[geeks] Bad monster. No donut.

[velociraptor]

Those with delicate emotional sensibilities might want to take a pass
on this message--I'm just warning you it's not warm fuzzies.

On 11/8/06, Lionel Peterson <lionel4287 at verizon.net> wrote:
> No, it gets then a stack of resumes to hand to department heads in record time. Before
> Monster.com, it could take weeks to get 10 applicants for a job to choose from, and
> you got them by either offering major MAJOR "bounties" for a successful placement,
> or by running numerous ads in the local paper.

I disagree.  I have kept my resume on Monster pretty much continuously
since 03/04.  I'd say between 80-90+% of the "hits" I get are from
head hunters and contracting agencies (i.e. people who get paid by
placing candidates).

I'd also disagree with the statement that Monster produces worthless
hits.  I get some emails and calls (maybe, 20%) off the mark--i.e.
dba, developer, Weblogic expert, HP-UX guru.  This is the price you
pay for it being easy to get your resume in front of eyeballs.  They
don't bother to read profiles, because that would slow them down (see
paragraph 1--it's all about the revenue).  It's a volume vs. filtering
game on both sides of the fence.  You know, MARKETING.

As for "location" response, that depends entirely on the demand in the
area.  If you are getting hits from other parts of Tx, then that
implies they don't have enough candidates and are going a bit farther
afield for people that would be "easy" to relocate.  Again, the
eyeballs are not going to bother with profiles.

If you're not getting hits on your resume, IMO, you are either a)
someplace that has no demand for what you are pimping, b) you have
some "negative" in your background which makes you a perceived risk,
or c) your resume is turning off eyeballs because of poor
content/design.  "a" can't be fixed without a relocation, or pimping
some other skillset.  "b" can be mitigated somewhat by the judicious
application of the same resources you use to resolve "c"--hiring a
professional resume writer.  Just like you'd hire an expert to rebuild
your vehicle engine if you don't have wrenching expertise, or would
hire a roofer or other $skilled_trade, hire an expert to (re)craft
your resume if you don't have the chops, or get out there and learn.
There is nothing wrong about admitting you don't have a certain
skillset and hiring an expert, or finding out what it takes to get
that skillset yourself.

The unemployment rate just hit a 5 year low.  IT people are in demand
in the areas where they are always in demand when business is not
busting: DC, California, Seattle, Atlanta, DFW, yada, yada.

It's nice to vent about the cluelessness of HR folks, but the reality
is, if you aren't getting hits on your resume something else is wrong.
 To put it bluntly, these kind of comments about job hunting remind me
of the horror stories told here about bad sys admins--rather than
analyzing the problem and getting to the root cause, said sys admins
just keep rebooting the server.

I only say this because aside from my long experience with Solaris,
there's not a whole lot to *technically* recommend me as a SA.  Most
of my saleability has to do with attitude about quality support and
skills in communication.  At LISA, I'm just another middle of the road
SA.  Yet I have no trouble finding positions and getting hired.  Now
finding the *right* (for me) work environment is a different story,
but in the the meantime, bills are paid.

=Nadine=