How to get a job (or not)

[squall78]

well if your facebook updating smoking a fatty, or doing illegal activities employers might be weary about hiring someone like that.

 

[Whomp]

Searching for credit records (Not sure why) and police records is all fine and dandy. But to poke into a person's personal life seems to me kind of an unfair meter to gauge how good a candidate would be. There has to be a line drawn somewhere.

I mean having a few Facebook tweets on a couple of nights out with your friends, a hiking trip in the Rockies, or catching an amazing fish shouldn't have any sort of barring on a candidate. It's not like your employer would care if you caught a 20lb fluke.

Oh whatever happened to separating work from pleasure.

How is anything you put on the internet private? You should be very aware of your digital footprint and how you manage it.

I can tell you there's a candidate I know of as of today who was denied an opportunity three years ago and now is being considered again because they've gained the attributes they needed to attain.

 

[warpus]

I just saw this posted on the internet and would like to share

 

[GenMarshall]

How is anything you put on the internet private? You should be very aware of your digital footprint and how you manage it.

Well, how do other people manage their digital footprint?

 

[Birdjaguar]

...how do you get a normal job in a country with long, long, long distances without having a driving license?
Unless you're living in a big city, i don't think anyone has anywhere a high chance of finding a job in their hometown.

And i'm btw pretty surprised to read here that people are sending job applications without a covering letter (assuming resume = CV, right?).

We require a valid drivers license of all applicants. the background check will include a search for DWIs. Hiring folks with DWI violations is a huge liability we want to know about.

I would guess that it's also a case of figuring that people with good to excellent credit have less incentive to steal/embezzle.

Yes.

I am, too. I was told that you ALWAYS include a cover letter, even if not specifically asked for one.

A cover letter tells me if you can write a coherent sentence in English and if you can argue your case in written form. Good cover letters go to the top of the pile even if the resume is marginal.

"4. About which competitor are you most worried? "

I must say I don't like the word 'worried'. An employer, imo, should never be worried about competition, it should just be a pressure to want to achieve better. Fear to me implies you've already done something wrong.

Then you should rephrase it to your liking. The idea is to give you a foundation for asking four or five good questions during your interview. You wouldn't want to ask all 21.

How much would a thousand google hits of nightlife entertainment links associated with the person's name affect their chances, positively or negatively?

Google searches that turn up information on the actual candidate are not a substitute for an interview, but can be an influencer that may turn up something not revealed in the resume or interview.

In the information age, why is there a need for HR departments to poke into our personal lives via the internet?!

The hiring process is a company's first line of defense against a bad hire. Bad hires are expensive and wasteful of everyone's time and effort. Money and time invested before making the decision pays off significantly if the hire is a good one.

Last spring one of my managers and I hired her an assistant who had a good resume and presented himself well in the interview. His references checked out too. Within 60 days, though, he turned out to be a bit creepy in that he kept telling stories about taking cars to Mexico and "having them stolen' and collecting insurance money and similar escapades. We fired him in his probationary period. A month of hiring and two more of training were wasted. We've been without the position being filled now for another six months. We are going to try again in January.

 

[GenMarshall]

So how can we have more success with the hiring process in regards to HR using the internet as their source? Given the reliability of Facebook's privacy, it's more likely to have success is to be sheltered from the internet.

Has HR ever gotten any kind of false positives when goggling a candidate's name? I know there are tons upon tons of "John Smiths" in the world.

After hearing this, it's no surprise that going to all lengths in the Streisand effect (What Whomp suggested) for regular people is justified.

 

[Birdjaguar]

So how can we have more success with the hiring process in regards to HR using the internet as their source? Given the reliability of Facebook's privacy, it's more likely to have success is to be sheltered from the internet.

Has HR ever gotten any kind of false positives when goggling a candidate's name? I know there are tons upon tons of "John Smiths" in the world.

After hearing this, it's no surprise that going to all lengths in the Streisand effect (What Whomp suggested) for regular people is justified.

Companies choose the tools that work best for them. If i have three finalists for a position, I can afford the time to do some internet searches. If DT is processing 300 applicants a day, he probably can't. As a rule, i would say that the best information about a candidate does not come from their resume or an interview; it comes from where the candidate has less control over the process: references, former associates/bosses or places where they have acted while not in an interview mode. That can be hard to find though.

 

[GenMarshall]

As for references, should I find new ones via my current professors in the classes I take or still use my old references? As of now, I have kind of a very limited reference pool.

Somehow your mention of "Former associates/bosses" sent a chill up my spine. Have you ever heard from a candidate's former boss about his/her poor attendance issues?

 

[aelf]

Anyone works for Accenture or is a consultant or can somehow answer this question?

Describe what your day to day tasks and activities might be as an Analyst on a project. Please provide a concise bullet point list of the key activities. (Maximum 3000 characters including spaces)

That's a pretty tough one, and I thought I'd try my luck to see if I can get any tips here

 

[warpus]

We require a valid drivers license of all applicants. the background check will include a search for DWIs. Hiring folks with DWI violations is a huge liability we want to know about.

That`s a bit much, no? I mean, unless the job involves driving, like a pizza delivery boy or something. There is a growing group of people in North America who don`t drive, why exclude them as potential employees?

 

[Mise]

Anyone works for Accenture or is a consultant or can somehow answer this question?



That's a pretty tough one, and I thought I'd try my luck to see if I can get any tips here

They're testing whether you've researched what an analyst at a consultancy actually does, and are therefore genuinely interested in doing the job; they don't want people who are just like, "oh, well, I have a degree - what can I do? Consultancy I guess? Yeah I'll apply for that." I guess asking on here counts as researching the role but the next time you're at a career's/graduate fair make sure to ask the guys at the booth all the questions they ask in the online application process

 

[Cutlass]

A company I worked for is out of business. I have no way of knowing where to find any of the people who may remember me. How do I use that as a reference?

 

[Silurian]

You could try a Google etc search of the managers names.

 

[downtown]

A company I worked for is out of business. I have no way of knowing where to find any of the people who may remember me. How do I use that as a reference?

If you remember their names, you can look them up on LinkedIn. Their "people you may know" tool is pretty perceptive.

CivG, you have bigger problems than your "internet footprint" I think. Like BirdJag sort of alluded to, you're looking at temp work, food service, and retail right now. Given the high turnover and applicant pool for these openings, it's going to be pretty rare that somebody will do an internet check-up on you. You just need to be pounding that pavement and applying to as many places as you can. Make finding a job BE your job.

I was unemployed for a short while when I first moved back to Chicago after my campaign job. After I was unable to secure a gig in my first week, I changed up my routine. I woke up every morning at 7:30, put up on a shirt and tie, and took the subway into downtown. Then, I'd set up shop in the Library and apply for jobs until around 2. If I met my quota, I'd go home. I got my job at Careerbuilder about 3 weeks later. You'll need to step outside of your routine to really make the changes you need.

 

[IglooDame]

That`s a bit much, no? I mean, unless the job involves driving, like a pizza delivery boy or something. There is a growing group of people in North America who don`t drive, why exclude them as potential employees?

They're not excluded if they don't have a driving record (unless as you say the job involves driving), they're excluded if the driving record shows DWIs.

A company I worked for is out of business. I have no way of knowing where to find any of the people who may remember me. How do I use that as a reference?

As Silurian says, web-search some names. You might get Facebook or LinkedIn hits, for starters. Or if you happened to know the company where at least one person ended up, you might try getting ahold of them that way.

Also, this timely advice from TheRegister:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/11/10/your_cv/

 

[downtown]

Also, this timely advice from TheRegister:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/11/10/your_cv/

Important quote from that article that many of our posters may do well to remember...

The average HR has to deal with everything from sales droids to accountants as well as thirty different flavours of techie. Do you think she has a deep and informed view of the relative merits of Python and Ruby? Really? And she knows that Sybase SQL is much nearer MS SQL than either are to Oracle? Get real. She can, however, spell and identify sloppiness, which is not ideal for someone vying to write the backup script for critical servers. Did I say any of this was fair? No, I did not.

Somebody like me is usually the first person to read your resume. Recruiters are trained on the basics on different industries, but we usually recruit for multiple openings. You need to make sure you're able to communicate impressive, industry-specific experience in a way that somebody who miiiight not know the difference btween Python and Ruby can understand.

 

[warpus]

They're not excluded if they don't have a driving record (unless as you say the job involves driving), they're excluded if the driving record shows DWIs.

I was commenting on BirdJaguar's comment that they only accept applicants with a valid driver's license.

 

[Silurian]

Do they have learner licences in Canada or USA (they do in UK) and if so would they work.

 

[aelf]

They're testing whether you've researched what an analyst at a consultancy actually does, and are therefore genuinely interested in doing the job; they don't want people who are just like, "oh, well, I have a degree - what can I do? Consultancy I guess? Yeah I'll apply for that." I guess asking on here counts as researching the role but the next time you're at a career's/graduate fair make sure to ask the guys at the booth all the questions they ask in the online application process

I've talked to company reps at career fairs before, but I've never managed to get substantial answers from them, partly because there were tons of other people raring to ask (inane) questions as well. And I'm pretty sure they'd know what's going on if I tried to get answers for the application form questions from them But maybe that's perfectly legitimate.

 

[Hygro]

I've talked to company reps at career fairs before, but I've never managed to get substantial answers from them, partly because there were tons of other people raring to ask (inane) questions as well. And I'm pretty sure they'd know what's going on if I tried to get answers for the application form questions from them But maybe that's perfectly legitimate.

I have about 5 fraternity brothers who now work for Accenture. Anything you want me to ask them?