Rejected for a job you didn't apply for? Online job boards may be to blame

Q: A year ago I posted my resume on three employment Web sites. I'm befuddled by all the employers who send me rejection letters for jobs I never applied for! My resume states I'm looking for contract work and won't relocate, but these companies send letters implying I want a permanent job in another part of the country. Clearly, they are just plucking my resume off the Internet. No harm done since I'm being turned down for jobs I don't want anyway, but don't you think this is bad PR on the part of the personnel departments?

NICK'S REPLY: I sure do, but those personnel departments don't seem to care. Last year, companies spent almost a billion dollars on the biggest online job boards but made only about 3 percent of new hires there. (Smaller job boards perform better, as do ads in local newspapers.) But where do the rejection letters come from?

Companies pay to download resumes in bulk from these sites. The resumes are processed electronically, no one reads them, and the silliness is revealed. The rejections you receive are probably automated. You don't know who has your resume and they often don't know where they got it. I'd like to offer some comments to the various folks this affects:

To job hunters who apply through company personnel departments: These are the brain trusts who decide whether you will ever meet a manager.

To job hunters who don't want their current employers to know they're "looking": It's wake-up time. Do you know where your resume is? Has a job board sold it to your own boss?

To vendors of resume-processing software used by employers: Is this a bug, or a feature of your software?

To CEOs: Is your HR department's mission to thoughtfully recruit good people, or to mindlessly scan resumes like so many soup cans through the grocery store checkout?

To boards of directors: Is your personnel department wasting investors' money on recruitment software that makes you look bad?

Thanks for sharing this unfortunate artifact of America's employment system. Ah, I feel better now.

THE HEADHUNTER TIP:

Don't get fired on day No. 1

The company gave you a great offer. What's not to like? On day No. 1 on the job: 1. You may have to produce a pay stub from your last job. Rather not? That might be grounds for termination. 2. You may have to sign a restrictive non-compete agreement. Rather not? Empty your desk. 3. The employee manual, which lots of companies won't give you until your first day, may require you to turn over all your sales accounts (that you brought with you) to another sales rep. Rather not? See ya later. Your written job offer didn't mention any of this? Too bad. You didn't ask. So, ask. Is there a non-compete? Is psychological testing required upon hire? Must you deliver a pay stub? Whether you realize it now or too late, all this might be part of that great offer. Don't get fired on day No. 1.

Copyright 2009. Distributed by Universal Press Syndicate

Nick Corcodilos is author of "Ask The Headhunter: Reinventing the Interview to Win the Job" and the host of www.asktheheadhunter.com. He can be reached by e-mail at seattle@asktheheadhunter.com or at North Bridge Group, P.O. Box 600, Lebanon, NJ 08833. Sorry, no personal replies.