Re: an automated interview?!?

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From: Brat (likeIwouldtellyou_at_inyourdreams.com)
Date: 04/01/04 

Date: Thu, 01 Apr 2004 16:22:33 GMT

Personally I don't agree with Consultant or Rowdy... think of it this way...

I have seen ads similar to this and they state "do not paste resume here"
... also, giving them nothing will probably not help either...

Here is what I think they are doing:

1) how bad do you want the job? Are you willing to jump thru our assinine
little hoop to prove you are dedicated to getting the job? Perhaps they
don't actually read the responses but are looking for someone who can give
an intelligent answer and who took the time to give a response regardless of
what you think about the process;

2) How much research have you done on the company and its goals/objectives?
This is probably the ONLY time you can sit down and write something
intelligent and take your time doing so... you can give examples of your
work while keeping in mind the type of company they are and gear your
responses towards that. Normally, you would be asked this in person in an
interview and even if you have researched the company, you are relying on
your speaking skills and thinking off the cuff... by writing a response you
can a) think about your response, b) proof read it to ensure it says all you
need to, c) ensure that the foot in mouth penchant does not blow your
chances, and d) if asked this in a real interview later, you will have
composed a well rounded, informed, intelligent response and can wow them in
the interview room; and

3) This could be their screening process... if you dont answer... file
13... if you do answer you go onto the next step... perhaps the HR person is
expecting an exorborant amount of applications and they are weeding out
those who do not want to take the time to answer a few questions during the
application process.

Just my opinion of course... so I would sit down, think about what you want
to say... look at your resume... take a few applicable lines and reword them
so they are directly in corrolation with the company's job description. As
for limit... I would not go beyond 300 - 500 words. 

-- 
Sue MCNGP #69
"Vigo Breadcrumbs" <vigo@breadcrumbbs.com> wrote in message
news:XYWac.390773$jH.5498144@twister.tampabay.rr.com...
> Yesterday, when cruising the on-line edition of the local newspaper, I
> get a little good news in that there's a new listing for a systems
> administrator position with a large and successful real estate
> developer.  Perusing the qualifications, I find I match quite well, and
> there's nothing left-field like "must speak Urdu" or "left-handed
> Mohican proctologists preferred."  The qualifications are a little
> stiffly worded, like "comfortable with server environment and running
> server-based administration tools," but they're nothing for which I
> can't offer decidedly nontrivial experience.
>
> I click the "apply now" link, expecting to get the usual blind e-mail
> with the really long cryptic subject.  Instead, I get...nothing.  It
> seems my RoadRunner service has chosen that instant to go offline.  No
> matter.  I take advantage of the delay to compose a truly bravaura cover
> letter, a masterwork of boldness, conciseness, completeness, and a
> pitch-perfect presentation of how my skills can benefit this company.  I
> dunno what was in the water yesterday, but I was quite impressed at my
> own performance.
>
> As I was putting a last few finishing touches on my resume, I see the
> link light come on that tells me I'm back on line.  I click the "apply
> now" link, and I get...something I've never quite seen before.  It's
> obviously a non-email page for submitting resumes, but in addition to
> the name-and-address fields and place for pasting resume text, it's got
> a section called "Questionnaire."  For a half dozen of the stiffly-
> worded qualifications, it's got text boxes wherein one is supposed to
> describe one's experience viz. the given item, e.g. "DESCRIBE YOUR
> EXPERIENCE IN THE SERVER ENVIRONMENT AND RUNNING SERVER-BASED
> ADMINISTRATION TOOLS."
>
> What in the hell is this?  These sound like interview questions.  Is
> this some kind of lazy-HR head game?  The text boxes have no size
> limits, but in exactly how much detail is one supposed to answer these?
> If they are interview, or pre-interview, questions, one might suppose at
> some length, yet common sense suggests being brief at this early stage
> of the process.  Seems to me like a lose-lose proposition.
>
> Anyone else seen an...application...like this, and how did you handle
> it?

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