Impatiently Productive

One of the biggest problems I have when applying to jobs is keeping my patience.  I probably get 20 to 30 different job emails a day from all sorts of different websites, recruitment companies, and job newsletters.  Not only does it take a lot of time to wade through them but it takes an even longer time to apply to the ones that I deem appropriate.  I am afraid to delete them in case I end up deleting my absolute dream job so I always end up spending way too long sifting through a bunch of useless emails.  If I am lucky I will find a couple of jobs a day to apply to – sometimes more and sometimes less and it is so hard not to use shortcuts in the application process. 

You all know exactly what I am talking about.  Cut this.  Paste that.  Change the person you are addressing it to.  Edit some words here and there.  Voila!  Instant application!  While my productivity definitely increases by using this method, I am sure it also increases the likelihood that my application gets trashed a nanosecond after it is received by the recruiter or human resources representative. 

The sad truth is that I very rarely hear back from anybody for a good or a bad reason so I honestly don’t know what happens to my application, who sees it, if it is even seen at all, and how far I ever get in the whole process.  Essentially, any incentive to not waste their time is totally eliminated by the fact that I feel like my time is wasted by applying to jobs that I never hear back from in the first place.  I can count on one hand how many personal letters that I have gotten from recruiters or HR departments.  It angers me.  It angers me greatly.  Now I understand that it is an ’employer’s market’ and that they have the best of the best applying to all of their open vacancies and that they are all probably overworked and underpaid.  But guess what?  So am I.  I often don’t even get a rejection letter so I have no idea what the status of my application is and this is just the ultimate insult. 

All I hear about in the news is all of the stupid mistakes that applicants make in their interviews, their resumes, their cover letters, their networking, and how many other things applicants do to turn off a company.  I’m bored of hearing about this.  I want to hear more about how companies, recruiters, and HR departments mess up.  How little effort they give to people who spend hours fine tuning their cover letters and resumes.  How little respect they give applicants.  How they never respond – and even if they do, it is a short and terrible response.

Companies do not have to do a lot to get my respect.  A one sentence reply?  Perfect.  A date when they plan on making their decision by?  Amazing.  A form letter saying they have filled the position.  Dreamy.  This is all.  Little things make huge differences.  After all, this is what the companies demand of applicants, right?  They want us to use ‘keywords’, they want us to find the name of the person who is hiring, and they want us to personally apply to each and every job out there. 

The thing is that I totally get it and I respect it.  Sadly, it is these morons who could potentially hold the key to my future.  It isn’t my game I am playing.  It’s their’s.  They make the rules and I have to play by them.  But if they don’t play fair then I don’t have to either.  I’ll still take my time and apply for the jobs that I want and hope for the best and, sure, I’ll toss in some form resumes and cover letters every once in a while if it is a job that I’m not into but just want to take a shot in the dark on.  But you can be sure that I will be calling and emailing them for the real jobs that I really want because actually talking to somebody once in a blue moon and getting a personal response is something I will always be patient about…even if it kills them.