Humor will not be tolerated!! -Portia

I'm just lucky I have a good job and this isn't my problem, but just reading about it and knowing it happens to many thousands of people annoys me.
Screening software with impossibly high standards throw away qualified applicants.

A Philadelphia-area human-resources executive told Mr. Cappelli that he applied anonymously for a job in his own company as an experiment. He didn't make it through the screening process.

Mr. Cappelli's favorite email came from a company that drew 25,000 applicants for a standard engineering position only to have the HR department say not one was qualified. One job seeker said "he had been told he was perfect for a given position—except for the fact that his previous job title didn't match that of the vacancy," a title unique to the prospective employer.

As anyone who has applied for a job lately knows, the trick is parroting all the words in the job description but not just copying and pasting the text, which leads the software to discard the application. It's a whole new skill: Clearing the software hurdle is as important as being able to do the job.

This drives me crazy as well. I know that if I could actually get in to talk to a human being I could get a job, but everything's online now, and a year's worth of rejection has been so depressing I've given up.

It's times like these when I'm glad I'm on the employing end. Until I remember how difficult it will be for me to find someone fully qualified/trainable for the position I need them to take, especially because I have to go through the whole process myself, sans software or an HR department or anything.

"The Alchemist" as read by Jeremy Irons....

Don't know how this ended up on my computer, but I am very happy it did.

Imogen wrote:"The Alchemist" as read by Jeremy Irons....

Don't know how this ended up on my computer, but I am very happy it did.

Haha, that sounds awesome. I love his voice. Also, James Earl Jones's voice.

Genuine Article wrote:This drives me crazy as well. I know that if I could actually get in to talk to a human being I could get a job, but everything's online now, and a year's worth of rejection has been so depressing I've given up.

Nearly every job I have began when I chose to bypass a gatekeeper (e.g. automated resume review) and directly contact an individual hiring. To be fair, I've annoyed some recruiters as well, but it's ultimately been worth it.

wired wrote:Nearly every job I have began when I chose to bypass a gatekeeper (e.g. automated resume review) and directly contact an individual hiring. To be fair, I've annoyed some recruiters as well, but it's ultimately been worth it.

Same here, except without having to bypass anything. Pretty much every job I've ever applied to simply had an email address to contact, which I assume means no automated review. I didn't realize automated software was so prevalent until I read the link Digit posted.

Even though I'm happily employed, not too long ago, right around the time they were docking their Dragon capsule with the ISS, I went to the SpaceX website and noticed that they were accepting applications for a number of positions, and applied.

If I had actually succeeded in getting an offer, it would have been very tempting to undergo the serious rigmarole of relocating across the country (ugh^100).

But I, probably like many, didn't have to face that decision. I too got the albeit very friendly "thanks but no thanks" message. No hard feelings from me. It was a very legitimately highly-situated brass ring. I have no idea how many other submissions for the exact position I applied for there were. More than a few thousand, I'm sure.