The subject of comparing the quest to find employment to a space voyage is rich with visual images of blasting off into the unknown, overcoming difficult situations, and encountering mission ending dangers. This moves the journey through uncharted waters or hacking through a forest to a new dimension. Maybe that could be the topic for another time, but for now the focus is on a simpler aspect of the trip. Of all the unknowns that will be encountered, it is imperative to reduce known self-imposed dangers to avoid catastrophe. The one factor that is always under the control of the traveler is forming an intelligent plan based on the facts. All of the facts! Ask any recruiter to list her top five pet peeves and one of them is guaranteed to be the job seeker who randomly applies to a job title and is totally clueless as to the purpose of the job. The subtitles to this experience vary, but mostly have to do with questioning why the resume was even submitted. Yes, many job postings leave a lot to be desired and don’t adequately deliver sufficient detail, but at least some minimal attempt has to be made to read and interpret the stuff that goes below that title. It is there for a reason.
A now famous classic piece of science fiction is the Twilight Zone episode titled, “To Serve Man.†It first aired in 1962, but every time there is a weekend Twilight Zone marathon it is repeated… I saw it again over the Halloween weekend this year. In the story, a spaceship with 9-foot tall aliens lands on Earth. In classic sci-fi movie mentality people are skeptical about their intentions, but gradually warm up to them as they begin to share advanced technology to make food and energy plentiful. In a typical 1960’s subplot one of their gifts is to render all nuclear weapons harmless. One of the cryptographers working to crack the language barrier announces that she has translated the title of a book thought to have been carelessly left behind: “To Serve Man.†Reading into the title that this was a race of benevolent beings, people began to volunteer to travel to the aliens’ home planet which had been described as a paradise. Just as the main character is on the gangplank to the spaceship, she bursts through the crowd shouting, “Don’t get on that ship! The rest of the book To Serve Man… it’s a cookbook!â€
Well, the fate of a job seeker is probably not going to be anything like becoming the main course on someone’s dinner plate, but there are serious consequences to reading the title and ignoring the rest of the text.
- Intellectually we all know that the shotgun approach usually doesn’t work. Tossing around resumes like seeds on rocky soil will usually not take root and produce results. Within a tight job market, every effort must be designed to bring the target a little closer. It is about quality applications and not quantity. Time wasted on frivolous applications could have been spent on researching more productive sources.
- Even in well written job postings titles will often be misleading. The title says project manager and most people have managed some sort of project before. Looking more carefully, is the experience on the resume related to the needs of the employer? If the background required and the scope of the position is totally different from past experience, an applicant would probably be setting the stage for failure even if granted the interview. They should pray that they don’t really get the job!
- There are always subtle messages that are read into an application that were never intended. Applying for a stretch job may be the right thing in some circumstances, but to apply to executive management roles with entry level experience shows a lack of knowledge about how things work in business. That image of naiveté is hard to erase and it may even disqualify a candidate from other jobs that would have been a better match. The reverse situation is also true. Eyebrows are raised when former directors or VPs apply for lesser jobs.
- Applying for jobs in a new field or a different industry with no transferrable skills will probably be seen as an act of desperation… or arrogance. This is the job search ink blot test and to some recruiters and hiring managers it reveals psychological flaws that would render a candidate unhirable. A little bit of logical forethought would have revealed to the shotgun applicant that in a competitive market someone will probably be qualified for the role. There is no reason for an employer to accept the risk of hiring someone who is not.
Nobody should be applying for titles and not waiting for a high percentage skill match to a position, but in fact almost everybody has been guilty of this at one time or another. The subconscious lurch toward that dream job is too tempting even if it is a stretch to get there. Hopefully, awareness of the dangers that come from only reading the title will help to keep people from being eaten alive by the hiring systems of employers who really are in need of good talent.
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