The Google rules the world of search but when it goes to the keywords in your resume...it becomes a nightmare. First of all, many job recruiter firms are hiring foreigners or just simply outsource the service in order to save money and have more profit. The result of it is a huge number of e-mails to the potential job candidates that are based on found keywords in the resume posted online.
In 95% of cases (based on my own statistics), the job recruiters are clueless about:
1. Your actual technical skills
2. Where your home is located relative to the company that has a job position opened
3. About your actual technical level (beginner, advanced, expert; entry-level or senior)
With over 20 years of experience in IT world and the combination of Information Security, Web Design, and LAN/WAN Administration and Management, several industry certifications including CISSP, I have been offered the following jobs as:
a) A Desktop Support Technician
b) A C++ programmer (I have never programmed in my life)
c) A Java programmer (just last week)
d) An Oracle programmer (because I used Oracle Hyperion Reporting software)
e) A Senior PHP programmer (I used some ready-to-use PHP scripts in old projects)
f) A Help Desk Technician
g) A SAP programmer (I don’t have anything in my resume that would point to SAP!)
h) LAN Administrator for $30/h
… not to mention a number of jobs with about 1.5-2 hrs commute or, in most of the cases, out of my city for temporary to permanent assignment.
Well, I would understand those folks who lost the job and are willing to go anywhere just to get back on track but as I clearly indicated in my resume, thanks G-d, I have the job and it is 8 miles away from my home. What kind of money the employer can offer to compensate my hours in the traffic, the part of my life that would never be repeated?
Today’s job recruiters are not willing to even read your resume through to understand who you are and what you are capable of – they are just working with the keywords in your resume – not with you. I don’t want to say that ALL of the job recruiters are the same. There is some exclusion. Those recruiters who are willing to make an extra step and research the information on social networking sites (particularly, Linkedin.com) are more successful what results in better job placement and satisfaction.
However, the most of the e-mails I have received are telling me one thing: the job recruiter is a low-qualification person who did not read your resume and probably has no clue about IT world at all, not to mention that he/she is not familiar with the geography and traffic in your area.
As with any industry, the quality of product or service should grow as time goes but in this case I believe the job recruitment industry is degrading slowly but surely. Many online readers and writers complained too, so, I am not along. Is there any expectation that the thing will improve in the future? Maybe it’s just a temporary “illness” of this industry? Who knows? Let’s hope. Until then, think about your resume as an SEO by optimizing it for Google keywords.
April 2014 update.
My hope for improvement is lost. The things became even worse. The flaw of unqualified foreigners who were subcontracted (and maybe located oversees) by the HR departments or growing like mushrooms job recruiting companies is overwhelming.
Considering my experience with hundreds of useless e-mails with job opportunities, I have inserted the request in my resume NOT TO CONTACT ME if the company location is further than 15-20 miles from my home address (in red ink!). Guess what?
No reaction! I am still getting useless job descriptions from hundreds (!) of so-called "job recruiters" who you can barely understand when they decided to call you if you just delete their e-mails.
If some of the happen to read this blog, please (!!) use the following rules:
1) Get the IT training in the filed you are hiring;
2) Read the resume first to understand the actual qualification;
3) Don't rely only on keywords - the search results can be confusing and misleading!
4) PLEASE don't bother people if you did not follow the 3 rules above.
Good luck everyone!
