The HR Black Box

Yesterday I went into the city (a.k.a. Manhattan) to eat lunch with a former manager of mine. I hadn't seen her in more than a year, so that was one reason to go. Plus, I wanted to make sure that she still likes me - you know, enough to give me a glowing recommendation to any potential employer who may ask ;o )

Anyway, we had a good conversation over sandwiches and salads (no soup - it was too hot outside for warm and too cool inside for cold). She told me about all the employee shake-ups that had occurred since I left. It was unbelievable how fast things change in a few months in a corporate environment. Talk about stability? There is none. Change is constant and stagnation is death. We also discussed the media industry as a whole. She said that a lot of her friends at other companies around town are in bad shape themselves. Basically, everyone is just trying to hold on to their jobs amidst ripples of layoffs everywhere one looks.

Then we hit upon the "HR Black Box" topic - which is something that frustrates me to no end.

[Warning: You are now entering the blogger's personal rant section, followed by sound advice.]

Why is it that all - meaning most, and everyone I've applied to for the past two years - HR departments require you to submit your resume into an online system with information that ends up who knows where? I mean, for all I know, the staff could be checking it once a month just to clear it out! Is anyone actually looking at those resumes? I mean, there must be at least a thousand submitted each day at some of these companies. Who looks through all of them? How can they?!?

I bring this up because I'd applied for a position at a company I use to work at, in the same department I worked in, for the same manager I use to work for...AND MY APPLICATION DIDN'T EVEN GET SENT TO THE HIRING MANAGER FOR REVIEW. You would think that someone reading my application would look at it and at least think, "Hey, this might be a decent candidate for the manager to review, since they use to work together in the same capacity as would be now." But no. The manager later told me that she never even knew I'd applied (and before anyone comments, I'd already tried to contact her personally, but she was on vacation).

So, what's the deal HR people? Why do things like this happen? What more can I do to stand out in an applicant pool of 3 million? Anything? Nothing? I don't know...but, someone thinks they do: The Standout Job Candidate is an article that suggest tips on how not to get lost in HR neverland. Good luck!