The hiring "system" has never been perfect. Historically, managers have chosen their new employees in a variety of unscientific ways: gut reaction, a family member, the boss’s nephew, new grad who said just the right thing in the interview. I had a manager at Xerox who preferred former football players, like him, as newbies on his team -- which kind of left out all the women candidates.
In our more diverse world, today more companies are choosing teams the better reflect their customers’ profiles so they can better meet their
customers’ needs
. It’s common sense for a business to operate this way.
But with impersonal methodologies like ATSs (applicant tracking systems), social media, keywords and profiles, many great candidates, like new military veterans for example, who don’t know these tools can get left out of the running without knowing why. It’s just dumb that companies don’t use a more personal method to find people for their teams. After all, who you hire helps determine
the success of the company.
It’s been my philosophy that no one person can change "the system", but they
can
do a smart search that helps them overcome such hurdles. That’s what you, the candidate, have control over; you
don’t
have control over corporate hiring technologies or philosophies, broken or otherwise.
Focus on
you
in your search, not on weeping and gnashing of teeth over "the system", or your resentment will leak through. (See my blog
about older candidate "whining", here.)
So let it go.
And instead, focus on:
- networking instead of sending out a ton of resumes
- meeting new people
- getting out of the house
- calling people on LinkedIn who are at your target companies
- on practicing the telling of your success stories
- on volunteering where your next manager volunteers, so you can meet her way before the interview
In the end, it’s
these
efforts on your own behalf that will work.
Besides:
Who will take care of your search if you don't?
