Job Applications, Responses, Reactions whats your experience?

[Dempo1]

Hi All,

As we all know the current economic climate is tough, no helped i guess by all those actively seeking employment with little success. Reading numerous threads over the past few months, it appears many candidates are experiencing many problems with the application process. Some examples includes applications not responded too, Resumes not reacted upon, poor if any communication from recruitment agencies and most disturbing Jobs being advertised that on the surface seem to be genuine only to end up be fictitious and an attempt to harvest resumes.

I just wondered what has been the general experience of those making applications, good bad or indifferent. I'm not looking for names etc, just an honest impression of experience from those seeking work and those who have made applications. I would also be interested are the problems faced confined to one or more Industries or sectors.

Thanks in for advance for any HONEST responses.

[Quant]

It's the lack of acknowledgement that I found most frustrating. Even a "thanks but no thanks" email would have made a difference.

[SlasherMcGurk]

I'v had 1 interview this year for a sales job that I was very well suited to

I sat in front of a panel of three people for 45 minutes and had to give them a sales pitch for their product. So it was something that required quite a bit of preparation.

They said they would let me know around the middle of the following week

I heard nothing back which I felt was bad form

[who_ru]

a company that is using an agency is automatically giving an extremely negative impression of their business in my opinion. agencies are very cynical in their approach to recruitment in general, there are numerous examples on these threads to back this argument up.

HR in general is dismal - totally out of their depth at understanding the job or asking relevant questions during interview, this has been my direct experience in my sector - pharma.

during bad times employers will raise the bar even for low level positions. during good times employees or prospective employees will totally over estimate their worth - i know of someone that demanded 65,000 p.a. for manufacturing position within a multinational.

with regard to acknowledgment of applications i think not getting any will become the norm but over time this could also backfire on businesses, for example people having no loyalty to their employer, walking out without giving notice, being unhelpful to fellow colleagues or customers. bad manners or lack of professional courtesy is a two way street.

[miec]

Whilst it is frustrating to often hear no response from prospective employers, I can understand the problems they face. They advertise a job and they are inundated with hundreds of applications, if they are a private company, then they also get calls from recruitment agencies, so I can understand that it is a question of logistics and cost as to the lack of response but what I would like to see is within the advert that they give a cut off date. So for example say I own a company and I have a vacancy, it would make sense to put in the ad that if you have not heard by X date, you will not be contacted for interview. That elimates the uncertainty for the applicant and deals with cost/logistics for the company. [If anyone reading this and advertising a job, please do it, it saves a lot of hassle].

For those who have been called for interview, they should get a written response either by e-mail or letter, letting them know if they are successful.

Recruitment agencies are a whole other area but I believe the reason they advertise false jobs, or readvertise a job they had months ago, or copy others who are advertising the job is for multiple reasons. 1) to harvest CVs and gather information on potential clients 2) they have to look like or give the impression that they are very busy and doing well 3) the whole recruitment process is based on sales, matching staff with companies and this is why the above issues occur. I have read that a job gets advertised and all the agencies have to compete for the one job. In reality the job market is practically dead. I am job seeking in three counties and have been doing this since becoming unemployed last year when I left college, as I have a child in school, emigration is not an option for me. I am registered with four agencies and I got a sniff of a job once but the contract fell through, that agency has been very honest with me, telling me the market is dead and they are struggling.

Then there is the issue of WPP jobs and CE schemes, now CE schemes have been around for a long time and as such have no real affect on the jobs markets but more and more companies are using the WPP schemes because the government pays their staff. As such there are fewer jobs than ever because of this, so competition is even tighter.

I guess what I find the most frustrating is the time and effort that I put into each application with little or no reward but you know you have to dredge up the enthusiam, keep positive and show how much you want that job. Some jobs I have gone for have taken days of research and filling in application forms, tweaking my CV and cover letter for it and then nothing, no response. It can get me down but I have to be pragmatic and keep searching.

My experience of interviews so far have been incredibly positive I have to say, it is just getting that interview is the real problem and each company I have had an interview with has dealt with me professionally and with courtesy. I didn't get the job because they found the candidate with the exact right criteria but I got good feedback of two of them. I have only had three interviews with companies and the four interviews with the recruitment agencies out of a couple of hundred job applications but such is life and you have to keep going.

[Dempo1]

Originally Posted by who_ru

a company that is using an agency is automatically giving an extremely negative impression of their business in my opinion. agencies are very cynical in their approach to recruitment in general, there are numerous examples on these threads to back this argument up.

HR in general is dismal - totally out of their depth at understanding the job or asking relevant questions during interview, this has been my direct experience in my sector - pharma.

during bad times employers will raise the bar even for low level positions. during good times employees or prospective employees will totally over estimate their worth - i know of someone that demanded 65,000 p.a. for manufacturing position within a multinational.

with regard to acknowledgment of applications i think not getting any will become the norm but over time this could also backfire on businesses, for example people having no loyalty to their employer, walking out without giving notice, being unhelpful to fellow colleagues or customers. bad manners or lack of professional courtesy is a two way street.

Excellent points all round, it really does seem Companies are letting the eye off the Ball when it comes to quality recruitment practices. It seems to me that during this economic crisis companies would dedicate more time to attracting and hiring quality. I also agree that a company using recruitment agencies does not give an positive impression, such is my disdain for Agencies, i now search for Jobs that do not use agencies. I also agree that the total lack of respect towards candidates, particularly those who succeed in getting an interview is a disgrace and it seems to be rampant in the Irish Labor market.

[Dempo1]

Originally Posted by miec

Whilst it is frustrating to often hear no response from prospective employers, I can understand the problems they face. They advertise a job and they are inundated with hundreds of applications, if they are a private company, then they also get calls from recruitment agencies, so I can understand that it is a question of logistics and cost as to the lack of response but what I would like to see is within the advert that they give a cut off date. So for example say I own a company and I have a vacancy, it would make sense to put in the ad that if you have not heard by X date, you will not be contacted for interview. That elimates the uncertainty for the applicant and deals with cost/logistics for the company. [If anyone reading this and advertising a job, please do it, it saves a lot of hassle].

For those who have been called for interview, they should get a written response either by e-mail or letter, letting them know if they are successful.

Recruitment agencies are a whole other area but I believe the reason they advertise false jobs, or readvertise a job they had months ago, or copy others who are advertising the job is for multiple reasons. 1) to harvest CVs and gather information on potential clients 2) they have to look like or give the impression that they are very busy and doing well 3) the whole recruitment process is based on sales, matching staff with companies and this is why the above issues occur. I have read that a job gets advertised and all the agencies have to compete for the one job. In reality the job market is practically dead. I am job seeking in three counties and have been doing this since becoming unemployed last year when I left college, as I have a child in school, emigration is not an option for me. I am registered with four agencies and I got a sniff of a job once but the contract fell through, that agency has been very honest with me, telling me the market is dead and they are struggling.

Then there is the issue of WPP jobs and CE schemes, now CE schemes have been around for a long time and as such have no real affect on the jobs markets but more and more companies are using the WPP schemes because the government pays their staff. As such there are fewer jobs than ever because of this, so competition is even tighter.

I guess what I find the most frustrating is the time and effort that I put into each application with little or no reward but you know you have to dredge up the enthusiam, keep positive and show how much you want that job. Some jobs I have gone for have taken days of research and filling in application forms, tweaking my CV and cover letter for it and then nothing, no response. It can get me down but I have to be pragmatic and keep searching.

My experience of interviews so far have been incredibly positive I have to say, it is just getting that interview is the real problem and each company I have had an interview with has dealt with me professionally and with courtesy. I didn't get the job because they found the candidate with the exact right criteria but I got good feedback of two of them. I have only had three interviews with companies and the four interviews with the recruitment agencies out of a couple of hundred job applications but such is life and you have to keep going.

I appreciate where your coming from and it continues to be very frustrating. I am caught in a sector which seems to rely heavily on recruitment agencies ( which sadly have destroyed the market in my opionion) Your points about the motivations behind agencies is 100% on the Mark, just last week i had a meeting in an office of a large recruitment firm, the office i attended was in a large midlands town. I was greeted by a scruffy unshaven "consultant", pleasant enough but it soon became apparent he was out of his depth, instead asking me how where things generally in the market. After the meeting i asked him how business was? he invited me to look around the office. Five empty desks to be precise and he informed me five consultants let go after christmas, kinda said it all to me but yet this company is currently advertising over 100 jobs most fictitious and on line for months, bizarre state of affairs.

[miec]

I agree it is all a bit pointless and time wasting, I guess for now, we just have to grin and bear.

[Raekwon]

I will be leaving my current employer at the end of March as my contract expires and they have told me that they cannot afford to keep me on. I found this out last month so I've been looking for a new job ever since. I've probably applied for around 30 jobs and I've gotten 1 interview, which was unfortunately unsuccessful.

I'm dreading facing unemployment and I'm determined to get a job but I have to say that it's not looking too rosy out there at the moment.

I work in IT btw.

[BopNiblets]

If I even get a response from a company these days I feel lucky... it's total and utter balls and I wish they'd explode for not giving me the time of day.

[Dempo1]

Hopefully when things do turn around, the table will turn with these companies. Watching front line tonight was a depressing state of affairs. Graduates and recent apprentices are in dispair, its a complete mess.

[30d1a1]

have a cert and Ordinary degree in Electronics engineering and cannot get a thing due to having no industry experience (or an hons degree)

workin in a supermarket atm, but even they've cut back on hours and are due to introduce pay cuts ....

tried the UK but same sort of outcome, would easily ship off to Aus or NZ if I hadnt a few things tieing me local-ish (EU) that have to be sorted in person over the next few months..

counted my emails lately and have sent off over 40 or so CV's in the past 3 months, only gotten 10 responces...

frustration isnt the word

[Dempo1]

That is disheartening, not sure if you saw the front line program tonight, there is a thread running under front line 22nd February. Mainly graduates in the audience and it was quite depressing to watch, you can catch it on rte player at www.rte.ie

[items]

Construction here, trades. I'm qualified in my trade with with a good few other related qualifications an employer would find handy to have to use for advantage. Since things became quite I've been looking along with applying for jobs, I've got most of the big jobs sites set up to send an email to my address should any jobs in my trade become available.

I've lost count of how many I've applied for but the amount of responses is easy to remember, zero. I almost think jobs are advertised for the craic to see who applies for them.

In all my years of working any job I've applied for which has been a good few (15 years) I got all jobs applied for so to not even have a response I find strange.

I've also applied for work abroad and so far I have received a response from all jobs applied for abroad.

Couple of thing's I notice is 1, how quick Jobs advertised are taken off jobs sites, ones I've found haven't lasted more than 3 days and 2 its hard to find work available above a few months / weeks contract, seems to be no fixed positions, some have the cheek to almost advertise a job then it turns out its only a tender for a Job for self employed people.

I've given up applying here, for every job applied for I re typed my CV to suit some of the key job requirements advertised, I've typed up fancy cover letters outlining my experiences in relation to job so that recruitment can pick up on the good things quick without trolling through entire CV, all that took some time, each CV sent could take a couple of hours Cover letter / CV prep and to not even receive a response I haven't the will to apply anymore.

I'm only going to concentrate on jobs abroad, going for best deal I can get.

Best of luck to all applying.

[Iamxavier]

It's not that I cannot see the light at the end of the tunnel, it's the fact that there is no light at the end of the tunnel that worries me. I have worked for 2 months in the past 18... That was just a temp role before christmas for Microsoft. It broke the monotomous cycle and gave me some much needed cash, but I cannot see myself working for the next year or more. That's terrible, I want to work, so do most people but there is nothing for us here.

Right now I am starting to look abroad, our skills and education is simply not wanted or needed here. I have to save my social welfare and any other money I get my hands on to pay for flights and a visa. That could take me a very long time on this low income. It's very very sad indeed