Un-Fabulous Employer: asking for too much upfront
Is this guy you? |
~The first part of this post can be found here.~
Everywhere I turn, I find advice for the job-seeker. Revamp the resume. Write a killer cover letter. Hire an interviewing coach. In short, it’s all about how fabulous every job applicant must be.
Why isn’t anyone telling employers that they need to be fabulous, too?
If there is a recession going on, and so long as we insist upon using dire, Darwinian terms with job applicants, we ought to be giving the same talk to businesses, as well.
HR writers, though, seem only to take two approaches. If not cajoling employees (and potential employees) to behave themselves, they are chuckling with their fellows about how dumb employees are, particularly when the latter expect that “good enough” ever really is.
Meanwhile, I am reviewing potential employers who address me like this:
“Applications submitted without salary history will not be considered.”
Oh, don’t worry, is my knee-jerk reaction. Applications allowing you to decide in advance how cheap you can be will not be submitted, either!
Nevertheless, this also translates into another lost job opportunity, and I’m not sure how many more of those I can afford.
“Submit application along with contact information for three references.”
References up front? No sir. My references are an extremely valuable commodity. As a courtesy to them, and for my own sake as well, I need to prep my references every time I invoke their names, and I’d rather not spend that vocational capital unless I know there’s at least some chance of a return on my investment. I should not be asked for them until I am interviewed, and that used to be the rule. References, once given, can be “spent” by a potential employer at any time, and some lazy employers routinely plow through any number of contact calls quite early on, before they’ve even decided on their pool of finalists.
What if I’m forced to prep my contacts so many times that they themselves begin to doubt my employability? What if a contact is also a current employer, who didn’t know I was applying for a job? This topic of references, alone, is worth several more posts on its own. I’ve been burned, and I have issues.
In any case, an intelligent employer should do his or her own evaluation before trusting an applicant’s obviously- biased list of references. It’s okay to sniff around. I don’t mind. I’d be honored to work for a smart employer who cares that much about doing a good job search. It’s right there on my resume, so how about contacting my *previous* employer on your own? How about talking to someone you trust who might know me? How about (here’s an idea) actually reviewing my online portfolio and making your own decision about whether my work is good or not? Everyone uses web analytics now, so I can tell when you haven’t!
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Related Posts:
Employers: It’s Your Turn to be Fabulous (part 1 of this series)
Blind Box Ads: Bad-Ass, or Just Bad? (part 3 of this series)
Change Is Hard Work; it requires hope, direction, bravery and time. -Thomas Moore
When we lived in England, we were frequently amazed and amused at how different our two languages were. Pantyhose don’t “run” in Britain, they “ladder.” Sinister-sounding ”schemes” merely refer to ”plans.” Our children’s classmates patiently explained to us that a “pavement” is not a material but a sidewalk. (though they also knew what “sidewalks” were from watching American telly.) ”Corn” is a generic term for grain, while “lumber” is the rubbish you store in your attic. 
Moreover? It is not nice to mention your pants (underwear) in public, but perfectly acceptable to announce that you need the toilet (bathroom). 
Since our “mums” aren’t here to tell us these things anymore, maybe posting signs for ourselves now and then would actually be a good idea. Post-it notes on the bathroom mirror or on the computer monitor or in a daytimer? Or maybe posting signs for the REST of the family would be in order, too. What would your signs say?
