job-stalking, er, i mean, hunting (and why HR pros don't want you to have their email address)

a while back, i wrote about how when one is looking for a job: desperation is a turn-off. well, as long as i'm out of HR and spilling their secrets, let me tell you why an HR pro generally does not put their own email on those job ads.

first of all, if your job search is mainly focused on answering the want ads, get a career advisor or counselor quick. while some jobs are found through ads, there are a lot of ways jobs get filled. you need to widen your net and change your strategy.

but back to answering ads. HR often will have a candidate forward their resume to an email account setup specifically for resumes and maybe even specifically for that job. this might be something like HR@companyname.com or "salesengineer@companyname.com." the first, and hopefully obvious, reason for this is that managing internal company email is hard enough. add thousands of resumes coming in to that, and something will most definitely get missed. so, it's simply a matter of better organizing the workload by separating accounts this way.

but then there's this:
i hate to be the one to tell you this, but you may not actually be the perfect candidate for a particular job at a particular company. the problem comes in to play when you're absolutely convinced that you are and that it's just the stupid HR gate-keeper who can't see how fabulous you are from your resume.

you might be great. you might have similar experience. but we might have received twelve resumes who appear to be a better fit than you are, for one reason or another, and we're focused on getting them in to talk to us.

then again, you might not be as great as you think you are. and if you have my business email and extension and start repeatedly calling and emailing, especially after we did send that nice letter telling you we're considering other candidates, and you begin to get more and more frustrated and taking it out on me...well...why would i want to deal with that? (and yes, people can get pretty rude when they're convinced they are the stellar candidate and we just don't get it.)

and see, HR pros actually have a lot to do. this is especially true if they're generalists. you don't know how many positions they're filling, how many candidates they're trying to schedule, what training programs they're developing, if they're in re-negotiation time for benefits contracts. all while trying to improve "employee engagement," deal with all kinds of employee complaints, and of course, handle those pesky little disciplinary issues.

can you imagine if every candidate out there had that HR person's email and phone number? and expected them to return absolutely every last call? seriously. there's just a matter of sheer volume here that would prevent this person from being able to do anything else at all.

HR people know that searching for a job is not fun and can be a grueling process. but being demanding and trying to pressure the one you see as 'the gate-keeper' only makes you come across as arrogant and difficult.

and that, most definitely, will keep you from getting in the door.
all the best!
deb

Comments

[HR Wench]

Desparation is pretty much an all around turn off I think, no matter the situation.

Thanks for spilling the beans on this HR secret so eloquently!

[laurie ruettimann]

The line between 'eager' and 'desperate' is so fine. Ugh. I hate looking for a job.

[east bremerton florist]

thanks, this would really help me out when i look for a job next fall!

[Lisa]

At my last job as an HR generalist, my name, phone extension AND email were right on the website. How I hated it...but my boss was resistant to remove/ change the info.

Now that I am currently job hunting, it's always in my mind how it felt to bear the brunt of all those emails, calls, etc. It's such a fine line between conscientious and a Pain in the Ass.

[deb]

ha! that was funny, lisa. the line is thin, isn't it? people need to learn where it's drawn.
;-)

all the best!
deb

[Susan Joyce]

Good, solid contact information is very important to have on job postings, particularly on sites like Craigslist and other smaller sites. It helps separate the real jobs from the scams. The scams have "recruiter" contact information like - HRspecialist123456@hotmail.com - even though the job is supposed to be at the Acme Widget Company. It can be "recruiter@acmewidget.com" but it needs to be real and connected to the purported employer or I don't trust it.

[deb]

i'm with ya on this one, susan. sure. that hotmail account **might** be an independent recruiter just starting their business. but a domain name with email isn't all that expensive to set up. so at the very least, one could have "jobs@imarecruiter.com" or something similar.

all the best!
deb