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From Resume Spam To Missed Job Opportunities
from the filtering-troubles dept
There have been complaints in the past about resume spam - where people either would randomly email out hundreds of resumes with no sense of targeting, or in response to a single job opening, an HR department would get bombarded with resumes. However, as spam filters become more common, this is leading to a different type of problem: legitimate resumes getting caught in spam filters. Whereas, in the past, people would try to put certain keywords into their resumes so that automated sorting technology would highlight their resumes, now people are trying to avoid certain words to keep their resumes from getting hung up (imagine how difficult it must be for anyone who worked on the product Viagra - a success story by any criteria - to get his or her resume into the hands of a new potential employer). Of course, this actually seems like a case where challenge-response could solve the problem. In announcing a specific job opening, perhaps it makes sense to set up a challenge-response email address for that particular opening. This would also let the company provide additional "are you sure you're appropriate for this job" type of warnings before the applicant submitted their resume.
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Resume effectiveness
Of course, 95% of jobs are filled via personal contacts within companies. If you are trying to get the job by e-mailing the HR department, you are already a step behind. I receive e-mail that is sent to the "info@companyname.com" address and am surprised how many unsolicited resumes come in.
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Writer missed the point
I was one of the people interviewed for the article, and while the writer didn't misrepresent me, I thought he missed the larger point I made in my original post, which was: Email has evolved in a very short period of time (~10 years) to become a critical means of business communication, similar to the rise of the telegraph in the second half of the 1800s. However, the measures being used to combat the rising flood of spam are now threatening email, because they make email unreliable. It used to be that when you sent email, it either got to its destination, or it bounced. Now there is a significant possibility that an email will simply disappear into the black hole of spam filters, with no notification to sender or intended recipient. That's not good enough for business use.
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