I once had to post a position that was specifically made for my employee, but my recruiter was awesome. I told her there was no possibility I would pick anyone else, so she suggested I make the requirements hyper specific. So, I met with my employee and we worked up a list of 10-20 things that she had done in her career and put them all in as requirements to qualify.
I received no other “qualified” applicants, so I only had to interview the one. My next meeting with her I said, “this is your official interview, do you have any questions for me?” She said “no” and I congratulated her on being selected for the role.
Job postings like yours are extremely common when the applicant has been pre-selected but the company still requires an external posting. Your applicant likes off-grid hiking, is a hobbyist drone pilot, and enjoys grilling?
Now the job posting for a IT position requires an applicant who is capable of accurate pathfinding using a paper map and compass, two years of drone pilot experience, and four years of culinary experience.
I worked at a job for a long time as a contractor. I was originally hired as a temporary filler, but they liked me so well that they kept me on, and let other lower-performing contractors go instead, despite me being the newest. Eventually due to economic downturns they released all their contractors, including me.
A few years later as the economy recovered, they brought me back as a contractor again, with the intention of hiring me once a position became available. Months later, one did open up and they specifically told me to apply for that position as an internal hire - but they would have to open it up for external applicants too.
I was a tad annoyed that some external applicant could in theory swoop in and take my “promised” position away from me, even though I’d been doing the job for years and was clearly the favored candidate.
I felt bad for the external applicants who probably never really had a chance, but at the same time I felt I’d earned that job.
I did get hired, of course, and I am still at the company to this day - fifteen years later. And I’m up for another promotion at the end of this fiscal quarter.
I’m fine with internal preselected individuals getting positions and promotions. What is universally disliked is us also getting interviews only to find out later they were a waste of time for this exact reason.
Exactly. I’m just saying it’s not fair to the external applicants whose time is wasted- like you said; but it’s also unfair to the internal preselected people who have to “compete” for a job that should already be theirs.
It all seems it’s just done to satisfy some bureaucratic quota nonsense.
It also sucks for the hiring manager who has to interview candidates they know they won’t hire just to stick to the process. It’s a waste of everyone’s time.
We are deeply honored to have received your application (which we did not bother to read).
We’re sorry we didn’t hire you, but also never contact us again.
Signed,
Someone in HR who has nothing to do with this process.
At my old company I offered to help with the hiring. I said we should make job postings and just see if a great candidate applies.
My CEO told me “oh, we already have some postings. Let me give you the credentials”.
I log in to (BreezyHR). There’s over 2,000 applicants in the last 6 months. Tailored resumes, cover letters, everything. All the effort people put in to applying. Never even acknowledged by someone at the company. Reading the cover letters from people saying it would be such a great fit was kind of sad.
I’ve stopped tailoring resumes and doing cover letters. As someone who has been on the hiring end, they make maybe a small difference but the amount of time spent isn’t worth the potential upside.
Keep in mind that the people doing the hiring don’t want to be reading resumes either. That’s why networking is still the best way to land a new job.
If I were applying I might do a cover letter for like my top 2-3 picks just to try and tip the scales.
I do the hiring for my department and most cover letters are AI/template garbage but sometimes I’ll get a short and sweet one that seems genuine and it gives a legitimate edge.
Oh, and also, all the information in your CV that you also painstakingly rewrote into our forms, is going to be spread around to other companies who will use it to send you spam and phishing messages.
Good luck with your future endeavours of staying sane with others trying to get money out of you, that you don’t have.
It’s a real bummer interviewing these external applicants that you know won’t get the job. Like I wish I could just let them know, but we’re required to go through the entire interview process.
As someone in the inside, what’s the rationale behind having to publicly post jobs like this? Why can’t you just offer the job to the person you want to give it to?
In academia (my line of work) they’re required to have positions posted and open for a certain amount of time, interview a certain number of applicants, etc.
In theory, it’s for equal opportunity and finding the best person for the job.
In practice, it’s a waste of time, money, and hope.
Likely corporate and/or legal politics. I would imagine things not unlike EEOP loopholing would play a big role in it. (Yes, gov’ment we are offering this opening to “anyone”. So, send that funding check right over)
How does the old saying go?
Ah, yes: “This is funny because it is true”
