You're missing the critical link in the chain. Yes, most ads say things like "MS in Computer Science or 5 years of experience". But when you send in your résumé, they'll typically demand it in MS-Word format.
They don't do that so that they can helpfully extract out pertinent information so you don't have to fill it all in manually on the formal job application. They do it so that automated text-scanning software can cherry-pick it for "magic words". I have been informed that some HR departments receive not 250 applications, but more like 1500 applications for a position. PER DAY. One of the downsides of easy document generation and transmission is that people who aren't even remotely qualified can and will submit. Hence the filter, and almost always the scan looks for evidence of a college degree as part of the first-line toss-out process. Don't expect the AI in résumé-scanning software to be capable of computing "years of experience". We're not talking HAL 9000, here. It's easier to just look for "degree", "graduated" and so forth. So those "5 years of experience" won't cut if no human eye ever sees what makes you wonderful. And that's why I didn't make it past HR. Even though most people say I'm one of the best technical people in town (they say other things, too, but never mind...). I wouldn't single out EverBank. There are plenty of other offenders in town with policies as bad or worse. Disclaimer: I used to work there, but NOT because my résumé made it through the HR scanner. Laundry lists, however, are something else. There's generally 2 reasons for them. Either A) HR is totally clueless about what the position requires and what qualifies a person for it or B) They're advertising something that they have no intention of hiring via HR. This can vary from "we have someone already, but regulations require advertising anyway" to "We actually offshore everything, but we want to make it look like you local fools might actually stand a chance". For case A) what they effectively are doing is screening for people willing to lie to get the job. I'm not going to pass that test. For case B), forget about it. BTW, probably even worse than résumé scanners are the companies that expect you to apply online via some vendor's alleged "employment application software". In my experience, the software is not only inflexible, it's often too broken to actually push an application through. And what's with this crazy idea that an applicant needs to register an account? I have better things to do than create an account with each and every company that had a one-time opening that I felt qualified for. Just as a final comment, a degree for software developers and managers is one thing, but a degree for sysadmins and equipment operators had better carry a decent paycheck with it. A good sysadmin is a rare and precious treasure, but that doesn't mean that a degree program was required to train him/her. The things that make a good sysadmin are willingness to learn, patience with users and developers, and the ability to keep a level head when all the critical systems go down at once. Tim On Thu, 2012-04-26 at 21:12 -0400, Dan McDougall wrote: > On 04/26/2012 06:27 PM, Steve Litt wrote: > > On Thu, 26 Apr 2012 14:33:04 -0400 > > Dan McDougall<[email protected]> wrote: > >> The point I'm making here is that it is EXCEEDINGLY RARE that you'll > >> ever have two (or more) candidates that did equally well (at a "good > >> enough" level) in your technical interview. There will pretty much > >> always be "the guy that did the best" and "everyone else". At that > >> point in the hiring process education is absolutely 100% > >> meaningless. No one is going to say, "Well, this guy answered all of > >> our questions very competently but he doesn't have a degree... Let's > >> go with the guy that answered half the questions correctly instead." > > Except the non-degreed competent guy never got interviewed because > > he got screened out by HR because the job description demanded a > > bachelors degree. > I haven't seen a job posting the *requires* a degree in years but maybe > that's "just me". I just did a reality check by searching for some IT > positions ("developer", "security", "linux") on dice.com in the > Jacksonville area and here's what I've found: > > - Most don't have the word "degree" at all! I opened on dozens where > ctrl-f couldn't find the word. > - "Bachelor's degree or equivalent combination of education and > experience." Note the "or equivalent..." > - "Bachelors degree in computer science, mathematics, or related field > preferred." *preferred* (i.e. not in the filters) > - "Candidate should have a bachelors degree in related business area or > equivalent work experience and 6 or more years of related work > experience." That's oddly specific and asinine at the same time. Still, > degree isn't required. > - "PreferredSkills/Experience Bachelors Degree in a technical field: > Computer Science, Engineering or IT related discipline." *Preferred* again. > - "Education equivalent to a two year degree in an information > technology related discipline, or the equivalent in related work > experience." Translation: We have no idea what is necessary to do this > job (the rest of the wording on this one was supremely ambiguous, LOL). > The key here is "...or equivalent in related work experience." > - "Bachelor's degree (B. A.) from four-year College or University". I > found one that actually seems to require a degree! Everbank apparently > thinks a degree and 7+ years experience with AIX, Solaris, and Red Hat > go hand in hand. Was for a "Lead Systems Engineer" position. > - "Bachelors degree from accredited institution in information or > computer science, engineering or related field or at least 5 years of > experience in Enterprise Capacity Planning role plus high school > diploma." Another one of those "...or at least 5 years of experience." > this one in particular stated the job requires 5 years of experience so > for efficiency's sake they should just take the degree part out of it. > - " Prefer BS degree or equivalent work experience in large scale > midtier environment in System Administration Unix, Computer operations, > programming or related field in midtier OS, enterprise virtualization or > monitoring environment. Knowledge of midtier hardware: AIX, Dell > commodity, Sun Sparc and blade technology." This one makes it sound > like they'll hire someone with a degree *or* someone that actually knows > how to do the job. I'm guessing they really mean the latter :D > > I actually had a good time reading the job postings. There were lots > that made me laugh and laugh (many years of experience in "Reduce Map", > really? Ahahaha). The most fun were the Everbank positions where they > had requirements lists so long and so specific I can't help but wonder > if the postings are only for show. Meaning, maybe the don't *want* to > hire anyone but have to post the job so they can get an H1B or > something. I dunno. I just find it highly unrealistic to post a job > looking for someone with 10+ years of experience administering every > Unix there is, an equivalent amount of Windows administration > experience, Oracle database expertise, Cisco certifications, and a > variety of other highly-specialized IT-related skills that you could > only ever pick up if you worked for a huge company. > > All that for a job that looks like you'll be doing data entry; plugging > IP address into a boring monitoring tool all day. > --------------------------------------------------------------------- Archive http://marc.info/?l=jaxlug-list&r=1&w=2 RSS Feed http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/maillist.xml Unsubscribe [email protected]
