I received an email today about a job. I get them every so often – usually from agencies, but not on this occasion. This time it was from the HR department of the recruiting company. The job, I am told, is an exciting opportunity and:
…and your skill set looks excellent for this role.
Sigh… If this person had read either the job specification he was linking to or my CV (preferably both), that he claims to have found, then he would realise that they do not match – an exercise that took me all of two seconds. Nowhere on my CV does it state that I have either experience of, or qualification in, railway engineering, which a prerequisite for the role (actually, I didn’t even need to read the job specification to realise this – the title and the recruiting company made it clear). Consequently, I do not meet the minimum competence requirements so will waste neither my time nor theirs in applying. So why do they waste their time and mine asking me to apply?
My response was perfunctory to say the least…
Exactly the reason I sent a rather explicit “resignation” letter to “Stepstone” and other “on line” job agencys.
Along the lines of “Where the FUCK on my CV do you get the idea from, that I am suited to run the vehicle buying department of Shell/BP Belgium????” or “manage the personel department of British airways”?
Apparantly, these were SERIOUS “job offers, tailored to my C.V”!!!
I went to an interview for a similar role a few yeas back on the behest of an agency. I asked the panel why they were interviewing me given that my CV didn’t state the minimum requirements. They said, straight faced, that I might have accidentally left it off.
No they don’t. Today’s was addressed to “Dear Plum” (let’s just say I’m not a character out of Cluedo and their automatic parsing of an old CV is less than brilliant), and no I’m not interested in traveling from the SouthWest back to London for less money.
Funny that.
They send on the strength of the least whiff of being in the area. I get these too.