Hey Employer, Your Online Application Sucks!
April 30, 2009 (1:00PM) by Julie O'Malley, CPRW
A friend of mine recently applied for a job. He was well-qualified, and he made sure his resume and cover letter fit the job description and linked his past experience to their present needs. It took some time to tweak it, but it's got to be done if you want to stand out from the crowd in this job market, right?
So after uploading those documents into the company's online application program, he was a bit miffed to find out he could not just submit them. Oh no! You have to earn the privilege of applying to this company by also completing an online form that asks for all the same information.
 And those online questions are mandatory, even if you've uploaded your resume. (A friendly little note confirms that, in so many words.)
For this very-important company, job candidates cannot reach the Submit button until they provide additional data on their most recent jobs, their former supervisors, two personal references, and their minimum salary requirements. The unwritten message to prospective employees is, "We want to put you at a complete disadvantage before you apply for a job here."
That, alone, should have been enough of a red flag to realize this company has its collective head up its collective butt. But hey, when you need a job, you do what you gotta do. So my buddy put in the time, and begrudgingly provided all the intrusive and redundant information. It took almost an hour, but he finally was able to submit the application.
Two days later he found this response in his e-mail inbox [emphasis mine]:
Dear _____,
Thank you for your interest in _____, Inc. It is always a pleasure to encounter individuals who have the desire to participate in our very exciting and rewarding industry.
Unfortunately, you do not meet the minimum qualifications we have established for this position.
We do wish you the best of luck in your job search.
Sincerely,
etc.
Excuse me???
We all know these rejection letters are not personally written for each candidate; this was a generic form letter. But someone in this company actually wrote that form letter at some point. And someone else in this company (probably several someones) actually approved the notion that it was OK to tell every candidate, regardless of experience, that they do not meet the minimum qualifications. Brilliant!
Well, company [whose name I would so love to reveal but won't], your online application process is obnoxious, your rejection letter is insulting, and the entire experience you create for job applicants is probably an indication of how poorly you treat the people who wind up working in your "very exciting and rewarding industry."
But we do wish you the best of luck in your quest to find quality employees!
Have you ever received a similar employment rejection that needlessly added insult to injury? Please leave a comment and vent away!
RELATED LINKS
Ditch the Gloom: Keeping Your Head Up in Bad Times
Not Quite Qualified? Apply Anyway
The Art of the Follow-Up Letter
I have to shake my head and agree. I am searching for a very technical job, and I find that often the person screening the resimes and conducting the initial search has little or no knowledge of what is the position's needs really are. Heres another one for you - just this week I tried to apply to a job posting. The ad asked applicants to apply via the web site. No contact name was provided and the add stated "please do not email". And you guessed it. The website's only option to submit something was a generic "E Mail" us button.
@Bruce
Nothing like a classic Catch 22 to keep you motivated in your job search! Maybe it's a test to find out how you deal with challenges. Yeah, that's the ticket!
-- Julie
As always, Julie - WELL SAID!
This has to be one of my biggest complaints about job searching in this day and age. You spend hours on Monster and HotJobs and all the other job search sites only to be faced with another hour on every company website. Super convenient!!
It kills me to think of who is being overlooked (ME!) by forcing everyone through the same funnel. Mass recruiting may reach a wider audience but then recruiters are complaining about how inundated they are and how much more difficult it is to find a well qualified candidate in the sea of applicants.
Well, when any old yahoo can sit home in their pajamas and apply for 20-30 jobs per day (despite how relevant they are) it really makes it difficult for candidates who aren't doing that.
There is no more "personal interaction" in the application process anymore. Recruiting departments are secured like the Hope diamond. WHY? We all know that the "feeling" you get about a person when you meet them often has as much weight as the interview/application, if NOT MORE! It wouldn't kill you to accept a phone call or an in-person applicant. AND isn't it a recruiter's job to find TALENT, not hide behind locked doors and voicemail?
Why are recruiters isolating themselves and causing these traffic jams and free for alls? Do companies actually see better hiring results from it?
I remember the days of filling-out an application, then sitting down for awhile while 'HE' went over the application and then went in personally to discuss the job face to face. I ask " What better way is there than human contact to arrive at a satisfactory decision for both parties?" It has worked throughout human history; why not now? There is something fundamentally wrong with society when someone "who wants to work" is thrown into the bizarre world of saying anything pretty resumes written by strangers for X-hundred dollars then magicly channeled to alledged employers by more strangers for even more dollars! I want to at least say something using a human voice with a face attached! Anyone Agree?
One of my biggest complaints is that nowadays if what you put down doesn't contain the right "buzz words" and enough of them, you're out. But how do you know what the "buzz words" are when you have to wade thru a 45 minute "psychological" test and posting your resume? Then you get an email saying thanks but no thanks within hours (even during the middle of the night) because a software program, NOT an actual person, rejected you.
Interesting and totally frustrated.
My question is do many of these automated systems like Taleo and such allow the hiring managers to easily filter out candidates? Things like an out of state address, eventhough you may currently be in the market where the job is? That's my fear with these crappy systems. It allows the HR people to completely absolve themselves from any form of thinking, and many qualified candidates get tossed into the black hole. I think these systems are a huge time waster.
Well get this, I have five years of admin/clerical experience and I applied at DHC for position called Specialist III. The requirements needed were to pass typing test of 25 wpm and customer service. This is what I rec'd within just a couple of hours after applying. Thank you for considering an opportunity with DHC as a Specialist, Clerical Supp -III. At this time, however, we do not feel your experience matches our needs. You are welcome to apply on our website to other positions for which you feel you are qualified.
Again, thank you for your interest in our company and best of luck with your future endeavors.
I get alot of these and it makes me wonder if there are really jobs out there.
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