you try to tailor every job you'll burn out too fast.
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Dec 31, 2023 17:13
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Lockback posted:Ok, there's nuggets in there but some other things that will absolutely burn you out. Interesting response to #2. I agree that I would not cold call, nor rely on cold contact of companies everyone wants to work for. But in general, cold emailing might get you no response or a brick wall but it also might get you a little favor with a cool company every once in a while, and I suppose that is where I am leaning in terms of being worthwhile to do. I have personally had success with it but again, it's just from tech and it's just my experience. Agreed about #3, I neglected to say basically "apply to less positions and put more effort into each application". Definitely avoid burnout that way. Your advice of both quality and quantity is probably the best way to go, and I would defer to your knowledge over my smaller experience of industries and job searching. I appreciate the perspective and clarity, Lockback.
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Dec 31, 2023 17:21
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Please never contact any representative of a company who you don't already know unless it's about a specific open job. Like in the winter of 20/21 you could totally call up any random company and say "hi I touch computers and I'm on the market, whatcha got?" But that was a very extraordinary moment in history and it's over now. Also during that time the companies were calling you.
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Dec 31, 2023 18:29
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I got fairly regular cold outreach for jobs or outreach from postings on our careers page I forgot to take down. None of them went in a file. I also would not suggest cold outreach as a way to convert into jobs and i created the b2b cold outreach B2B sales process for my last company. Edit: tho if it was for an SDR/BDR/account manager and the cold outreach was GOOD I’d probably call them back. But not other positions.
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Jan 1, 2024 01:33
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Haven't had a ton of success with this resume, paid the top person on Fiverr to make it (thinking that might have been money wasted). Worried that it is too heavy on buzzwords, too long, etc. Would appreciate any feedback.
themaninblack fucked around with this message at 03:27 on Jan 9, 2024 |
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Jan 1, 2024 17:28
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themaninblack posted:Haven't had a ton of success with this resume, paid the top person on Fiverr to make it (thinking that might have been money wasted). Worried that it is too heavy on buzzwords, too long, etc. Would appreciate any feedback. imo this is not a very good resume. I am not as anti-intro paragraph as others, but this is way too long for saying almost nothing. Cut it down to 2 sentences and actually say what you are instead of buzzword salad. You can have a couple of these resumes for different flavors of TPM. 3 pages is kinda ridiculous. No one is reading more than partway through the 2nd, so are you burying things you want people to see? Your full list of certs, awards and volunteering is probably better as a supplement rather than part of your resume (unless you are doing a full CV, which is rare in the US). Your bullets are good (though they are too verbose), but I see a lot of things that sound very technical but I see absolutely zero technical skills listed. That is a problem, are you a technical project manager or are you a non-technical project manager who manages technical projects? These are two different things and your resume seems like its straddling both. I'm curious what kind of jobs you're looking at for the next role, that might help in steering you on how to fix this. I don't think it was a waste of money, but you need to cut down what you got here and get it more focused. Likely you want 2 or even 3 resumes and use the one that fits the job the best.
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Jan 1, 2024 22:05
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