The Military Contractor Hiring Process

[CR6]

in reality, what the really need is "me".

standing outside the HR guy's window wearing a trenchcoat and blaring some Peter Gabriel from a boombox? It worked for John Cusack...

[120mm]

Hi 120,



'tis a real problem that has only gotten worse in the past 20 years. It's really a problem of numbers: too many people apply for too many positions. The HR "solution" () was to computerize using simple keyword searches, a process that allowed junior HR dweebs to "go through" thousands of resumes an hour. Of course, that meant that you could get rid of those expensive senior HR people who actually knew something about the real job requirements .

So, now lists are king, ~30-50% of HR people doing the hiring have no idea about what they are hiring for, and the name is mistaken for the thing.

BTW, if you want me to give you a reference let me know ....

If I could, I'll take you up on that. I am rather frantically looking for my next job, as my contract expires in 6 months, and I don't want to be the last one standing. Plus, I think I need to get overseas with this gig, for a variety of reasons.

standing outside the HR guy's window wearing a trenchcoat and blaring some Peter Gabriel from a boombox? It worked for John Cusack...

Yeah, but look how poorly it worked for Stan Barflowski

As an update to my efforts, the individual I was competing with ended up turning down the job, but since she had a PhD, the customer now believes they need someone with a PhD, despite having advertised for someone with a Master's. They are now looking at an unfilled position, but since they've rejected me, (officially - they sent an e-mail and everything) I am tainted goods.

I am taking bets that they hire someone less qualified than me a few months down the road, and the job will be unfilled until then.

I am currently dealing with the HR department of another prospective employer who just asked me to rewrite my resume, again, despite their unintention of ever hiring me. It seems that there is a "standard" resume they have to adhere to, and failure to have your resume "standard" is a fail to their HR department.

Of course, they furnish an example resume, but do not explain what makes it "standard". I am humoring them by resubmitting mine in different forms just to get triangulation on what they consider "standard."

[marct]

If I could, I'll take you up on that. I am rather frantically looking for my next job, as my contract expires in 6 months, and I don't want to be the last one standing. Plus, I think I need to get overseas with this gig, for a variety of reasons.

Any time .

As an update to my efforts, the individual I was competing with ended up turning down the job, but since she had a PhD, the customer now believes they need someone with a PhD, despite having advertised for someone with a Master's. They are now looking at an unfilled position, but since they've rejected me, (officially - they sent an e-mail and everything) I am tainted goods.

Typical, freakin' typical - sigh . What they don't realize is that the process of getting a PhD tends to canalize one's thinking. Well, if they end up offering it to you, stick them for a 20% salary hike.

I am currently dealing with the HR department of another prospective employer who just asked me to rewrite my resume, again, despite their unintention of ever hiring me. It seems that there is a "standard" resume they have to adhere to, and failure to have your resume "standard" is a fail to their HR department.

Of course, they furnish an example resume, but do not explain what makes it "standard". I am humoring them by resubmitting mine in different forms just to get triangulation on what they consider "standard."

I'm surprised at that. Most resume forms nowadays are based around elements described by the HR-XML Consortium, although the print version (placement, font, typeface, etc.) change radically. Don't they have an online submission tool that reformats it to meet their own template?

[120mm]

Any time .
Typical, freakin' typical - sigh . What they don't realize is that the process of getting a PhD tends to canalize one's thinking. Well, if they end up offering it to you, stick them for a 20% salary hike.

The real ironic thing is, the position doesn't require any special skills and knowledge, except the ability to make a campaign plan to achieve an objective.

I'm surprised at that. Most resume forms nowadays are based around elements described by the HR-XML Consortium, although the print version (placement, font, typeface, etc.) change radically. Don't they have an online submission tool that reformats it to meet their own template?

Yes they do. And the company has an official "no resumes" policy. Which they violate with the resume requirement. Welcome to Wonderland, Alice. But it is fun to toy with them, while being frustrated in other venues.

[marct]

Yes they do. And the company has an official "no resumes" policy. Which they violate with the resume requirement. Welcome to Wonderland, Alice. But it is fun to toy with them, while being frustrated in other venues.

(respondeth he after a 3 hour rehearsal....)

"Wonderland"? The allusion is correct, but "Hell" might be a better description . I'll admit, having fun with them can be enjoyable.... Still, one has to wonder about the disengagement from reality they deal with. Humpty-Dumpty comes to mind...

[sandbag]

I have had little success in hiring contractors based on the "keyword search" method employed by some of our support companies. It's even worse when applicants don't fully read the position description. There's a huge difference between, say, acquisition logistics and tactical logistics, and success and proficiency in one does not imply success and proficiency in the other.

[Schmedlap]

There's a huge difference between, say, acquisition logistics and tactical logistics, and success and proficiency in one does not imply success and proficiency in the other.

Reminds me of when I spoke to head hunters as I was getting out of the Army. I was sure that I could learn just about any job fairly quickly, but I also wanted to make sure that a potential employer did not overestimate anything on my resume and assume that I could hit the ground running in something heavy with jargon and technical stuff - there would need to be a brief adjustment period. The head hunters insisted that I oversell myself (that was how I saw it, anyway). They would take a general skill set of mine and overlay that into a myriad of more specialized skills in various jobs and tried to convince me that I was a good fit. The process gave me a bad feeling - like I was helping the head hunter to misrepresent a product (me) to a customer (my potential future employer), so I just stopped working with them and went to school. In light of the current economy, maybe that wasn't such a bad move.