<p>What is the best way to be considered for a job listed on a corporate web site?</p>
<p>Do human eyes generally take a look at resumes submitted through the web site?</p>
<p>Is it a better idea to try and track down the e-mail address of someone at the corporation and send it to that person?</p>
<p>Is it now a LinkedIn world and most positions go to people who have some sort of connection somehow?</p>
<p>A connection is always better but it should be a real connection rather than an anonymous email from a stranger. Could you go through your school alumni database to find someone working at the prospective company that you could contact?</p>
<p>This is for someone who has years of experience, not someone straight out of school.</p>
<p>While it definitely helps to have a contact, my employer (10,000 employees) has human resource staff that screen all on-line applications and then passes them onto to the hiring manager. Many of my co-workers were hired by applying online as was I (though I had worked there previously and they immediately recognized my name).</p>
<p>The important thing is it make sure your resume matches with the skills and qualifications they are requesting. In my experience, you need to custom tailor each resume to the specific job and if you can’t do that then you probably don’t meet enough of the qualifications to be considered.</p>
<p>Thanks MomLive, it’s good to hear that hires are made from on-line submissions!</p>
<p>Here’s another question - can one draw any conclusions if some of the jobs were posted months ago? What are common reasons for jobs remaining unfilled?</p>
<p>fendrock, what BCEagle said applies to seasoned professionals as well. It is always helpful to find some common connections within the company. My advice: when making initial contacts, do not simply send your resume asking for the job. Ask for advice, e.g.,“could you please tell me more about the position” or something along those lines.</p>
<p>And to answer your question about applying through corporate websites, many companies require this formal submission. For instance, when a friend of mine had an open position and was recruiting a guy he knew would be the ideal choice, the candidate still had to apply through the website to get the formal interview and hiring process rolling.</p>
<p>As far as how “stale” the ad might be, perform a search of Yahoo, Indeed, Monster, Xconomy and similar job databases using a combination of unique keywords from the ad. Sometimes, this search can pull up the old versions of the ad, and based on that, you can figure out how long the company has been trying to hire someone for the position.</p>
<p>^^Yes, the answer is both. Get the app onto the corporate website and make a connection to someone who can “get word” to HR. If you know someone in HR even better. </p>
<p>My former employer hires interns and temp contract folks to scan resumes and yes they are looking for specific phrases or words to describe things that fit the qualifications, those people pass the resumes selected to the recruiting staff. In my current company the screening is done by the in-house recruiters themselves.</p>
<p>Some jobs remain on the corporate website forever because a hiring manager is holding an open “head count” in his/her budget. Some are on there for a long time because they are looking for very specific qualifications and that person hasn’t come along and some are on the site for a long time because someone in HR hasn’t closed the job requisition or taken down the content from the website.</p>
<p>Online submissions are less effective than other means of submitting resumes. If you can figure out a personal connection into a company, it is much more effective to go through that path. </p>
<p>For example, if you have an internship, make sure to make a LinkedIn profile and link to the people who you worked with. When you see a job description of interest, search to see if anyone you are linked with has a connection with someone at that company, and ask for an introduction.</p>
<p>Someone in the office asked me about openings in our group for a friend so I just told her that I would check with my manager on our hiring status as we had an opening earlier in the year to replace someone that transferred out of our group. He said that we didn’t have an opening for her type of hire. So I suggested that her friend apply through our website as I had seen openings for her skill-set there (in our building and in others nearby).</p>
<p>An inside connection can help, even if only to point you in the right direction.</p>
<p>I got my job from applying online from the corporate website, no connection. Jobs at this company go unfilled for months and months (they just filled a receptionist position that has been open since March) because they take their sweet time interviewing hundreds of applicants because they figure in this market they don’t have to worry about anyone being snatched up and are in no hurry to fill the positions. I think they also always have their eyes open for more talent, and they make positions if they see someone they really want. We have an entire room of empty desks in our office that we’re not using. All that is straight from our head of recruiting at HR, we actually have had a discussion about this. I heard an unconfirmed rumor that they also keep the online postings up forever to generate a talent bank so that they always have a stack of resumes to flip through if a position opens up.</p>
<p>Jobs go unfilled for months for numerous reasons:</p>
<ul>
<li>resume fishing - maybe someone from a direct competitor will respond… </li>
<li>bid down salaries - the longer they wait, you get the idea</li>
<li>assessing the state of the job market</li>
<li>more resumes coming in - more work for HR</li>
<li>searching for the elusive Purple Squirrel</li>
</ul>
<p>The last one accounts for most of the delays… What HR really wants is a 14 year old willing to work for lemonade stand wages and has 8 years Oracle experience</p>
<p>turbo93, thanks for the list of reasons for jobs remaining unfilled - I agree there is a lot of searching for the elusive Purple Squirrel going on.</p>
<p>If a company is serious about filling a position, would you say the job is unlikely to go unfilled for more than two months?</p>
<p>After all, unemployment is high, so it really should be possible to find someone if you really need to get the work done and have the budget.</p>
<p>I started a new “permanent” (if there is such a thing) corporate position 10 weeks ago that I had applied for online through a job board. I have been contacted for quite a number of interviews for positions for which I’ve applied online, probably because I make sure to spit back a few phrases verbatim from the job posting. I don’t fudge the truth-- I do have that exact experience-- but I probably would have expressed it in different words if a human being were doing the screening.</p>
<p>I agree that the answer is “both”. Unfortunately, the resumes may be screened by a 22 year old who is looking for certain key words on your online submission. </p>
<p>Also, some jobs are posted just for equal employment requirement reasons even though an internal candidate has already been identified.</p>
<p>One of the biggest problems is that the 22 year old HR resume screener isn’t the brightest bulb in the pack. Difficult to get past the HR black hole at large companies.</p>
<p>And there is where the Purple Squirrel rears his ugly tail… In IT there is even a medical term for it, Versionitis. If you have the right alphabet soup AND versions, you may be called in. If not, your .NET 3.5 skills will rot alongside //SYSIN DD DSNAME=FOO.JCL…</p>
<p>I would say, it depends on the job type. If it’s an IT job, it may be a Purple Squirrel.</p>