I can understand jobhunters who apply to everything they see. They may be desperate and get lucky. What tickles me is posting a resume with specific skills and getting calls from headhunters looking to fill totally unrelated slots.
Resume: “Expert in IBM mainframes”
HH: “I have a SysAdmin opening for a SQL DB on Windows servers”.
Twenty year ago, I got unsolicited calls from HH about once month, just trolling, hoping to find someone looking to change jobs. Guess the HH today are just the next generation of useless twits.

Hi agree with both Nick and Ray. Today, the so called recruiters, work exclusively by keywords. An example? About 1 year and half ago, on my job posting I wrote that I was “developing right now skills on Ruby on Rails”. What does this mean? That I was (and still I am) a beginner with the language and its frame, with no experience whatsoever. Well a recruiter contacted me, asking for at least 5-7 years experience in Ruby on Rails. According to Wikipedia Rails (the application framework for Ruby) was released in the summer of 2004; by the way this information is correct. So my question is: who the heck can have (Fall 2007) 5-7 years experience on something released only 3 years earlier?

This reconfirms for me this magical line that each side in job hunting have to note and not fall on the wrong side:

For job hunters, sending out 100s of resumes believing that, “I only need 1% to get me interviews and I’ll be fine,” thinking.

For employers, receiving 100s of resumes believing that, “There will be some quality candidates here,” thinking.

What kind of magic are each side really thinking here? I’m often thinking that both sides are trying to do the minimal amount of work to get what they want without realizing that it likely works much better if care is taken at the beginning of the process and oh yeah it may be hard work to find a good job as opposed to just any job. That somehow computers will provide people from lying or embellishing either job descriptions or resumes? Seriously? Even I knew better 15 years ago when there wasn’t much interest in the world wide web as Netscape was just getting off the ground.

Just thought I’d put my two cents worth into this mix. Most people that post their public resumes fall prey to some of the not so experienced recruiters out there. In this type of a job market, I understand that the scared job hunters are trying every avenue known to mankind to get noticed. It’s also true that over the last decade, more and more of this “getting noticed” takes place over the internet. This is part of what I call, the “want it now” situation. Immediate gratification for a small investment.
When people don’t take the time to meet with each other and find ways to connect, it’s impossible to get rid of the lousy recruiters who don’t want to spend real time working.
There are plenty of dopey internal and external recruiters out there who read “ruby on rails” and want to talk with you, Angelo when you post your resume on line.

The people that are the good recruiters, who don’t see your resume on line, who want to develop a relationship with you now in the event at some point in the future there may be a great opportunity you want to hear about — don’t surf the boards looking for people.

The great recruiters are few and far between and it’s as difficult for them to find you as it is for you to find them. My advice is to do some research in your area of expertise, and locate 3-5 recruiters and interview them.
Long term, it can boost your career potential, help you land the job you do want, and give you an experience working with professionals.

I’m always on the look out for talent – and finding the great people when my customers are seeking them is difficult. As is, finding a great job. If you’re spending time on the boards, you’ll get the same poor quality with most everyone you’re in contact with.

If you bust out of the easy way out, you’ll find great people to network with that will land you that next great job – and in some cases, that network will include a recruiter!

I’m (still) employed by a bankrupt company with a jet-jockey CEO who drove it into the ground and got a big bonus for it. The HR department runs entirely on a job-board engine, although when I hired there years ago it was via networking.

I’m beginning to think we have created a generation of fools who have peter-principled themselves into all the seats of power, these sons and daughters of the “greatest generation”.

Nick is right. In the ‘old’ days, recruiting tools were a rolodex and a telephone (the really good recruiters still use them). If you were lucky, your office had a fax machine. Thanks to the internet, both recruiters and job hunters now rely on the ‘Apply now’ buttons on the job boards.

Most resumes submitted in this manner either receive a standard letter acknowleding receipt, or nothing at at. Granted, recruiters are being bombarded with resumes these days, so job hunters need to know how to be squeaky wheels and “get the grease.” In today’s market, the so-called traditional (eg online) methods are ineffective and require a radical mindset overhaul — for both recruiters and job hunters.

My advice to job hunters is to avoid the boards and hone up on your Google skills. You’d be amazed at the job and contact information you’ll find outside of the job boards.

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I have to agree with some of these – as a CPA with a tax background, I get e-mails from recruiters who are ‘spaghetti-ing’ their efforts. I find it really annoying to get interested in a position, only to find that the client had quite different expectations. All that results in is a waste of my time and theirs, and some bad feelings on both sides.

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