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Permalink Reply by Sandra McCartt on April 24, 2012 at 8:46pm

Noble thought Jerry.  I will pass them all on to you so i can get some work done.  If one of them has a brother in law who happens to be an astronaut i will be thrilled that you got to make a placement.  As you point out from time to time, we are not social workers.  If i wanted to counsel people i would turn into a "job search coach, guru, career advisor build a talent community and spend my days engaging with the walking wounded who are fulfilling their unemployment requirements.

 

do i have time for someone who calls me to ask a question or ask me to look at their resume and offer some suggestions.  By all means i spend hours a day doing just that.  Do i have time for some loon who applies for an IE spot when the last thing he engineered was a leggo barn for his plastic cow and five minutes later applies for a staff accountant spot when the closest he ever came to an accounting class was 7th grade math.  No i do not.  Either he has a problem or he doesn't have enough to do.  I am not a baby sitter, a counselor nor can i write script for the meds to control obsessive compulsive behavior.  My take is that some of the loons need to get over themselves, learn a few business manners and strive for a semblance of common sense before they blast themselves out there like grapeshot from a cannon.

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Permalink Reply by Brian Hatfield on April 26, 2012 at 10:16pm

Team Jerry! In my experience, the candidates described above simply lack a job search or life skill.  I think we should remember what is at the heart of the these applicants... (albeit, with a few exceptions), these job applicants are searching out opportunities to better their careers and the lives of their families.  Although we're not social workers, can't we share our knowledge and expertise?  If sincerely approached with the intent to train and not reprimand, Randy and Mary are usually appreciative.  

I typically try to personalize a canned email that I keep in my desktop/ATS.   Here's an idea, if a fellow commenter or reader would like to work with me, perhaps we could create usually personalize a canned email.  Idea... if a fellow reader or commenter would like to work with me to create an infographic or 1 page training slide, we could share with the group.  Depending on the result, we could even broadcast out through our various social networks,  If you don't think it's too corny, give me a shout. 

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Permalink Reply by Peter Ceccarelli on April 27, 2012 at 1:14pm

I agree with Jerry.  None of us are truly ever that busy that we should ignore an applicant.  I do however agree that there are "those" candidates who are clearly not plugged into reality and appear desperate because, geez.......they are desperate.  But on a human level, if we lack compasion, if even irritable compasion, then one day the tides will turn on you.  Let's face it, this is a people business and it takes people on both ends to be successful.  And for the most part, the irritable candidates who are not plugged into reality are a very small, small percentage of what comes our way.  So be honest, are you really that important that you can bitch about something like this rather than to just move on to the next candidate who is qualified.  Think about it!

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Permalink Reply by Sandra McCartt on April 27, 2012 at 5:17pm

@ Peter, i more than agree with you that all of us need to provide a few kind words for our fellow man and help those who are lost and desperate lest we be one.  However, what i know from experience is that compasion has to have some limits or we will end up in the same shape as many of those we work with by spending copious amounts of time trying to help when we should be doing our jobs.  I realize there has to be a balance but it is difficult, for me at least, to keep from being sucked into a time warp trying to help to the point that i spend half the night trying to get done what i should have done while i was spending an hour on the phone talking to someone who wants career advice, followed by another soul who just shot themselves in the foot by calling a hiring manager on Sunday demanding to know status on a position he has been waiting to hear about wanting advice on how he can fix his mistake, followed by the mother who is calling for advice on what her kid should major in to get a job in three years, followed by the guy who says he doesn't fit the job he applied for but wants my advice on what he needs to do to be able to do that job, followed by several friends or family members who just got mad at their boss or decided that they hate their life and want my advice as to what their grand plan should be to make a life change, followed by the candidate who just accepted a job and now wants to tell me that he took two hydro codone that his grandmother gave him so he's worried about the drug test, followed by about 40 email applications from folks who either do not read job requirements, don't believe we mean it when we say "no relocation" ( all of whom by the by get at least a "thank you but not a fit for this spot" email, followed by the walk in who wants to know what we do here and could he have a few minutes of my time to go over his resume with him and explain what i do and how i do it and help him with his resume and tell him how to find a job while three lines are ringing my email sounds like the anvil chorus, i have missed two phone interviews because i got stuck on the phone with the woman who has never worked outside the home and wants to go to work making 50K a year when her divorce is final because that is what she needs to live on, interspersed with the call from the lady who has not worked since 2003, has a high powered MBA from a high powered school and is mad as hell because she is sending resumes to jobs that she has no clue how to do but thinks everybody is an idiot because they do not recognize that her MBA training qualifies her to manage any business or process and we are all a bunch of provencial fools because nobody will pay her what she made in 2003 before she was laid off,

Add to that the declined candidates who thought about it for three days and are calling to see if they can get more information on why they were declined after they blew the interview and are now sure it was some sort of discrimination.

 

There's more but i'm trying to recover from too much compassion this week.  I am mad at myself for letting my time and my responsibility to my client to fill about 30 positions that need to be filled in the next ten days be vampired by people who need and deserve compassion and a few kind words. 

 I still have the hours between 2 and 7:00 in the AM for that elusive quality called sleep.  Maybe next week.  Yes, i'm tired and testy and it's my responsiblity to manage my own time in a more productive manner.  However, today I want to bitch, scream and throw a running screaming fit while yelling, "Get back, i am sorry you are unemployed, worried, don't have anything to do and you are burned out trying."  "I'm sorry you don't know how to write a resume, have you bothered to look on the net at the million examples?"  I'm sorry you haven't heard anything from the 200 resumes you sent out last week did you really have the qualifications for all 200 of those jobs?"  "I'm sorry your boss is expecting more of you than you have the time to do, damned if i don't feel your pain, but i've made three quick suggestions of what and where you might look and each was met with "Yes but".  Ok,  my compassion bank is overdrawn, i am tapped out this week.

 

I am going to RBC and bitch my head off to blow off some steam with my peers who understand what i'm talking about so i don't tell some soul in trouble or lost in the sea of unemployment that maybe they better move back in with their mother at age 45 and just do the laundry because they are unemployed and too damned old to ever get another job that pays over minimum wage.  If i do that i might really dammage someone's self esteem.

 

I been listening to people bitch, whine, complain, panic, throw fits and be too lazy in some cases to do anything for themselves this week.  It's my turn.  So there.  Next week i have four appointments with folks who need counseling , want to talk about their career goals, or cry in my office that i rolled over to next week to buy myself some time this week to try and do what i need to do.

Yeppers , i will "get over myself" so i can do that but forgive me the need for a little rant to blow off the compassion overload.  Maybe i just learn to say No,  LOL.  Demented laughter and heading for  the bottle of wine that i think somebody brought me last week because i took care of their damn dog while they went on an interview and the cute little bugger crapped in my office while i was on the phone.  TGIF

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Permalink Reply by Amy Ala Miller on April 27, 2012 at 7:36pm

Team Sandra. That is all. :)

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