r/jobhunting • u/Datron010 • 18h ago
Does anyone else find the general attitude of many hirers off-putting?
I'm currently job searching, and I've noticed what I think is an off-putting pattern among companies/teams hiring. In a job application acknowledgment, I received this.
"If your skills and competencies are a good match for the position, we will contact you in order to discuss next steps."
Obviously there's nothing actually bad or ill-willed meant by this message, but I've noticed this general thought process among hirers all over lately. The message here is that if you are skilled enough, we WILL reach out/notice you. So if you don't get a response, then you do not have the skills and competencies we need. It's an implication, but it is saying people not selected aren't good enough.
And I've seen this idea all over. Hiring managers claiming that out of 1000+ applicants, not even 5 were well suited for the role. I've hired before. I know how bad the applications can be, but I was never egotistical enough to think I was so good at evaluating people that many good candidates didn't slip through the cracks.
I know I overread that message, but it reminded me of what I have generally seen all over from people making hiring decisions. There are great people with bad resumes. There are great people who haven't had enough experience yet. There are great people who don't quite hit your automatic rejection parameters. Many of those people would crush it if you hired them.
I'm not telling anyone to change their hiring practices. I know what it's like trying to whittle a group down to have a small enough group to interview and get to know. But don't act like you aren't letting great people slip through the cracks. If you aren't finding them, it's not the hundreds of applicants that are all the problem, it's you.
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u/HappyShallotTears 18h ago
“Not a good match” is not the same thing as “not good enough.” Try not to take it personally.
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u/Datron010 18h ago
I get it, and most companies are fine as you don't talk to them at all unless you move on and then they're already interested.
I just find it crazy how no one talks about how they're missing good candidates. The general discord seems to be candidates need to be better and not that the selection process is still deeply flawed.
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u/PurpleCrayonDreams 11h ago
you see the process as flawed. that's a perspective.
companies cannot meet with every candidate, even the best ones
this is an employers market. not a candidates market. laws of supply and demand in effect.
we all want to get hired. to be valued and appreciated. but the hiring process is about acquiring the right resource for the position. when we apply, we are but one option out of many. don't take it personally.
just make sure your resume is written well and customized to the position. you can make it so that your character and personality come through. but remember it every company wants anything more at this stage than lining up qualifications. the personality and character fit usually is evaluated later in tbe process.
take a good deep breath. i understand what your point is. we have to do our best and be adaptive to the way things are. to rise up and do our best anyways.
good luck.
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u/Solid-Pressure-8127 16h ago
What's the alternative? Nobody has the bandwidth to do a deep dive on every candidate or do a screening with each one just to make sure. We're doing the best we can based on the information we have.
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u/Datron010 10h ago
I'm not saying there is an alternative. I'm saying the attitude towards all these candidates is off putting at times.
I see a lot of hiring managers not saying "we're doing the best we can based on the information we have", they're saying " I got 1000 applications and every candidate sucks." My point here not being I have a solution, but the attitude I see so often isn't healthy or even realistic.
Like I said earlier. I've hired before. I know it's hard sifting through applications, but being so naive that I genuinely believe the 1000+ people here are all bad is crazy to me. It's hard to find who is good in the pile based off of a piece of paper, but there are plenty of good people in there.
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u/Dawg_wheres_mydiaper 18h ago
yeah, hiring can be pretty impersonal. but it's mostly about filtering out the noise. try tweaking your resume with this tool for better results.
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u/Quick_Food8680 18h ago
Its very cutthroat as many business practices are. Dont beat yourself up about not making the cut since its usually some system thats auto rejecting applications simply for not having the right keywords
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u/TangerineExtension64 17h ago
Yep I get that. I recently got rejected from a role that said I didn't have the correct qualifications (all their rejections read that way) and I definitely do. It was just their way to word it but it irked me.
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u/Hattuman 17h ago
It's just a way they use to justify not contacting most of the applicants, an excuse for not at least sending a rejection email
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u/No-Lifeguard9194 17h ago
It’s not personal? From the recruitment side of the fence, we deal with a lot of people who put an application in and then follow up because they haven’t been contacted. But the problem is they never were going to be contacted because they’re not qualified. So this is a very frustrating situation for everyone because candidates think nobody’s getting back to me and interviewers have rejected them and in the end it’s just easier to say don’t call us. We’ll call you.
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u/bellababella 8h ago
Yeah, I get what you mean- it really does come across as dismissive even if that’s not the intent. The truth is, tons of great candidates get filtered out by systems or rigid criteria, and it’s not always a reflection of ability. You’re definitely not alone in finding the hiring attitude frustrating.
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u/84th_legislature 18h ago
What I am seeing in my search is that the hiring team is looking to hire a BFF who needs no training. And you can be someone with really high technical skills but if you don't meet "BFF" standards they'll tell you you're a bad fit, or if you're the unicorn personality they're looking for but would need a little training they'll tell you you're a bad fit. And it just doesn't make sense to me, because I work with people I'm not BFFs with every day and we can still get the work done. I'm not coming to work like I'm headed to a freakin Thanksgiving party with the homies. In my opinion, when everyone is too buddy-buddy is when the fraud or at minimum a slide in quality standards begins.
I understand people not wanting to hire people with ZERO social skills, but I'm kind of just someone who values the work more than making friends and that becomes clear in the interview when they ask a bunch of "so how much do you like to HANG OUT" type questions in the interview or "how much do you ALWAYS get along with everyone even when there is a black and white decision to be made and the people making the wrong choice." And for that second one, I'm open to there being a little conflict and resolution in my work day. You can't have two different opinions on a black and white issue and NOT resolve it without at least minor conflict while it's discussed. I'm comfortable with a limited amount of conflict while we all learn each others' positions and try to figure out what is best to do. I think conflict is natural and resolving it well without much time/resources wasted is a critical skill, but what I'm seeing in my interviews is that these people seem to think it's possible to get top quality work done with ZERO CONFLICT EVER and if you acknowledge that some situations require respectful disagreement or reaching out to correct someone, they're like "oh my God! toxic work environment!!!" and shut the interview down as quickly as they can after that.