Dear Taleo;
I hate to say it, but we can not go on this way. I know you are sincere in your desire to bring me great joy. No doubt it’s not just about the money, and it’s not like you judge me when I create yet another log-in at yet another company’s sub-directory on your site. You provide a legal service, and if there wasn’t both supply and demand you would move on to something else.
It’s not personal. it’s just that you are the largest company to offer automated resume-parsing and ‘gatekeeper’ function for corporate Human Relations Departments. Or at least, the one most used by companies who’s job postings attract me. But just as the prettiest boy at the bar might not be the best person to let into my heart, your abundant presence on-line means only that you are popular.
No longer will I create a new account, upload my resume, and then spend far too long re-working your software’s guess on how to fit my round data points into your square fields. Job interviews are often demoralizing, but automated resume parsers are down-right dehumanizing.
Now that I’m almost 60 (although my resume doesn’t show my exact age, my work experience hints at it) the likelihood of my being offered a well-paid, highly challenging, position is approaching lottery-winning odds. It has now been eight years since I was laid off from a 12 year career; years filled with various jobs supplementing my minimal income from various self-employment projects. While I have not given up on the theoretical possibility of finding someone, an enterprise that will appreciate all the experience and knowledge I have, I understand that companies don’t know how to fit me into their paradigm.
I can not honestly say that there’s no bitterness; I am still a ‘bleeding-heart liberal’ who believes in the ideal of liberty and justice for all that the late Senator Kennedy spoke of. Not yet achieving that hurts. Seeing my fellow humans suffering from poverty and other forms of injustice will never sit well. However, I long ago learned that the bitterness subsides when I am able to be creative, loving, hopeful and optimistic.
My search for a new, fulfilling career continues. It would have been great if you could have adapted your system to me, but that is not to be. Perhaps that is actually for the best; your system is a reflection of how the companies you represent approach their employee search. I am better off working for a restaurant order delivery ap (with time for my art, family and friends, SF.CA queer ministry and Guncle Tarot) until the time is right.
With appreciation for days past,
Brian
Related Posts:
Corporate Fundamentalism;
Fight For 15;
Trickle-Down Economics.
