Back when I had just finished my master’s degree and I was on the “real” job market for the very first time I landed an interview with a law firm. (My MA is in political science with an emphasis in statistical methodology and judicial politics. Yeah, I know.) Midway through the interview, as they explained the details of the job, I blurted out: “Doesn’t that get really boring?”
Crickets.
To keep reading, click here: Are You Punishing Perfectly Good Job Candidates?
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Of course they punish you…hiring has become not about finding great talent but rather about going fast instead of right….real life is just not that convenient. It has become a business of exclusion not inclusion.
You can do 100 things right and one wrong and, with most companies, you are out. I’m a recruiter and find the hiring process at the vast majority of companies shockingly poor. I am surprised anyone gets hired at all. Hiring “screeners” seem to think that if they find that “fatal flaw” and crush that potentially destructive candidate from joining their company, they have accomplished their mission and saved the company.
Reality, transposing two letters on a resume or choosing a word like boring is not a reason to throw the baby out with the bathwater and yet that is what happens….there would be far fewer babies if these hiring authorities were working their magic in the 19th century!
The last 4 jobs I have held required 10 year background checks, mandatory drug-tests and fingerprinting. One company asked for asked for W-2s from a past employer because the past employer was no longer in business. They wanted W-2s from 2005! Another wanted documentation or a reference confirming my employment at a pizza shop in 1996. Well, the shop is now an appliance store and as far as I know the shop owners moved back to Italy. We’re reaching the point where no one will be able to do anything.
+100 for this post, Suzanne. I have a relative who got in trouble as a youth and spent time in the big house. He absolutely got his crap together and is today a hard-working and devoted husband and father. People do screw up, and then they grow up.