Pet peeve regarding job searches and interviews (corporate)

First of all, when you submit a resume make sure you have your physical address so I can send you an application in the mail. I don't care about your email. When you fill out an application make sure you have all information filled out.

Second of all, when you come for an interview in a corporate enviornment make sure you are dressed properly. Come in wearing jeans and a t-shirt will not get you a job nor will wearing a cocktail dress.

I can't tell you how many times I've chucked resumes in the ignore pile because there was no address, and how many people didn't get the job because of that first impression that made the prespective employer turn someone down because they didn't wear a suit and tie.

A suit and tie? Yeah, twice in my life. At my wedding, and at my funeral.

A necktie feels like a noose, and the material is so hot and stuffy, stiff and grating. And here in Japan, they wear the damn things in the worst heat, everybody in almost the same color. I hate suits.


I'm VERY grateful to telecommute.

But we live in a world where the "clothes make the person."

"The most barbarous fact in all christendom is the labor market. The mere term sufficiently expresses the animalism of commercial civilization." - Eugene V. Debs

To get beyond a certain level you have to be able to talk a certain talk, eat at certain kinds of places, play golf, join the right clubs, etc. The higher you go, the whiter it gets. I guess those types feel all safe and comfy in that kind of environment.

I feel freaked out in those places, surrounded by those people.

and some sort of respect for the person submitting it?

I've just (thankfully) ended 2.5 years of job searching. In that time I sent, literally, hundreds of resumes in response to job listings. My resumes had my address, email, multiple phone numbers, full qualifications and employment history. They were on good paper (if they were not an email as requested.) They had been spell/grammar checked by both Word and by several professionals whose business is preparing resumes. I did not send them willy-nilly. I sent them only to job listings for which I had a true shot at meeting the requirements.

Out of those hundreds, I got a SINGLE response. The lack of even REJECTION notices from the VAST majority of employers accelerated my drop into depression, and caused me to give up for a while. When I returned, the job market had picked up. As a result of my experience I placed a high value on the responsiveness of prospective employers, and eventually signed up for one that responded promptly and treated me as though I were a person, rather than just grist for their machine.

As a result, I now know of several corporations who will NEVER get my respect, business, or the benefits of my working efforts.

Respect is a 2 way street. A lot of companies out there have forgotten that.

Yes, I wish they would.

It shows how bad this economy is when they don't even feel the need to bother.

People are actually sending in resumes without home addresses and showing up for interviews wearing jeans? I'm with Brooklyn Liberal about acknowledging that resumes were received, it's just common courtesy. I used to work in HR for a retailer, you know the one that appreciates educated consumers. It was policy to send a thanks but no thanks letter for every person who sent in a resume, but wasn't called for an interview. What's even more frustrating is going on several interviews and never hearing anything.

The resume part is right. If you cant get the basics you are in trouble.

However the dress depends. If I interview for a customer facing job, sure it is important. That is the way the world works. Interview for a sales or bank job wear suit and tie.

If I interview for a technical job, where my technical skill set it the focus of the interview, not so much.


The last one I showed up in jeans and a rugby shirt, hungover. However I know g code backwards and can make a cnc miller do impressive stuff.

I can put on a suit and dress the part when overseas or doing pre-sales but ability should be the factor. Any fool can put on a suit.

Any job that will not hire me, or anyone, for bs reasons is no loss.

Ties cut bloodflow to the brain. I have not seen much to disabuse me of that theory, amongst compulsive tie wearers, especially those who seem to think that ties create business paradise.

http://www.users.bigpond.com/landman_m/TYKhistory.htm

It was to hold the top of a shirt/tunic closed, especially in winter.

So in warm weather, wearing a tie makes little more sense than wearing a muffler or mittens. Ties should be, at most, strictly winter wear.

Once buttons became commonplace, ties became superfluous. If you have a collar button, you do not need a tie. Yet most Western men's shirts have a tight collar button whose ONLY purpose is to make it possible to wear a tie pulled tightly! If this doesn't trigger your sense of the absurd, your life needs rethinking.

I have a full beard, so my collar is pretty well covered up, open or not. Yet I'm still expected to wear a tie ?!? There's that sense of the absurd again.

It's interesting to note that at scientific conferences, where people are judged by what they know, not what they wear, a plaid flannel shirt and jeans/chinos is more or less standard wear among younger scientists, and sports shirts/pants are common among the older generation. I like it. If nothing else, it means that grad students and postdocs don't have to spring for a dress suit just to make one presentation.

If I were applying for a job as a corporate spokesdroid, I could understand showing up in uniform. If I'm going to be working behind the scenes, my clothes shouldn't matter to anyone, as long as I'm wearing them.

For the record, I'm pretty sure the formal necktie in the form we know it is less than two centuries old. That's pretty long for a fashion accessory, but there's no reason to keep hanging on to something which has long outlived its usefulness. Outside of serving as a symbol of conformity, the necktie is past due for extinction.

Last time I think was circa 1992.

Of course I work in high tech so its a bit different than traditional corporate jobs.

But you have a good point. First thing you have to do is to avoid being screened out by the HR folks so you can talk to the people who make the actual hiring decisions.

Nothing worse than being qualfied for a job but being dismissed out of hand by the screeners.