CareerBuilder.com: Not Getting Hired? 10 Reasons Why

[Omaha Steve]

http://msn.careerbuilder.com/Article/MSN-2127-Job-Search-Not-Getting-Hired-10-Reasons-Why/?sc_extcmp=JS_2127_home1&SiteId=cbmsnhp42127&ArticleID=2127>1=23000&cbRecursionCnt=1&cbsid=2f987e9e963940a2a22506be912fa4f2-316447649-KF-5

By Rachel Zupek, CareerBuilder.com writer

You don't understand. You updated your résumé, you're applying to jobs every day, you've cleaned up your digital dirt and you network every day. Yet here you still are on the unemployment list. What is wrong with employers?

Unfortunately, many job seekers don't stop to consider that the problem might not be employers but themselves.

It's a hard concept that most job seekers have trouble wrapping their heads around, but applicants frequently (and inadvertently) display signs that tell an employer that they're not the best fit for the job.

According to a 2009 CareerBuilder survey, 47 percent of employers said that finding qualified applicants is their biggest hiring challenge. When asked to identify the most valuable characteristics in new hires, employers cited multitasking, initiative and creative problem-solving.

Do you lack what employers want? Yes, there are fewer jobs and there is more competition, but are you doing everything you can? Here are 10 reasons why employers might have passed you by.

1. You lie
Any lies you tell in your job search, whether on your résumé or in an interview, will come back to haunt you. In a 2008 CareerBuilder survey, 49 percent of hiring managers reported they caught a candidate lying on his or her résumé; of those employers, 57 percent said they automatically dismissed the applicant. Everything you tell an employer can be discovered, so it behooves you to be honest from the get-go. If you're concerned about something in your past, invention is not the answer. Use your cover letter to tell your story, focusing on your strengths and accomplishments and explaining any areas of concern if needed.

FULL story at link.

[NightWatcher]

1. funny, a "shitty ass economy" isnt a reason

but "potty mouth" is, go figure

2. You have a potty mouth

[90-percent]

2. My mistake

I thought this would be about why people haven't found jobs on careerbuilder.com

-90% jimmy

[MindPilot]

7. The fact that there are roughly 200 applicants for every open position

seems lost on them. And they are also assuming you have made it to the interview stage, so it address only about 2% of the job seekers.

[Cirque du So-What]

3. 11. You're too fucking old

Good luck trying to prove that we discriminate against older workers - who may cause us to pay a few bucks more in insurance premiums or ask a higher wage than we'd pay a young person just out of school - because we'll just make up some reason that has nothing to do with age if you file suit against us.

[mrcheerful]

6. Yeah about the same as being moderate to severly handi capped

that hire the handi capped law was all talk and no action, but an attempt to keep disabled off the disability roll. I thought it was very amusing when SO went to her court hearing for SSI. The Rehabilitation guy came out with a list of jobs SO was educated enough to be able to work. The judge asked the guy, with SO's restrictions could she do those jobs, the Rehab guy said well "no she can't" but "she could apply for them". The judge gave SO her SSI.

[MineralMan]

9. Yes, indeedy. Being over 50 is a real detriment in today's

job market. Even though the company knows that whomever they fire won't be there five years down the road, they still think about long-term employment. Does that even exist any longer?

I know one thing: If I were a company looking for employees, I'd be looking very hard at hiring as many older applicants as I could, trying to find experience, expertise, and a great work ethic. The kids? Not so much. Why have to train some kid, fresh out of college, when you can hire someone who can walk in, look around the place for a few days, then get down to it?

Part of the problem, I think, is that it's the kids who are running the HR department these days. They don't have a clue about what the jobs really are, and see those 50+ folks as old, worn-out, and likely to drop dead at any time.

Even in getting contract work, age plays into it. When I'm interviewing for a contract in my line, I get right to the point about my experience, expertise, speed, and accuracy. I have a big, fat, portfolio I can show. Even so, I sometimes have problem landing the contract, which goes to some kid who is going to have to learn the job before he/she can do it. Often, it doesn't work out.

What do I do? I write. These days, I'm writing the content for entire web sites. I'm very, very good at it, and can turn around an entire business site in a week or so. Convincing prospective clients that I'm not some old, tired, stupid guy, though, isn't easy, even with the portfolio. Weird.

[earthboundmisfit]

13. Same here

I'm trying to put myself in the interviewer's shoes now, trying to remember how old people my age looked to me when I was 20-25 years younger, and what it would have taken then for me to hire a person of my current age. It should be about qualifications & capability, of course, but...

[earthboundmisfit]

12. Yup. I've had several interviews where they're all excited over my IT resume

We maybe even have a great pre-interview chat before the physical interview - then when I walk in and they see how old I am/look (no matter how I try to make it less apparent), their faces drop perceptibly. It hurt the first time. A lot. I took it personally. But this has happened so often that now I view it as an obstacle that's just plain gonna be there, and I have to deal with it. Talk upbeat, future, "going forward", make sure they know my skills are current and I'm familiar with the latest and greatest. I haven't had success yet - been unemployed over a year now - but the right fit's gotta be out there somewhere. That feeling, though, when you see the interviewr's face fall, and you know why - I'm sure people with disabilities experience the same thing.

[monmouth]

4. People giving the interview are not qualified and do not ask the right questions...n/t

[MineralMan]

11. Bingo! There are a lot of kids in HR these days. They're working

without knowledge of the company they're hiring for, and working from some list of employee attributes they learned in business school. Morons, in large part.

[MindPilot]

5. God I get tired of all these numbered list articles on the job sites

That where-do-you-see-yourself-in-five-years question bugs me. The reality is most companies don't want someone looking to climb and advance; they want someone who will do their job and not make waves.

Hiring manager: "Where do you see yourself in five years?"

Me: "Hopefully still employed."

Hiring manager: "Why do you want to work for XYZ?"

Me: "Because you have an opening and I want a job."

Needless to say, I didn't get that one. I really don't play that game well.

[stray cat]

8. It is surprising how few applicants turn out to be competent

The economy is difficult and the reason many are unemployed but some people really are not qualified even though they have the proper education on their resumes.

[PSPS]

10. Some people are unemployed because, well, they're unemployable.

Some of what is in that article is accurate. I have a PI client who does, among other things, background checks on prospective employees for companies and they always scour social networking sites for information to include in their report. Believe me, there's a lot of stupid out there! Apparently, many people have forgotten the meaning of the word "dignity."

When I'm looking for people, the biggest obstacle is that the applicant is simply uneducated. When I receive a resume that contains grammatical or spelling errors, I stop reading it and throw it away.

If you want a laugh, try placing a help wanted ad on craigs list. Regardless of what you ask for, most of the responses you receive will be from people who haven't (or can't) read what you've put in your ad. They apparently send responses to everyone regardless of whether they're qualified or not. When I use craigs list, I always prominently state, in bold caps, to include some phrase or other definitive proof of the ad being read in the response. I even say this must be done to indicate that the respondent actually read the ad or else the response will not be considered. Nevertheless, fewer that 10% of the responses follow this simple direction, so they're summarily deleted.

[baldguy]

14. 7 out of those 10 could apply to the employers you're talking to, also.

1. You lie
Applying to a Fortune 500 corporation? 'Nuff said.

2. You have a potty mouth
Ditto #1

3. You don't show long-term potential
Sales are down. Profits are down. And it's not because the workers aren't working hard enough - it's because corporate executives crashed the economy.

5. You don't know ... well, anything
The people running the American economy don't know how to make anything! The MBA who sucked a half billion dollars out of the soft drink manufacturer before they kicked his incompetent ass to the curb isn't going to do any better running the aircraft manufacturer.

6. You acted bored, cocky or disinterested
Sorry, it's hard to get excited about a 10-yr-old injection molding assembly line - especially when the company hasen't been able to get a loan to update their equipment from the banksters. And selling the undifferentiated widgets that come off the line, or shuffling the paperwork regarding those sales around doesn't inspire enthusiasm either.

8. You were all dollars, no sense
Ditto #1 & #2

10. You don't have enough experience
Ditto #5

[rantormusing]

15. After college, when i first joined the job hunt,

I noticed a lot of scam jobs on sites such as careerbuilder and monster. You can't scroll down the page without seeing five of them. That entire article is full of fluff, are there really that many candidates who walk into an interview bad mouthing and swearing?

[FirstLight]

16. Ugh- I want to slap this bitch

Firstly - at 40 and a single mom in need of some re-training and a viable career option...I attended CSU and got my Certificate in HR Mgmt. last year. Needless to say that HR growth will be on the BACKSIDE of job creation, so I'm screwn.

Secondly, we discussed many of these concepts in class but the corporate mindset is really a diferent animal. They look at it as if it is a game and when the economy is bad like this, and you have 200 applicants for one opening...you can afford to be a jerk and disqualify people for the slightest reason.
And when the economy is good and you need to worry about your emplotyees looking for greener pastures, you shift your attention to retention and training, management grooming, etc...all the stuff that makes someone THINK they have a good opportunity, so they stick around.
My teachers kept reminding us that we may have chosen the field of HR because we like people and want to help others... but we are REALLY there for the bottom line. The company wants to save money and can sometimes fire & re-hire and save money because offering someone who has been with the company mgmt is more costly in the long run. which to me is totally rotten.

So, I trained for HR mgmt and will probably end up going into non-profit work because the corporate-think is so abhorrent to me. they are bastards... and I don't think for ONE minute that investigating potential hires for Facebook naughtyness or drug use is constitutional, either.