The Resume "Black Hole" and the Interview Process

Looking for a job is no longer a matter of fine linen stationery and a newspaper clipping. You have to understand the process that will lead you to a new job.

You're wondering why all the resumes you've submitted seem to fall into a black hole. There's a reason for that - and it's not necessarily over-worked recruiters, or volume of resumes, nor your lack of skills or applicable experience. Getting through the process from advertisement to offer letter is hard work and if you do not understand the process, it gets harder.

There are legal reasons your information falls into a black hole; there are cultural and procedural reasons even the fastest of processes can take months.

Companies have highly structured requirements for considering what constitutes an "application," and if you do not fit that criteria, they will not touch your resume. To do so creates a liability - an "applicant" has certain rights. The resume review and interview processes is standardized as much as possible.

One means by which companies standardize information is through online Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) where self reported information is input to a database, from which queries can generate the list of candidates meeting certain criteria. The interview process begins from the prescreened resumes.

Landing that interview is hard work, and on average you will have more "thanks, but no" emails in your in-box than you do exploratory phone screens, and fewer interviews than that.

Given that applications, resumes and the data from ATS are self-reported, the first stage(s) of an interview process will generally be consistently structured and designed to elicit responses from the candidate indicating he/she has the experience discussed in that data. Situational judgment can be determined in open ended interview questions looking at possible scenarios found in that job. If you're preparing for a phone screen, keep this in mind - you will need to have engaging stories to illustrate your points, to color in some of those lines you've drawn in your resume/online-submissions.

Depending on the requirements of the position, a company may deem it desirable to engage the applicant in physical ability tests - for instance trash collectors or other positions requiring the use of manual labor. Cognitive ability tests may be desirable to use in positions requiring data analysis or the synthesis of complex data or situations.

When interviewing for positions, I have been asked to provide writing samples and most recently have been asked to complete a personality inventory in anticipation of a job interview. For the position in which I was requested to provide a writing sample, it was a quasi-legal position working in a role where there would be a high volume of written work; for the position requesting a personality assessment, the culture of the organization is important, and an outlier on the assessment may indicate either organizational or individual discord in that role in that organization. The choice of subject matter in your written work speaks just as much as how you articulate that subject matter. On personality assessments, there is no right or wrong answers - they want to see what it would look like to work with you, and while it is stressful to consider your livelihood may come down to what this profile reveals, if you've gotten to this point it is a sign of their potential interest. Remember, part of the role of the recruiter is to source candidates who are qualified and who are likely to thrive in the organization - an honest assessment benefits you as a job seeker.

References from those who may know a candidate and have the ability to discuss the candidates work may also be a means by which a company measures a candidate's honesty or self-awareness. This should be done in a timely manner and in a manner that is both appropriately expansive and as consistent as possible. While there are differing views of the efficacy of references, a skilled reference checker will understand you're likely to provide references who will speak highly of you - what they're looking for is who you're naming as references, and how they will answer open-ended questions about you, and apply that to their context. Bear in mind, too, that when you complete an application you're also signing a waiver that allows the hiring company to talk to references you may or may not even name.

"Negligent hiring," is a budding new aspect in tort law and as such companies will seek to gain as accurate a picture of their candidates as possible. Scrubbing publicly available social media outlets has become an important aspect of screening processes, which includes the ubiquitous "Googling" of candidates. If you are currently unemployed, the biggest mistake you can make is failing to update, hone, rebuild, or gain new skills. Pay attention to the messages you send to the outside world on Facebook and Google+. If they're public, they're likely to be found and you may never know it.

Drug tests are often performed - some companies, such as Home Depot, make it very clear that they conduct drug tests and will not hire anyone unable to pass the screen. Be forewarned, if you're into recreational drugs you will not be hired - the choice is yours; ask yourself what is more important to you, an illicit high or a job. Drug users are workers' compensation risks, they have higher utilization of health insurance, and are prone to turning over - all of which carry costs for an employer. If you don't use, you're in good shape. If you do use, you have some choices to make.

Job hunting is not easy and not fun. You will likely have more than your share of rejection. Continuously improve your skill set, maintain a "you" file with your accomplishments and achievements, and understand the company and job for which you're applying - you may just find yourself climbing out of that "black hole."