Job Searching After Thirty Five Years
Job Searching After Thirty Five Years
(OP)
Last June, I was informed that business was bad and that my position was being terminated. My last day would have been April 7, but I have a new job offer and it starts tomorrow. I am looking forward to the new job, so this posting definitely is not me whining.
All of the people laid off had been with the company for over ten years. We had a session with a firm of outplacement consultants. Among other things, they re-wrote my resume. If I were the person doing the hiring, I would be reluctant to hire someone who was unable to write their own resume. Apparently, your resume needs to get past resume reading software. All sorts of HR types have purchased and installed this software, tried out resumes, and have learned how it works. If you want to get through to the interview, you need to hire them. They took my word for it that I have the ability to multi-task without losing focus, and that I am highly adaptable with a broad range of transferable skills.
Even if you are willing to process this stuff manually, the people applying have to assume you are using the software. Is this technology really and improvement?

All of the people laid off had been with the company for over ten years. We had a session with a firm of outplacement consultants. Among other things, they re-wrote my resume. If I were the person doing the hiring, I would be reluctant to hire someone who was unable to write their own resume. Apparently, your resume needs to get past resume reading software. All sorts of HR types have purchased and installed this software, tried out resumes, and have learned how it works. If you want to get through to the interview, you need to hire them. They took my word for it that I have the ability to multi-task without losing focus, and that I am highly adaptable with a broad range of transferable skills.
Even if you are willing to process this stuff manually, the people applying have to assume you are using the software. Is this technology really and improvement?
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JHG





RE: Job Searching After Thirty Five Years
Is this technology really and improvement?
unquote
was this the question?
RE: Job Searching After Thirty Five Years
A quick google search will give all the tips and techniques necessary to defeat the resume reading robots. For example:
http://mashable.com/2013/11/11/resume-robots/#UDNd...
https://resumegenius.com/blog/applicant-tracking-s...
RE: Job Searching After Thirty Five Years
I wouldn't expect anything better.
And yes, I am a Gen-X'r.
RE: Job Searching After Thirty Five Years
RE: Job Searching After Thirty Five Years
RE: Job Searching After Thirty Five Years
When situations like that can happen, the system is not working in the benefit of the company using it.
RE: Job Searching After Thirty Five Years
TTFN (ta ta for now)
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RE: Job Searching After Thirty Five Years
My new job is with a much larger establishment. I think the overall company is smaller. I am walking away from some office politics. Size is not the only thing that matters.
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JHG
RE: Job Searching After Thirty Five Years
This was mostly smallish firms, but also a few larger ones and municipalities or states I applied to.
RE: Job Searching After Thirty Five Years
RE: Job Searching After Thirty Five Years
I've already ridden too many doomed outfits down the drain.
Mike Halloran
Pembroke Pines, FL, USA
RE: Job Searching After Thirty Five Years
RE: Job Searching After Thirty Five Years
I actually did not get past an ATS. An agency found my profile on LinkedIn. I sent them my resume. They hacked it to exclude my name and contact info. I handed over paper copies at the interview. They told me they would think about it and call me next week. I was offered the job later in the day. During the interview, I pontificated quite a bit about DFMA. Otherwise, we had a very friendly chat. I guess at some point you say the right things to the right people.
A lot of stuff about why you should not hire old people, does not apply to mechanical designers who use SolidWorks. The latest, cool technology has been used by me for the last fifteen years. The young whippersnappers do not know it as well as I do.
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JHG
RE: Job Searching After Thirty Five Years
RE: Job Searching After Thirty Five Years
My experience has told me otherwise. I have never used anyone else to write my resume and only marginally change it from time to time. I have applied for and eventually been offered some very good positions based on submittal of my resume only. I have applied for positions that I barely met, or partially met the qualifications, got selected for interviews and got offered positions. A good HR person and a good hiring manager should be able to read between the lines and see what a person can offer, not just blindly rely on some computer code to find what they need.
When it comes to a software screen and my resume gets booted out based on a preferred qualification that I don't have (which has happened plenty of times), I don't care. I figure if a company doesn't want to take the time to actually see what I bring to the table, it's their loss, not mine. I'll be fine and find plenty of other good opportunities. In the past 10 years, I have had over 50 job offers (might be closer to 100 if I went back and tallied it up and yes, I have changed companies 7 times in that span). I'm currently a senior project engineer. We'll see what next year brings.
P.S. - I'm a gen x.
RE: Job Searching After Thirty Five Years
RE: Job Searching After Thirty Five Years