Anyone else bothered by this?

[Mark2010]

I have noticed more and more companies, when posting job listings, include the disclaimer "Only applicants selected for an interview will be contacted."

This sort of ticks me off. I understand the difficulty in responding to hundreds, perhaps thousands, of applicants. But, ironically, electronic communication has actually made it easier to do so. So, I am wondering, are these people just plain freakin' too lazy?

When I first graduated from university, I must have querried every pro team and media outlet in North America about jobs. I received a HUGE stack of letters saying "Thank you for your interest. We will keep your resume on file." Even got one from a club in NFL Europe. It didn't get me a job, but at least it made me feel a little more human in the meantime.

Anyone who has done much job hunting knows how frustrating it can be to run into a string of dead ends. But more and more, it feels like my applications are falling into a giant black hole. Why is it so darn hard for companies to at least acknowledge your application?

 

[proudpittsburgher]

I understand why it's frustrating, but I would imagine the number of resumes people are getting has been growing by the same percentage as the unemployment rate in journslism. Add that to the fact we are all being asked to do more with less, and I can see why they can't call everybody back. If you got 100 resumes in for a position where you are only seriously considering 4 or 5 people, do you really have th etime to call 95 people back who have no chance of getting the job?

 

[playthrough]

I'm bothered by it, but you should expect communication proportional to what you put into the application. Applying online in seconds by pasting resumes or rapid-firing e-mails to editors, it's unrealistic to expect anything more than a formatted e-mail in return. On the other hand, the traditional snail-mailed envelope of clips and cover letter deserves a response signed by someone.

 

[Ace]

Some companies are very good about sending an email back saying they received your resume and then following up telling you that you were not selected. (Hi, P-D!)

Others you never hear a peep from and I think that's bad. It should at least be some kind of computer generated response that your email was received.

I also think if you have to register on their site and get a login and everything, that they should then inform you if you have not been chosen.

 

[mustangj17]

I'm bothered whenever I don't hear back. An e-mail takes what, ten seconds?

 

[bp6316]

playthrough sort of hit on my philosophy: If I can tell someone put the time and effort into making this a serious request for a job, I'm far more apt to drop them a note and say thanks. But when I was hiring sports people, I never thought different about someone who e-mailed a solid packet of stuff as opposed to snail-mailing one in. There really should be no difference between the two now.

 

[JakeandElwood]

I didn't hear back from the vast majority of papers I applied to this summer. The only time I got peeved was when I didn't hear back from one I had a phone interview. I found out on the SportsJournalists.com board months later after I got my job that the position was frozen.

 

[Ace]

playthrough sort of hit on my philosophy: If I can tell someone put the time and effort into making this a serious request for a job, I'm far more apt to drop them a note and say thanks. But when I was hiring sports people, I never thought different about someone who e-mailed a solid packet of stuff as opposed to snail-mailing one in. There really should be no difference between the two now.

Are people still applying to papers? I am talking about applying online at big companies where no contact number is given, and by the job posting you wouldn't even know who your supervisor would be.

At those places you have to navigate past the recruiters before you get any face time or contact info.

 

[Big Buckin' agate_monkey]

I'm bothered whenever I don't hear back. An e-mail takes what, ten seconds?

If you're on dial up.

 

[captzulu]

It ain't just newspapers. Many of the non-newspaper places I applied to didn't write back, whether I applied online, via e-mail, or snail mail. I've gotten used to it and don't expect any "thanks for applying but ..." responses. It really doesn't bother me.

And I always share this story on the subject of rejection letters, just for laughs: I applied to a state agency once, got a rejection letter three months after the job posting closed. The letter misspelled my name and said how much they enjoyed interviewing me (even though they never contacted me for an interview). A week later I got a follow-up letter apologizing for the mistakes regarding my name and the interview thing.

 

[micke77]

In our high-tech world where a cell phone, BlackBerry, IM, etc., is with us constantly, there is absolutely no excuse in not getting some type of reply. none whatsoever.

 

[DirtyDeeds]

I understand why it's frustrating, but I would imagine the number of resumes people are getting has been growing by the same percentage as the unemployment rate in journslism. Add that to the fact we are all being asked to do more with less, and I can see why they can't call everybody back. If you got 100 resumes in for a position where you are only seriously considering 4 or 5 people, do you really have th etime to call 95 people back who have no chance of getting the job?

Ding, ding, ding! We're all being asked to do more work, so the person you're sending this stuff to more than likely probably doesn't even have the time to go through them all. If it's like my shop, the supervisors are doing just as much (and sometimes more) work as those under them. Don't think it's being lazy at all. Now, if you get an interview and don't hear back after the fact, then I have a problem. But just because you sent a packet? No. Sorry.

 

[JR]

This isn't a recent phenomena in any industry. I think it's probably gone on for ten or fifteen years.

Applying for a job is like auditioning for a theatre or film part. You go, do your audition and if they want a call back, they'll get in touch; otherwise, you'll hear nothing.

But I agree that in an age of instant communication, even a quick, "Thanks but no thanks" e-mail would be classy

I applied for a fairly senior position at Scholastic a number of years ago, had three separate interviews with the recruiter, the president of the company and the executive committee. In a chance conversation about ten days later with a colleague in the industry she told me --unaware that I had applied--that Joe Schmoe got the job. I hadn't heard back from the company or the recruiter.

I tore a strip off the headhunter.

 

[Rusty Shackleford]

Still, seems to me that at the least, it wouldn't be hard for some intern to type all the failed applicants' e-mails into a list, and send a form e-mail out to that list. Just some kind of acknowledgment, ya know?

 

[Johnny Dangerously]

At least they're being honest, telling you now. A few years back I applied for a job with nearby Big City Metro, and the SE confirmed he got my application and said he'd get back to me before the interview process. The next time we communicated was when I saw him in a press box with the guy he hired.

 

[The Granny]

Sometimes I fail to call readers back. Why do I want to call a stack of resumes sitting on my desk. That's just me, though.

 

[DirtyDeeds]

Like I said, if you get a true interview and THEN you don't get called back, that is just ridiculous. And from what I hear, even that happens fairly regularly. But just to say "Hey, I got your stuff"? That's just wishful thinking. In a perfect world, sure, but we all know this is far from a perfect world.

 

[Mark2010]

Just to clarify, I realize that this trend is not limited to media companies. More and more companies in all industries seem to be doing it.

I just figure if I spend an hour or whatever getting a packet together to mail you, showing an interest in your company and such, it's not to much to ask to send a 2-paragraph email at least acknowledging receipt.

 

[mike311gd]

I felt the same way, Mark, when I didn't hear back from potential employers. But upon receiving my current job, I was told more than 250 resumes were sent through e-mail/post office. That's a lot of phone calls to make.

 

[budcrew08]

We got so many resumes for our recent opening that my boss would have literally would've taken four hours or more doing callbacks. We are a small shop, so that's a pretty difficult task.