Forty Applicants For One Job

[DemocratSinceBirth]

I am assisting my fiancee in her job search. This is a response to her response to an ad on craigslist. She already has one contract job and is looking to supplement her income with another contract job.


Good evening M/M-----


I hope you are doing well. Thank you for replying to our ad on Craigslist. After reviewing over 40 resumes, we've identified you as one of our top applicants. If you are still interested in this position, please respond to me and my business partner so that we can proceed with scheduling a conference call to speak about our intentions and expectations.


Thank you and we look forward to hearing from you.


Forty applicants for one job. I pity the unemployed.

[cyglet]

1. "over 40"

I wouldn't want to be responsible for hiring anyone. It'd break my heart every day.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

2. I Used To Be A Director Of Sales And Marketing

Even in a good economy I hated the interview process because everybody needs a job. I am thankful I only had to fire one person in four years.

[geckosfeet]

3. 40 is nothing.

On edit - not minimize - but 40 applicants seems a relatively small number - depending on the type of work and where you live etc.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

4. There Are Twenty Million Or So Unemployed Folks

I don't think there are eight hundred million jobs in the world.

[KansDem]

5. When I was "looking for a position" some 15 years ago...

...it was nothing to hear of over a hundred applicants for one job. One opening got almost 200!

It's discouraging...

[DemocratSinceBirth]

7. I Used To Get A Lot Of Resumes When I Was Filling Sales Positions

But forty seems like a lot. But that was before the net.

[Liberal_in_LA]

27. The internet kicks up the total. People can now send out apps while in their pajamas

In the old days, you had to type out each one, send it in the mail. It is now easier to identify job openings also.

[frazzled]

6. Yeah, I was going to say that, too

Back in the 90s, whenever my spouse had to hire someone for his small staff within a larger (nonprofit) institution, there would often that many applications for a low-level job. Of course, it was a great place to work, so a lot of enthusiastic young people would apply. But 40 is really not that many. You can usually cull 30 of them out as not being appropriate right away anyway, if it's a job with particular skills and interests.

But I'm glad the OP's fiance was one of the ones chosen for the finalist list!

[DemocratSinceBirth]

8. Three Mediocre Contract Jobs Might Pay As Good As One Good One

.

[Liberal_in_LA]

12. use to be about 5 or 6

[1monster]

9. There are 1,000 applicants for every teaching job in my school district. That is

up drastically from the 300 applicants for every teaching job just two years ago.

One in forty are terrific odds in comparison.

[Liberal_in_LA]

26. WOW!

:-(

[1monster]

29. Well, it is the number one school district in the state overall for three years running,

and has been number one in various areas for more than five years.

It's also a great place to live.

[Liberal_in_LA]

30. 300 to one use to be the ratio for applications for professor jobs at big universities.

Must be 1000 to one these days.

[GKirk]

10. All things being equal, apply at 40 different places and...

... and you have a 1/1 (%100) chance of getting hired. Of course all things aren't equal.

[coalition_unwilling]

17. Faulty math logic there. Your chances of getting hired at any one

place depend on the number of applications received by that place and NOT on the number of places you've already applied or will apply. Fortunes have been lost at roulette following your line of thinking. The technical name for the fallacy is "The Maturity of Chances," aka "The Gambler's Fallacy."

[GKirk]

28. I guess...

...you didn't read my disclaimer.

[Tesha]

31. If I did the maths right, 40 applications with a "one in forty" chance of being hired at each job...

...gives you about a 64% chance of being hired.

Tesha

[Liberal_in_LA]

11. 70 to 160 applicants for the jobs we post.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

13. Do You Have Any Sr Accountant Jobs?

My fiancee and Iare working our way back to L A.

[Liberal_in_LA]

25. sorry, but no.

[customerserviceguy]

14. "please respond to me and my business partner"

Sounds like they need someone with proofreading and grammatical skills. Have your fiancee stress her abilities in that skill.

[coalition_unwilling]

18. Grammar Nazi here. There is nothing grammatically wrong with

the sentence as written, although its syntax is a bit clunky.

Probably smoother to write: "Please respond to my business partner and me . . . "

Or am I missing something?

[customerserviceguy]

20. Bingo, you got it

You always mention the other person before yourself. Or maybe things have changed since I took fifth grade grammar.

In any case, people who are not skilled in this matter are often aware of it, and if the OP's fiancee can assert her proficiency in this subject without intimidating her potential employers, they might see that she's a valuable addition to the team. I'm just looking out for a fellow DU'er here.

[auntpurl]

21. The grammar is correct here.

Please respond to me.

Please respond to my business partner.

Please respond to me and my business partner.

It's correct. What's the problem?

[customerserviceguy]

22. See my post above

I was taught that you always mention the other person first when referring to yourself and another. Maybe the "me" generation changed all that.

[auntpurl]

23. Hmm, maybe it's a politeness thing in writing

But technically, the grammar is correct. :shrug: Sorry, always dangerous to let the English major off the leash! :hi:

[LaValle]

15. That's All?

We had two openings for a entry level position here a month or two ago. 8.50 a hour. janityorial and grounds keeping work.

They had 2200 apply for it.

[MadHound]

16. I think that is becoming the norm everywhere

I went through the annual ritual of applying for various teaching jobs in the area over the spring and summer. I got to see the stack of applicants for one opening, a third grade teaching position in a rural school district. The stack was over twelve inches thick. I found out later that I came in second for the position, and that was out of what looked to be at least sixty applicants.

[sarcasmo]

19. 100-1 or higher here in Michigan.

[tridim]

24. It's so discouraging when you're the runner-up in a pool of hundreds

There are no parting gifts, second place gets you exactly nothing.

It has happened to me twice in the past year.

Ten years ago I had people calling me at work offering me 120k/year jobs.