One of the most crushing things about job hunting...

Croppy Bhoy

Searching a job website, opening all the possibilities in tabs, going through each one and closing all those which require experience/specific qualifications, finding a few that are absolutely perfect for you, jobs you would be able to excel in let alone simply fulfil... and not even hearing back from them.

The other week I found a job vacancy for a company seeking someone to manage their 'online' presence. No experience required, just wanted someone to manage their Facebook and stuff. Pretty much any teenager would be able to do it. I applied, I can touch-type, I have a pretty 'advanced' knowledge of Facebook (don't just use it for personal stuff, I admin pages to promote my websites etc), I know a good bit about SEO and web marketing etc.

Didn't even hear back

It's fair enough if you chance your arm applying for a big job, or one you aren't actually qualified/experienced enough to do. But when you're just looking for piss easy jobs that anybody could do it's f***ing annoying when you don't hear back from them. Especially when you see the total braindeads that already work there and stuff.

CatFromHue

ring them on the phone or send follow up emails to find what the staus of the position is.

be polite and ask for "an update on the recruitment process" or "what is the status of position advertised"

if you ring you and manage to get talking to the person in charge of recruitment you may get a bit more info about the position.

3DataModem

Remember this; the guy who got the job did NOT just apply via a job website.

You know how to social network? Find out who this hiring manager is, contact them directly.

I was interviewed by three guys - all in a different country - for my current job just over a year ago. Never met or spoke to them beforehand, but got hold of two of them via linkedin. Knew where they worked, knew who we'd both dealt with.

Croppy Bhoy

3DataModem wrote: »

Remember this; the guy who got the job did NOT just apply via a job website.

You know how to social network? Find out who this hiring manager is, contact them directly.

I was interviewed by three guys - all in a different country - for my current job just over a year ago. Never met or spoke to them beforehand, but got hold of two of them via linkedin. Knew where they worked, knew who we'd both dealt with.

lol that's a bit OTT for the jobs I'm talking about... unlikely that any of these people would be on LinkedIn for starters..

ourtrail

You really do need experience though for that sort of position, believe me I have worked in a similar position and there's a lot more to learn than you think.

Managing Facebook Pay-per-click Advertising - using and creating suitable graphics, knowing the exact targeting options for each campaign and the most appropriate bid for both the company and the advertisement to place, monitor performance of said advertising through Google Analytics and other CRM performance measures and producing a report on such. Controlling budgetary measures and keeping in mind VAT charges.

Keeping tabs on the Facebook page itself - knowing how to use the page as a means of effective customer service, uploading and creating Youtube content and image content that will attract and amuse your followers, create a HTML Image landing page that again will attract potential followers. Providing regular, important updates without spamming or causing annoyances to followers. Maintaining the same line of content across all social media outlets used by the business. Importing applications that will be relevant and beneficial to the business page.

And thats just Facebook, most look for proficiency with Twitter, LinkedIn, Youtube and Google Analytics as well not to mention the ability to blog. My advice would be to take a course in Digital Media or the like you can do two day courses right up to full year long courses. I just did a four week course and then was given the job I last worked in - believe me it will really stand to you.

3DataModem

Croppy Bhoy wrote: »

lol that's a bit OTT for the jobs I'm talking about... unlikely that any of these people would be on LinkedIn for starters..

I was just giving an example.

If you prefer just read this bit of my post:

3DataModem wrote: »

Find out who this hiring manager is, contact them directly.

Bottom line: if ALL you are doing is searching job sites and sending applications online, then you will never be successful. The people you are up against are doing a lot more... be it for jobs in Tesco, McDonalds, PokerStars, Google or SAP.

Croppy Bhoy

ourtrail wrote: »

You really do need experience though for that sort of position, believe me I have worked in a similar position and there's a lot more to learn than you think.

That was just one example. And the advert stated no experience was necessary.

Managing Facebook Pay-per-click Advertising - using and creating suitable graphics, knowing the exact targeting options for each campaign and the most appropriate bid for both the company and the advertisement to place, monitor performance of said advertising through Google Analytics and other CRM performance measures and producing a report on such. Controlling budgetary measures and keeping in mind VAT charges.

I have (and still do) work with Google AdSense and Analytics

And thats just Facebook, most look for proficiency with Twitter, LinkedIn, Youtube and Google Analytics as well not to mention the ability to blog.

I have experience with all of these, and explained this to them.

I was speak in general terms rather than this job specifically, that was just an example of applying for a job with far more than they had asked for, and hearing nothing back.

Lux23

I find if I apply for jobs that have more than enough relevant experience they don't bother replying, they are too afraid they will have to pay you properly you see.

pow wow

A formal rejection is as crushing as no reply at all, especially when you tick all the boxes for the job. It's just a pox of a time to be looking as employers have their pick of people with 10 times the experience you do, who are willing to do the job because they can't get anything else either. When you add that to the fact that the 'braindeads' who already work there know how lucky they are to even have a job and so aren't planning on going anywhere any time soon you have one hell of an uphill climb for all the unemployed people who may well be more capable than those who already have the jobs. Don't let it get you down though, it only takes one to say yes!

xkariex

I am fed up pf the NO RESPONSE attitude amongst potential employers ! I understand they have a lot of choice but even a generic thanks for applying email.

It is knocks your confidence and is annoying and upsetting in ways as
200 cvs sent out maybe 3 replies if lucky! Recritment agencies are just as bad!
It doesn't look well for the company in my opinion.

But i do have a question: How long after sending in an application do you normally have to wait before getting called for an interview- hours, days or weeks?

theme song

Hey Guys,

I know exactly how you feel. I applied 2 weeks ago to 73 jobs, heard nothing back from any of them. I phoned about 5 of them 3days after (was low on credit) & they said I wasn't suitable. That's fair enough, but it's bad form. I even asked 2 of the places I called if they could send that in writing to me as I needed it as proof for my mortgage company.............I'm still waiting!!!

In my last job I made a point of replying to all applicants to let them know what the situation was. Like others have said here it reflects badly on a company if you cant be bothered to acknowledge an applicant.

Just saying!!

tenchi-fan

Op, I'm in Canada at the moment. I registered with a few different agencies. Everytime I phoned up about a job the agency would say "it's gone already, we had someone lined up"

The jobs I got through agencies generally hadn't been advertised on their website.

Another thing about jobs advertised online is that they get literally hundreds of applications.

If you're looking for work with a company you are best trying to get to know someone in the company who can hand in your CV to their manager for you.

With agencies, try to get someone to refer you to the agency and establish a good relationship with the recruiter who you are dealing with, so that when a vacancy arises you will be the first person he thinks of.

A lot of people grumble "it's not what you know, it's who you know", but there's nothing stopping you from networking a bit to stand out from the crowd and get a good job.

Things are just like that these days. I must have applied for about 250 jobs one month and heard back from 3 or 4 - 3 rejections and one interview. The thing is, you might have thought managing a company's Facebook/website was p*ss easy, but there are plenty of people with years of web design experience, successful personal blogs and advanced IT skills/degrees who would kill for a job like that. In these times, even 'basic' jobs are getting snapped up.

I do agree that it's bad form not to reply and it makes my blood boil to see 'if you don't hear from us, assume you haven't been successful' on an application. If you expect someone to fill in your 5 page online application with 350 word essay-style answers, the least you could do is send a mass 'thanks but no thanks' e-mail to unsuccessful applicants. It really is pig ignorant and I don't believe that large companies couldn't employ someone or even use a (paid!) intern to do this job.

I think online applications are largely pointless. The 'friend of a friend' route or even trying to contact the hiring manager directly seem to work much better.

giz_a_job

Serious job hunting for 1 yr to find what I do best, did plenty of contract work in the meantime.

You need to apply for 20+ jobs that you are ideally suited for, just to get 1 interview, and you'll need to do 5-10 interviews to land a job.
That means applying 200 jobs to get ONE, they are the stats I was facing. Keep at it, you'll get there.

Monster is a good site, register add your CV and a cover letter, specify your search details, and you can get an email every day with relevent job for you, and a big plus is, it wont let you apply for the same job twice by accicdent, that looks really bad if you do.

Keep a record of what companies you apply for, and ALWAYS ensure an gency gives you company names before putting yo forward, legally they have to. Remember - They want you to get a job to get their comission, so thay can help you.

PM me if you want any help or advice, btw I'm just a joe bloggs who took a while to find a job, I know the feeling, and its soul destroying, if you let it.

shoegirl

giz_a_job wrote: »

Serious job hunting for 1 yr to find what I do best, did plenty of contract work in the meantime.

You need to apply for 20+ jobs that you are ideally suited for, just to get 1 interview, and you'll need to do 5-10 interviews to land a job.
That means applying 200 jobs to get ONE, they are the stats I was facing. Keep at it, you'll get there.

Monster is a good site, register add your CV and a cover letter, specify your search details, and you can get an email every day with relevent job for you, and a big plus is, it wont let you apply for the same job twice by accicdent, that looks really bad if you do.

Keep a record of what companies you apply for, and ALWAYS ensure an gency gives you company names before putting yo forward, legally they have to. Remember - They want you to get a job to get their comission, so thay can help you.

PM me if you want any help or advice, btw I'm just a joe bloggs who took a while to find a job, I know the feeling, and its soul destroying, if you let it.

Some sound advice there.

For OP, I think the problem sometimes when you see a job that is "just perfect" sometimes it indicates that the job is fairly easy, and there are probably thousands of other people who can do it. I found that once I started pushing myself for higher skilled work that in a lot of cases reflected very high skill levels, I did get interviews and replies - and even a few interviews for jobs that to be honest I was not at that level yet.

I think the trouble with the "straightforward" roles is hundreds send in CVs and they resort to brutal methods in paring down to a manageable number - usual chestnuts - if you are looking for a salary above the amount they want to pay, if you CV is badly written, if you've few or no qualifications in a business that tends to be mainly credentialized.

Its tough but no pain no gain. I personally found that aiming a little higher actually paid off. That said, I contract as right now I don't really want to commit long term as all of my last 3 employers are basically shut down and I don't want to end up somewhere like that again.