I got tired of my "online resumes" not ever making the "hiring firewall". In networking, a firewall is a software means by which a hacker "hits a brick wall" so-to-speak, when he attempts to infiltrate your network. It's a "safe system" that protects your inner network - your LAN, from would-be attackers on the outside - the WAN. (LAN=local area network, WAN=wide area network) Another networking term you'll hear is the "DMZ", a term taken from the Korean war days which refers to an Internet connection that is "unprotected". The "firewall" is the system that protects or stands in between your LAN and the folks who'd like to get into your system on the outside WAN. 'Nuff about networking education now.
When you apply online, you are now (in almost all cases) required to basically re-create your entire resume, from scratch, on the website. This format usually forces you to conform to the "chronological order resume" format - your jobs are listed in most recent first, and so on.
Now this works fine for folks who are gainfully employed, but if you've had to 'step out' of your career field and take on a "put food-on-the-table job", your resume could be set up for trouble!
For example: Let's say you are a computer guy - like me. You've worked in computer consulting and you have a lucrative business in support various large companies and working for various contractors who "sub" you out. In a nutshell, you're "doing good"!
Then 9-1-1 hits! Now, all of a sudden, IT folks (like yourself) who are full-time employed are being laid off! They in desperation begin to use their skills in the free-lance consulting field (YOUR field) to make ends meet. The results? Your market is now "flooded" with IT folks! YOU can't find work now - you have to compete with all the rest! So, you take an 'alternative' job. I'm not talking about a gay job, folks - c'mon! An alternative job meaning that you are working at something "different" ... something "NOT" in the IT field. You become a Real Estate agent, or a NEXTEL Sales Manager. And, as a result, your family continues to eat. Good, right?
But your resume, if you use the chronological format, is now going to show your most recent history as those "put food-on-the-table" jobs as your most recent employment, indicating to a search engine that you don't have the recent experience that they are looking for. As a result, you get passed by! YOU have just hit the "hiring firewall".
You see, your resume NEVER, EVER gets seen by a human being! The "filters" they use go through the resumes and in some cases even produce for them hard-copies to refer to, but these are of the chronological order - NOT your format you WANTED to submit! As a result, you don't make the cut! You - never - get - an - interview!
I got tired of this, so I recently prepared my resume in "my" format. I've put this one before folks who were execs, not looking mind you, but interested enough after seeing it that they wanted to talk to me! (even though they're not hiring!) I took "that" resume, and a chronological employment listing as an addendum, and a list of referrals to boot! I put all of these in a neatly paper-clipped format, and headed out!
I wore regular jeans, a fairly nice shirt, and an earpiece with cord, attached to my phone. I carried a clipboard, and I entered these big companies front doors. Normally, if I were the applicant, they'd refer me to the website to submit my resume and that'd be the end of it! Ah, but today, I'm not an applicant - I'm a "courier"!
I would approach the desk with a line something like, "Sir, I'm supposed to deliver this here ... your HR folks are expecting it ... something about an IT position ... I'm not really sure, I'm just the delivery guy." And the sweet sound of their response, "Oh, thank you sir! HR you say? I'll interoffice it right over." And "that" is how I overcome the "hiring firewall". I leave the building and head out for the next business. You've got to sow a lot of seed to get a harvest!
In the Old West days:
I'd put on a nice clean shirt, dust off my hat, and head into town. With clean hands and a smile, I'd waltz right in an introduce myself and the interview would begin.
I realize as big as we've become in some businesses that the scenario I just mentioned might not be feasible, but what about the HR department? What about the "hiring firewall"? Why do we have to be so "anti-social" in our hiring processes? HR, and dealing with HR, has moved from the original intent of "protecting individual rights and protecting the company" to a polite and politically correct way of being rude ... but we dont' say rude, we say "nothing person - just business".
When an accusation, for instance, is made against a worker by a customer, a formal inquiry is begun! I'm not talking a quick, "come in and let's talk" session where your boss asks what happened, you explain, and the problem is remedied. No, now it's more like an inquest ... a legal proceeding, where unless you are found flawlessly innocent, you are now guilty and we'll prove it somehow, given the time!
Whatever happened to honor? Whatever happened to the "human factor"? I urge you, if you are in the HR circles in your business, begin to ask yourself these questions. And take those dog gone blinders off of your eyes while you're at it!! Just because your boss said it's right doesn't mean it's right! Use your own common sense ... use the still small voice that God placed in your heart ... and ask yourself, "Is this the right thing to do?" Be careful, though ... you may be shocked when you take an honest look at how heartless and unfeeling you've become ... in the interest of being "politically correct" and following "corporate policy".
In the Old West, a man's honor was not for sale! Is yours? If I am ever in a position to have a large company, there will NOT be an "HR department" if I can help it! I think that the boss, the manager, the supervisor, over a particular department, should do the interviewing, hiring and firing for that department. I think that applicants should be allowed a chance to have their resume's at least 'seen' by the eye of a living, breathing human being. And I believe that if you don't think that I am doing the job right, you should have the backbone ... the sheer guts to look me in the eye and tell me so! Don't send some flunkie form HR down for a "exit interview".
In the Old West days, a boss had the backbone to talk to his people, face-to-face. He told them when they weren't doing right. He worked with them, and they worked together, and made it work! You appreciated your job, because you knew when you were appreciated! And you didn't have to run it by HR to see if you could have permission to give an employee a little something extra for a job well done!
Now you know the difference ... go out there and make a change!
Make me proud!
