The SYSTEM of Job Search Isn't Fair

   The simple truth is that the players, organizations and activities involved in the area of employment and hiring are not there to help you find a job. This job search system or simply “The System” is set up to comb through candidates or to eliminate resumes. This is very different from finding the right person for the job.

So often I listened to clients and others in job search say, but I was perfect for the job and I didn’t even get a phone interview. How can that be? Let’s take a look at The System…

A company finds that they need to hire someone. A manager needs to fill out a requisition to hire. Let’s say there is enough money in the budget and the manager makes a good case for the hire and the requisition is approved. What happens next?

Most companies have a formal procedure for hiring in order to comply with state and federal employment regulations. HR (Human Resources) is called into the process. They check a database of candidates and the position is advertised internally. If this fails, the posting is then advertised outside the company. (Note: only about 20% of jobs are advertised.) This can involve print media, online service or an outside recruiter (AKA Headhunter). The result here is hundreds of resumes.

HR processes the resumes and presents to the hiring manager five or six “good” candidates. In a stack of 200 resumes what are the odds of any specific resume being chosen? Depending on where your resume is in the pile of resumes no one may ever see your resume.

I’ve heard HR people complain about the volume of resumes they have to process. If they find six appropriate candidates in the top of the stack are they really going to keep looking through the rest of the stack? A company's formal hiring process is there to mitigate the risk of legal complications - not to find the “right person.”

I've really simplified this but you can see that long before an interview can be scheduled you have to do something to break out of The System and get yourself noticed. This is why networking is so important; it's a numbers game or a lotto and the odds are stacked against you. Beat The System: become excellent at networking.

-- Edited by Alice Dechene