Automated resume screeners, terrible.

I had an interview a week ago Thursday, they hadn't officially even put the job in their system yet, but I had an inside contact. I received an email on Tuesday from one of the interviewers to "formally apply" in their system since they finished the job description.

I go online Tuesday evening, apply, etc. Thursday afternoon I receive an email from the HR dept stating that I haven't been selected for the position (very strange given we talked about money and such before he even brought me in for the interview).

So I sent him a very polite email Thursday evening asking if he would be willing to provide feedback on what skills I lacked for the position, etc. I then receive an email on Friday evening stating that I'm still in consideration for the position and he has confirmed with HR he wants to move to the next step in the hiring process.

Too much technology these days.

You're lucky you have a chance to bypass the system. HR is happy to apply any criteria they can to lop off big chunks of the list of applicants. And while they could find themselves in legal trouble for asking certain questions in an interview, nobody will know if they just get the answers from Facebook...

I can understand the use for certain positions, but in such a niche position (Tech writer for quality issues in Aerospace in this case), it doesn't make sense. To me at least.

http://www.b-list.org/weblog/2015/oct/19/destroy-all-hiring-processes/

This article is software-specific, but I suspect it's broadly applicable with tweaks. The upshot is that doing the hiring sucks, trying to get hired sucks, and a lot of what we do to try to do these things are both unpleasant and ineffective.

HR resume automated keyword-filtering is a great example of this kind of nonsense.

What some people are doing nowadays is to put a bunch of white text on the pdf resume to make the software catch and auto select. Then if a person sees the resume, all they see if the normal black text.

If it is software, it can be gamed. The people running it are a generation behind and don't have a berkeleying clue. I have intervued a couple of rutabagas who made it past the screen. Thought of hiring them cause they were smart enough to get past. Kinda like the VW programmers; one of my sets of morals has a lot of admiration for those guys.

Ooh. I'd kill to have a aerospace tech writer on my team. Management keeps fighting for them and we get them under contract in the last 2 months of their contract.