I really wish I could get this message through to every recruiter in the world.
1) If a job requires ANY work experience a job with the same requirements/title, it isn’t entry-level.
2) If a job requires experience with software that isn’t accessible to 99.9% of the people in this world unless they’ve worked with it in a prior job, it isn’t entry-level. It’s reasonable to expect competence with common applications like Microsoft Office, email programs, and web browsers. It is not reasonable to expect that an entry-level help desk person will have used Remedy, or that an entry-level QA person will have used the Mercury or Rational Rose suites, or that an entry-level tech writer will already know RoboHelp and Framemaker.
3) Junior means someone with some experience, but not a great deal of experience. A junior QA person would probably have a year of experience in the field, two years at the most, and none of it in a supervisory capacity. Asking for five years of experience in the field for a junior position is a message to applicants indicating that you simply don’t want to pay what that five years of experience are worth.
4) When asking for X years of experience with a particular application, make sure it has actually existed that long. You look terribly stupid when you demand five years of experience using and supporting WindowsXP.
5) Specifying typing speed for a tech writing job makes it look suspiciously as if you’re looking for a glorified secretary. The two jobs are very different.
6) Listing jobs that require relocation to Seattle or DC in the Atlanta job database is simply stupid. Put them in the Seattle and DC databases, since that is where people who want to work in those areas would be looking. The fact that YOUR office is in Atlanta is irrelevant.
7) Take the time to figure out what those words you’re throwing around actually mean. If you run across something you don’t understand in a résumé or a job listing, ask the applicant or employer, or do a quick web search. The fact that you haven’t heard of Segue Silk Suite doesn’t mean you should ignore that experience on a résumé, especially when you are seeking people with experience in automated testing. You’ll be able to do a much better job of matching people and employers that way.
8) When giving someone a quiz, use multiple-choice questions. If you can’t, then you need to know what the heck the questions and answers mean or delegate the task to someone who does. Otherwise, it’s all too likely that you won’t recognize a correct answer when it’s given simply because the applicant used different vocabulary than what you have written down and you don’t know enough to figure that out.
I really did like it better when most companies did their own hiring rather than using recruiters.
