11.2.2003

Feels like a Tuesday

'Cause it is a Tuesday. No, I didn't get everything published Sunday night. Woops. Sometimes that doesn't happen, and I do it Monday or Tuesday. I am working on re-architecting the site anyway; maybe I can do something that's more oriented towards web-based publishing instead of the content management system I'm using now. It's working, but it can be unwieldy at times. If only there was a Fairy who could wave her wand and... oh yeah. I am that Fairy. Never mind. Maybe I should get my butt back to work now.

More stupid recruiter stories

No, they're not just urban legends. Even highly professional recruiters such as Barbara Ling admit to, identify, and try to correct a problem that's all too common among recruiters. "As a consultant to the recruiting industry, it never fails to amaze me how many mistakes recruiters can make with their targeted job postings.  And I'm not even talking this time about catchy headlines, copy that gets the right people to apply, internal information that answers the 'does this fit my needs question'....I'm focusing upon something even more specific. Have you ever posted a job and then wondered why nobody responded via e-mail? Do a quick check of your posting.  Did you mistype the contact information?  Indeed, I have seen several job posts out there where the contact mailing link is missing a, say, .com or instead of .com it reads .cmo Recruiters sometimes will misspell their names, their companies, their phone numbers and other things too.  I would think this would guarantee a drastically reduced quality response rate to a job posting!! When you're posting jobs on any board, please do yourself a favor and give the information a once-over before sending it to the Internet.  Contact information is often hidden to the eyes unless someone passes their mouse over the hyperlink... you might unwittingly have included a typo that will prevent you from receiving the qualified candidates you deserve." This has got to be one of the most irritating things I run into, especially on monster and dice. Come to think of it, flipdog is bad about this too. Don't recruiters notice that they're not getting any responses to job postings? What I also loathe is when their e-mail in boxes fill up and then your resume submissions start to bounce. How difficult is it to have the system administrators pop up your quota? Any idiot who can run Exchange server knows an HR person's going to have attachments out the wazoo... Or set 'em to POP3 and tell the HR weenie to leave their Outlook up and on when they leave for the day, so they don't miss any emails from candidates. It's a shame they do this, too. That's why so many hiring managers make an end run around their HR weenies and consort with recruiters and agencies who supply consultants. They just can't deal with how long these things seem to take... and now you know why!

Five Words To Laugh At

"Five Words Every Resume Should Include HotJobs By Caroline Levchuck Every word on your resume counts in today's competitive job market.  But some words count more than others -- especially those that refer to soft skills. Soft skills are increasingly important in the workplace.  In fact, 86 percent of employers considered soft skills to be among their most important hiring criteria in a recent survey by two University of Massachusetts economists.
'Teamwork' Teamwork is more important than ever in the workplace. The ability to work well with others to accomplish a common goal is vital for a harmonious workplace. Employees are often organized into teams to manage projects.  And many employers believe collaboration increases the quality of work and improves productivity. A team player is an attentive listener, a cooperative colleague and is willing to help others.
'Flexibility' Employers value workers who are flexible and able to juggle multiple tasks simultaneously.  In other words, it's sometimes just as important to be a jack-of-all-trades as a master of one. You can show that you're flexible by demonstrating a willingness to take on new and varied projects and an ability to handle changing priorities and deadlines. Ultimately, being flexible doesn't only increase the odds that you'll get a job -- it also improves your chances of keeping it should layoffs occur.
'Detail-Oriented' Employers want to know that they can trust workers to handle a project down to the last detail. Being "detail-oriented" means being organized and meticulous about your work.  It also implies that you can work without constant supervision and act independently.
'Self-Motivated' Employers value employees who are self-starters.  These workers can generate their own ideas and follow them through to fruition. A self-motivated worker goes the extra mile.  She regularly takes on tasks that may not be part of her job description.  She's inspired to work hard not just to reap rewards but also for personal satisfaction."

Yeah, right.

• First off, no one is searching by those keywords.
• Second off, anyone can put them into a resume and they can't be proven or disproved.
• Thirdly, they're touchy-feely b******t words that take up space but don't really "mean" anything, as in the way CNE or Oracle DBA "mean" something.
• Last but not least, this person sounds like a total a** munch.

Here are my five sit up and take notice words:

• Oracle (as in DBA)
• Unix
• C/C++/C#
• Java/J2EE
• WebLogic

If you've got skills like these, you're not wasting your time reading articles on jobfairy.com. You're busy as hell. Unless you're wasting your time writing them!