>Hi John,
>
>I think that there are only a handful of companies where HR would actually involve (for a technical candidate particularly) somebody from the department where the vacancy actually occurred.
>
>If we check out the sort of tripe which comes out in ads, by and large, for hiring computer personnel very few actually specify and match the skill sets to the job profile. It just seems to me that people who design the ads profile the job requirements by getting a 'brief' from the 'techie', and then, add some computerese which they have picked up over a few beers.
>
>It would seem a lot of fannies need to be sore!
>
>Sanjay
>
>
>
>>Hi Len,
>>
>>>More than once I was in the position of not being able to employ highly qualified & very able people, because the "Human Resources" department said that their personality profile tests showed that they did not fit the company profile & I had to employ less able people.
>>
>>You are kidding me!
>>
>>What a loser company that is (was?). I can't understand companies that hire based on stuff peripheral to the job itself. I guess, to quote Pink Floyd, they look for "a club tie, the firm handshake...a sudden look in the eyes, an easy smile".
>>
>>Since I joined Microsoft last month, I find myself dealing with people (outside my team of course) that would be completely unhireable by conventional corporate standards but who kick ass here because they have a passion for what they do and are damned smart at doing it. And *that* is what contributes to the bottom line. Everything else is superfluous. Any hiring authority who doesn't understand that deserves a good swift kick in the tail.

Sanjay;

I agree - it seems these ads for technical personnel were written by Martians! The problem is you often have to go through the same person who wrote the ad through telephone conversation before "going to the next step". They also review your resume.

Here is a well known fact in Silicon Valley, which began about 11 years ago. A job will be posted in the news paper for a technical position. People will send in his/her resume. A scanner and software is used to check each resume and the following is accomplished:

1. Check key words
2. Check font size
3. Check font type

If the “corporate standard” has not been met – your resume is not accepted. We had the head of Sun Microsystems tell us this. They would get an average of 4000 resumes for one position. The advice we received was this: If you have a friend working at a large corporation in Silicon valley – have them check into whether or not this practice is used and find out the standards. This will improve your odds of getting an interview. There are many forms of this software in popular use by major companies. I am sure this is not limited to Silicon valley.

If you do get an interview then the fun begins! Now for .COM companies nothing like this was required. You only had to be a warm body and that qualified you. So in our area there are many “standards” in use to prohibit an individual from getting an interview while at the same time there may be “no” standard. We have it all!

Tom