Everyone likes to think that they are competent and could handle any job. Why then, do so many people complain that temporary staffing agencies never call back. Is it because they have a personal grudge against you? Is it because you don’t have the ability to impress people who are “gatekeepers”.
No, it’s nothing like this. As a matter of fact, it’s really quite simple. For most people, the problem with staffing agencies is that they just don’t understand how they operate.
Staffing agencies want to make money and so anyone who can fit the role that the agency is staffing for will get the role. However, most agencies deal with an enormous amount of people applying for work. Most of the people who contact agencies simply are not qualified for the roles. The agency won’t risk annoying their client by sending over someone who cannot perform.
Your Resume Is Terrible
One way an agency knows that a person can’t do a job is by looking at their resume. If there are large career gaps, or if there are numerous typos, or other basic problems, then the staffing agency will pass on the resume.
Some people are unable to even spend time proofreading their resume and simply fill out forms using copy and pasted descriptions that they have found online. If that’s the case, then why would a staffing agency risk their reputation on someone who can’t be bothered to write their own resume.
Other resumes are not formatted correctly. They are not in MS Word or Adobe, but perhaps a photo (jpg) of a scanned paper resume. Sometimes people even send resumes in text format. All of these are signs that the person is not qualified for most professional level work.
There are exceptions—such as manual labor roles, facilities, and medical personal jobs, but for all professional work a properly formatted resume is expected.
Some temporary staffing agencies even have a written specification on their websites to only submit resumes in Word or PDF. You will still have people who send in scanned photos of resume or other documents that are not at all appropriate for the purpose.
You Don’t Have the Proper Experience or Qualifications
A big problem that most people do not understand is that not everyone is qualified to do every job. In most cases, recruiters and hiring teams will receive resumes for people who can’t do the job that they are working on.
Let’s look at an example of a company that is recruiting for a global marketing chief. In those instances they will require a very specific resume. If you are someone who is a Accounts Payable manager, or a medial receptionist, you would not be qualified or considered for the job. In many instances the pre-set screening criteria would not even send your resume over to the hiring team.
A common problem that recruiters and hiring teams run into is that people apply for roles which they simply are not suited for.
So, if you are a professional administrator with experience in an office setting, and you decide for some reason to apply to a job as a Registered Nurse, don’t expect to ever hear back.
Likewise, if you are a medical worker (Nurse, Tech, etc…) you will not hear back from a company that wants to hire a professional administrator. The experience of a medical professional who does hands on clinic work is not relevant to an office setting, and as such they will not be considered for a professional role.
This is why it’s so important to read all of the requirements for a job posting before contacting a company about a job.
Likewise, it’s important to research what the staffing agency does. Are they are recruitment firm that handles tech related work? Or are they a staffing firm that is more aligned with administrative roles.
If you are sending your resume to a staffing firm that does not staff for the work you do, then it will be of no point. In order to streamline your efforts, don't waste your time applying to a job you are not qualifed for.
No One Actually Read Your Resume
It’s a simple fact that most resumes are never looked at by a human eye. Most resumes are filtered through a automated system that is deigned to pick out resumes based on certain key terms and phrases.
So, if you are sending your resume in for a financial analyst role, and you don’t have that work experience listed on your resume, don’t expect anyone to read your resume let alone contact you for work.
Automated resume screening systems are used because there are simply too many resumes for companies to screen through. Hundreds of people apply for every slot that appears on a job board, many of whom have no relevant qualifications or other ability to actually perform the work.
The advantage of using an automated screening tool is obvious, it saves the company time when trying to weed out people without experience or the proper credentials. So, if someone who works at a car dealership or in customer support for Wayfair or Home Depot applies to a nursing role because they see how much money nurses make, their resume will be automatically discarded by most sophisticated job boards.
Only the people who have required degrees, in this case a nursing license, will get their resume through the screening tool.
This is why it’s wise to not waste your time applying for jobs that you’re not qualified for. There is no truth to the saying that you can fake it until you make it. You’ll be found out, especially in highly technical roles.
If you have never used Quickbooks or Excel, don’t waste the person’s time by sending in your resume for a accounting role. You won’t be hired.
If you are a nurse, don’t waste your time applying for a professional role in the corporate sector of a marketing firm, a PR firm, a Social Medial firm, and other similar roles. You won’t be hired.
And if you’re not a nurse, don’t waste your time applying for that job. Nurses make amazing pay, but they need to be licensed. You can actually be arrested if you are caught working as a nurse without the proper license.
This is why it’s important to understand how you fit into the job market and why it’s a poor idea to simply apply for every job online. If you see a job advertised online, the first thing you need to do is read the job description and determine if you would hire yourself if you were in charge of the hiring. That way you won’t lose much time wasting your energy.
There are numerous articels that cover the use of automated screening tools by employers, including some that discuss how employers in certain states like NY are now required to inform people why the are not hired.
Comments
Post a Comment