8/10/09

So I got a job…..

Well, as anyone who would read this blog knows by now, I recently got a job here in Omaha.  I had to resign from my post at Boeing when we moved here, so I had been out of work up until 9 July.  That put my job search at 3 months, which is right about half of what the experts say the norm is.  I’ve heard the normal time for a job search can be 6 to 9 months, so I feel pretty lucky that I got it done in 3.  So what did I think of my job search?  Lucky for you, I have thoughts:

1.  Companies are really confused on how to hire people.
All you hear about these days is networking.  It’s all about who you know.  Get your resume to the top of the pile. Etc.  But if you look at a company’s hiring policies or talk to an HR rep, it’s all about the online application process.  Setup your profile, search for jobs, click the apply button.  These two policies couldn’t be further from each other.  So what happens?  You can’t get to anyone in either direction.  I networked with people who gave my resume to people internally and had the HR person tell me to apply online, which gets you back to square one.  I had recruiters contact me about positions that were posted online that were already spoken for, but the HR process required the hiring managers to post the jobs online. 
These HR policies have to go one way or the other, or have separate hiring processes.  Trying to use an online process to hire people through networking makes it hard for the HR dept and confusing for applicants.  Gravitating towards networking processes really limits a company’s access to a wide range of applicants. 
So what’s the answer?  I don’t know.  I just know this current situation is confusing, time consuming, and frustrating. 

2.  Job fairs aren’t much fun.
Granted, I only went to one job fair.  I spoke to probably 10-12 companies.  Of the 12 companies, there was one (1) company that was taking paper resumes.  The rest consisted of “Have you created an online profile?  Our jobs are posted online”.  What’s the use in that?  I spoke to several people who had absolutely no idea what jobs their company had open.  If they aren’t taking resumes and/or the people that showed up aren’t in the functional areas that are hiring, just leave a bunch of pamphlets with your website and let’s call it even.

3.  The social websites can fill a lot of time.
Lol….  I spent a lot of time on Facebook and Twitter when I was out of work.  It’s a great way to spend some time because you can be on the PC looking for jobs, but keeping up with friends at the same time.  It helps to keep your head up.

So how did I end up getting my job?  I was really hoping to spurn the networking people and get it through posting for jobs on the company’s website.  I did end up with my resume getting passed to the right person at the right time.  One of my Boeing contacts that I had worked with before I quit had passed my resume to another company here in Omaha (BAE Systems).  It got passed to another BAE person, they called, and the rest is history. 

So far the job is pretty good.  It’s quite a bit different than working for Boeing.  hehehe.  I’ll write up a post later that goes over some of the differences.  There’s some significant ones which are very interesting. 

No comments:

Post a Comment