According to CNN, searching for jobs online is getting more difficult starting today. There are new federal regulations that put simply create a situation where it benefits employers to have fewer active applicants for any certain position.
In order to be seriously considered for a position, not only does your resume have to be tailored to the position, but your resume must include the exact text ti match the job announcement.
For instance, if a job description includes the words “three years of credit accounting experience,” put “three years of credit accounting experience” on your resume. Don’t just list a credit-accounting position with the dates you had it and assume someone will figure it out.
Here are all the specifications you must follow to be considered for an open position at a corporation that follows the new legislation:
* Follow the company’s instructions. If the subject of your email isn’t what is specified, for example, your resume will be ignored.
* Spell out your qualifications clearly. See above.
* Keep your resume up-to-the-minute current. They won’t look at resumes that are two or three weeks old.
* Target specific companies and visit their web sites often. Their websites will have positions listed before job boards like Monster, and some jobs won’t make it to the boards.
* If someone is referring you for a job, make sure you — and they — understand how to do it. Both the referrer and the applications must follow the company’s guidelines without any room for error.
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{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
Ugh, I do not look forward to my next job search.
What was the motivation for the feds to make these regulations? This seems totally weird…but I guess that’s mostly because I am used to tech jobs which are often advertised with superhuman capabilities or some that are downright impossible (like requiring 10 year of java experience when it was only 8 years old etc). I suppose it will force companies to actually get more precise about what they really need or no one will be able to apply (my faves are the ones for webdesigners that also require all these highly technical stuff like sysadmin, and apache config…totally unrelated skillsets for most folks)
I just find this whole thing absurd…so maybe I am just missing something…
I agree with caitlin. What problem does this regulation solve?
How is a republican administration and congress allowing this kind of bs to happen?
In my experience, ‘online job ads’ are a crock of bullshit. They always have been. Well, maybe not in the BEGINNING of the internet. If you go to sites like http://www.monster.com, it’s obvious, as orangutans have red butts, that many of the job ads are auto-generated. Or, worse, generated by HR folks who have nothing better to do than gather the typical specs for the job they’re hiring for, and requiring just a wee bit more from the applicant in the way of qualifications. So, pretty much everyone is eliminated from applying for positions. I know, I know, that’s not a benefit for employees. So, then, why do job sites still exist? They exist because employers get to stockpile the best resumes of the best out there. By listing hopeless-reachable needed qualifications in job ads, employers weed out many applicants who would just sit there and apply for as many jobs as they can apply for in a 8-to-10 hour period in a day. A total waste of time in the end for employers. Plus, these job sites make A LOT of money from employers. There was something I read last year, that while Careerbuilder generates alot of response from applicants, only a fraction of those applicants are ever actually seen by employers. These few applicants are the ones that pay a fee to get seen by employers. Pretty sick, huh?
I think that if you use targeted job hunting tactics, these rules will not hurt you that badly.
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