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“Once upon a time we were just plain people. But that was before we began having relationships with mechanical systems. Get involved with a machine and sooner or later you are reduced to a factor.”
While published in The Washington Post in 1987, well before the proliferation of the Internet, these words penned by Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist Ellen Goodhead more than adequately describe my growing frustration with online job applications.
A running joke with those who know me is that I am a senior citizen in disguise, as I generally dislike most new technologies, instead preferring tried and true methods of communicating. While I may not have a Twitter account or a smart phone, I’m sure those of you who do can relate to the problems I’ve encountered when computers are so deeply intertwined with the hiring processes of the human relations department.
True to form as an adherent to the old school, I take my application packet very seriously: I buy the too-expensive résumé paper and make sure to sign my cover letters with blue ink in order to differentiate it from the black of the printer. My cover letters are all personally tailored to the specific details listed by the employer, and I take pride in my ability to sell my personal brand through my writing.
Time and again, however, the computer program used to complete an online application asks for all of this information separately, instructing me to enter my employment and education history into an electronic form as if I were applying for auto insurance and providing a space at the very end to attach any documents.
When the documents I have taken time and care to put together are relegated to the status of a footnote, I am left wondering if the hiring director takes the same time and care when reviewing my application or if they quickly find their way to the circular file.
It’s not uncommon for me to make at least one phone call to try to speak with someone at the company when I’m particularly excited about an open position, but here again the online application has cut off what I view as a crucial tactic in the hunt for a job.
Whether I’m asking questions about the exact position or trying to score an off-the-cuff conversation with the individual in charge of hiring, I almost always find some value in those five minutes on the phone. But when it’s HAL 2000 taking my call, all of the personality and charm in the world won’t make any difference.
Proponents of the online system may claim that by cutting off the applicant from the Great Decider, the process becomes much more fair as it is based on credentials alone. But I view the time I put into tracking down and contacting the relevant individuals as extra credit, my way of letting a potential employer know that I am willing to put in more effort that the competition. After all, I’m not the only one who can call up John Q. Executive to ask about his open position, but I may be the only one who actually does, and I feel that taking the initiative in this way says far more about my capabilities as an employee than where I went to school or the relatively minor jobs I had during high school.
While I may not be able to find someone to call as a follow-up to my résumé, in my experience with the jobs I have electronically applied for, the corresponding companies certainly find the time to contact me. Every day when I open FirstClass, I find at least one e-mail from a number of companies I have applied for jobs with. I’m still waiting to hear about the job I actually applied for, but so it goes.
What I’m really getting at is the dehumanization of the human relations department. By filling out an electronic form letter with my information and waiting patiently for any sign of action from the other side, I feel more like a kid watching the mailbox for my comic book coupon X-ray specs than a potential employee.
And while these may just seem like petty, nitpicky criticisms that amount to very little in the long run, the number of recent graduates who are unable to find work has me convinced that we can use every bit of help we can get.
Rob Stigile is a fourth-year journalism student. He is the News Editor for The Maine Campus
