Here’s What (Some) Hiring Employers are Really Thinking…

So you spend hours (days, weeks, months even) writing a CV, and completing application forms. You pour your soul over it, it’s tough going and then you send it away.

You wait, you wonder, you think about the ‘hiring’ employer and hope they have read your masterpiece.

You wait some more, and then a little more.

You hear nothing.

You say ‘I’ve sent out my CV to 20 places and heard nothing back’. You get disheartened.

You think you might call them and ask for some feedback. But you don’t.

Okay, what I’m about to share with you is not good news, in fact, it’s a bit of a horror story.

I couldn’t even make it up.

But don’t panic, just yet.

Ready?

Let me give you a little background…

I spend a lot of time online.

I stalk a mammoth amount of websites mainly looking for questions that people are asking about careers, confidence and starting a little biz, which in turn help me to create blog posts for you (well that’s the plan!)

Part of this addiction is forums, you know, online communities where people with similar interests, ideas or businesses hang out and get inspired, motivated, annoyed and sometimes generally have moan.

Just a couple of weeks ago I visited a very large and popular small business forum, and there was one thread that caught my eye.

It had the title ‘How hard do you find it to hire staff?’ and it had about 50 replies from various business owners who are responsible for hiring and firing.

My interest was in the replies.

I wanted to know from the horse’s mouth (people hiring) what they found hard, mainly so I can help you.

This isn’t pretty but here are some of the replies to that thread and the reason why I’m so glad you’re here.

Rather than write that usual trite nonsense, just tell us if you are a psycho-loner liable to go on a shooting rampage or are insecure with a strong herd instinct.

Spent all afternoon reading vacuous nonsense-filled CVs composed of trite phrases which mean little and tell me nothing about the person as an individual. I could feel my life ebbing away.

The more people are given ‘help’ with CVs by well-meaning people the more all CVs are saying the same thing. Several of the ones I read today left me with no better idea of the person behind them at all so were binned.

I will choose on looks and that’s entirely human nature – last time we interviewed, one bloke had no chance before he’d even spoken as he was scruffy with tattoos everywhere. (What!)

The other ball-ache about recruiting is the job centre applicants that turn up because they have too or their benefits will be stopped. (This one made my blood boil)

I heard about one person who had 200+ CVs on their desk.. they split the pile in 2 randomly and threw one-half in the bin. They claimed that they did not want to hire unlucky people! (Stunned, I’m stunned!)

Blame the job centre and the “back to work” organisations that assist young job-seekers. It’s practically part of the template they use – jobseeker’s home address, today’s date and trite fluff. (Blame? Seriously?!)

The worst part about all this interviewing malarkey is that clearly some of the people you have seen cannot even read the advert so how are they supposed to the job?

It was the same crap CV after CV of generic answers taken from job websites. In the end, I put all of the what I called ‘void of personality’ CV’s on one side and interviewed the one’s that looked as though they actually gave a damn about getting a job and tailored their CV to the particular job.

I told you it wasn’t pretty.

How do you feel about these? Surprised or angered?

The above is negative news. Some of them are against the law, rude and so darn obnoxious (in my humble opinion). But my professional Careers Hat understands some of the frustrations.

We aren’t given these career lessons in school, we don’t learn this ‘stuff’ until the time comes when we need it.

Your Turn

Erm, your thoughts? I’m still stunned, what do you say? Please feel free to leave a comment below.