Employers don’t exist to provide you with a job
➔ Dealing with HR types and hiring managers can be extraordinarily frustrating for job seekers – understandably so. They don’t give enough weight to your strong points. They don’t appreciate your experience. They move too slowly when making decisions. Blah, blah, blah.
Don’t be misled by our seeming cynicism. We agree. You’re right. Sometimes they don’t pay enough attention to what we want. Sometimes they take forever to make a decision on choosing a candidate or moving forward on anything at all.
Walk a mile in my shoes
Remember the old Joe South song from the 1960s, “Walk a Mile in My Shoes”? Apply that concept to your job search and put yourself in the position of the person sitting across from you whether it’s HR, hiring managers, recruiters, or whomever. It may be a tough concept to wrap your brain around but employers don’t exist to provide you with a job. Their priorities are very different.
Given that recent data shows that there are approximately 250 applicants for every job opening, is it too much of a stretch to think that the job of that person you’re facing is to find reasons to reject you? That’s not as cold-hearted as you may think or as it may first appear. The more people that they can honestly remove from that stack of resumes, the closer they are to finding the right person for the job at hand.
Why are they rejecting you? The reasons can be many and varied. Maybe your resume doesn’t match the job description. Maybe your background doesn’t match what they’re looking for. Is it possible that you’re giving your resume to the wrong person? We certainly hope that it’s not because you’ve been less than honest on your resume (including embellishments, or worse, outright lying.)
If it sounds like a game, well, maybe it is. But it’s the same game that all job seekers face each and every day during their job searches.
Comments