The Old Joel on Software Forum: Part 4 (of 5)

Human Resources

When searching for work:

How do you work with them?
How do you get around them?

Any success stories here would be gladly appreciated. :)

Cedilha
Thursday, February 26, 2004

Create a technical forum and let people talk, you will see who is who..

Evgeny Gesin /Javadesk.com/
Thursday, February 26, 2004

You have to know someone on the inside. Get your resume to an engineer or hiring manager where a job opening exists first, then when there is an interest expressed from within, you can run your official application through the paper shufflers.

The H.R. people exist only to throttle back the volume of resumes that flow in and they use some strange and mysterious processes to discard most of them before the hiring manager even gets to see any. If you had first made the contact inside, the hiring manager will tell the H.R. droid to pass this one through without filtering.

old_timer
Thursday, February 26, 2004

here's how to get past them:

* be highly qualified for the job they're trying to fill

bob
Thursday, February 26, 2004

The simple answer is you don't deal with them. You instead do *anything* to avoid them. They are the gatekeepers whose job is to keep out the unwashed masses and wave their magic wand over a few choice selections that score high in terms of matching the top 10 list of buzzwords that the hiring manager gave them.

Your key to making this and future job searches easier is to start networking and create value for people that will connect you with other people who need what you have. You have to drop the "instant society" ideas of simply signing up for some networking site on Monday and have a list of good contacts on Friday. I have a few good contacts that I've only known for a few months, but the great ones have taken years to develop.

It pays off though. A great contact I have known for about 4 years handpicked me to lead one of his new groups. I had to turn it down since I'm already on a client assignment until July. He was disappointed but reiterated that he still wants to utilize in some way in the future. The only HR involvement in this case would have been the day I showed up to work and sign the paperwork for their files.

That's the best you could hope for - to have something already, being offered other opportunities, *and* having one of those opportunities remain an open offer. It's money in the bank. The idea is nothing new either. Read Dale Carnegie's "How to win friends and influence people". It was written in 1936 and referenced ad nauseum yet very few people apply the simple ideas it presents.

Checkpoint
Friday, February 27, 2004