Resume Writer
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- Joined
- Feb 7, 2004
- Posts
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Hi Everyone,
Well, I just finished with the HR Forum that I wrote about in an earlier post. We had a great turnout - 35 people from every aspect of HR. We had some very interesting answers to the questions I asked. I am going to post below the questions and then the answers to them for you to read. While they may not be specifically aviation related, the general nature of the questions may prove helpful.
Please understand that these questions and the answers that follow are DIRECTLY from HR Managers. If you do not like the answers - please do not shoot the messenger. (me) I am just reporting what was told to me.
Electronic Job Board Questions
Q. What percentage of positions do you post on the internet?
A. 90-100%
Q. Do you utilize job boards in addition to company websites for recruitment?
A. Yes, although they said that they used the job boards more frequently to attract a larger pool of candidates.
Q. Do you post your position on just one job board or do you post on several job boards?
A. Most said that they use more than one job board, but some preferred to only use local job boards as they were getting too many candidates from outside the area.
Q. Do you participate in purchasing database searches from job boards or do you typically post an advertisement?
A. Most said they typically posted an advertisement, but if they were looking for someone with a certain specialty, they would pay for a database search rather than putting an ad on the job boards.
Q. What is the average number of responses you get from a typical employment advertisement?
A. Between 200-500, sometimes more, depending on the position. They said additionally that most people were not qualified for the position, as the candidates did not READ the job posting thoroughly. Those were immediately eliminated.
Q. What happens to the resumes once you receive them? Are they printed out and filed or put into a database?
A. Some of them said that they printed them out and read everyone of them (especially the people from the City of Phoenix recruitment department) to see if the candidates matched the position requirements. Others said that they were scanned into a database.
Q. How many candidates are generally selected from the initial pool of candidates?
A. The average answer was 12, some as high as 20 and others as low as 5
Q. How many candidates do you interview for the second or final interview?
A. Average answer was 5, as low as 3 and high as 10
Q. How does your company follow-up with applicants for:
1) the initial application?
2) after the first interview?
3) after the final interview?
A.
1) initial - most said that they respond with a card or an email receipt.
2) first interview - they said that they respond with a letter saying that they did not get the position, but invite them to apply again.
3) final interview - they said they respond to all candidates
***interesting side note - they said that they do not let all 1st interview candidates know that they have made the cut until they interview the top choices in case they end up with duds.
General Questions on Resumes and Cover Letters
Q. What is the first thing you look for on an applicants resume?
A. They said they look for skill matches first to their ad, then they look at dates of employment. They said if you job hop, you should have a good explanation of why. (I personally do not see this as a problem in aviation, because everyone moves quite a lot to gain hours and experience)
Q. Are cover letters an absolute must to accompany a resume?
A. An absolute must, especially if they ask for one. Cover letters no more than 3-4 paragraphs. They also said that if they are looking at your resume and have a question, they refer back to the cover letter to see if there is an explanation.
Q. Do you read the cover letters?
A. Yes, but not if it is too long, they do not have the time.
Q. What about an individual who has been unemployed for some time? Should they explain the reason for this in the cover letter?
A. They do not discriminate against this because of the economy the way it is right now. Yes, explain the reason in the cover letter.
Q. How do you feel about cell phone or company numbers on resumes? What about email addresses?
A. Do not use company email or phone numbers. Use a home phone if possible - but ONLY if you can get a reliable message. No stupid messages on voice mail (like a long Van Halen song or your child's voice on the message). They said it was a turnoff.
*** side note to this - one woman shared a story about a job seeker getting 2 phone calls in an interview and making an outbound call - needless to say, the interview ended!!
References
Q. How many references do you want an applicant to provide?
A. Most said a minimum of 3, some said as high as 5
Q. How many actual references do you contact?
A. Most said that they contacted all references and some said as few as one.
Q. How often do you contact the former employers on the application?
A. Once again, a mixed bag on this question. Some said they contacted every one. Others said that they only contacted the last few. We all know aviation is different.
Q. What if a candidate does not want you to contact a current employer? Is that a red flag?
A. They said they do not contact a current employer unless there was a job offer. The job offer was contingent on the background checks. Some said it was a red flag. (I gently reminded them that people have to feed their families and that is why they do not want the employer contacted until there was a solid job offer. Most said they contacted HR)
Q. When contacting a current employer, what questions do you ask about the candidate?
A. This was interesting. They said that they asked any questions they felt they could get answers to. They said if it was offered on the other end, they would take the answers. (I would suggest ONLY putting HR as a contact, not your direct supervisor on an application, as HR people know better what to answer.)
Q. Have you increased background checks on employees since 9/11?
A. Yes, but it depended on the position. Sensitive areas definately.
Q. What kind of background checks do you conduct? Credit checks?
A. Most said that they did FBI, fingerprint and some said they did credit checks if the position was one that required it. (for instance, defense contractors do a credit check because if you are in a top secret area, they do not want to think you will sell secrets to get out of debt)
General Interview Questions
Q. Do you tend to hire more for skillset or personality?
A. Most said they hire for personality and fit with the company. They said they assume you have the qualifications and will check that out in the employer background check.
Q. When candidates are asked what goals they have in 5 or 10 years, what are you looking for?
A. They said that they were looking for something that was more original then the standard answer of "advancement." They wanted to know that you did some research on the company and had ideas of where you might want to go within their company.
Q. What percentage of questions are general, situational and behavioral?
A. They said that the situational and behavioral questions were about 90% of their interview. They said to make sure that you come with examples of times where you solved problems, etc.
Q. How many times should someone contact you if you are playing phone tag with them?
A. Some said no more than twice per week. Others said that if they call you and leave a message, call them back. If you get a voicemail for them, leave a message. HOWEVER, do not continually leave messages. One HR person said that a gentleman left him 10 voicemails within a 2 day period.
Those were all the questions we had time for. I hope that perhaps this has shed some light for all of you.
Kathy
Well, I just finished with the HR Forum that I wrote about in an earlier post. We had a great turnout - 35 people from every aspect of HR. We had some very interesting answers to the questions I asked. I am going to post below the questions and then the answers to them for you to read. While they may not be specifically aviation related, the general nature of the questions may prove helpful.
Please understand that these questions and the answers that follow are DIRECTLY from HR Managers. If you do not like the answers - please do not shoot the messenger. (me) I am just reporting what was told to me.
Electronic Job Board Questions
Q. What percentage of positions do you post on the internet?
A. 90-100%
Q. Do you utilize job boards in addition to company websites for recruitment?
A. Yes, although they said that they used the job boards more frequently to attract a larger pool of candidates.
Q. Do you post your position on just one job board or do you post on several job boards?
A. Most said that they use more than one job board, but some preferred to only use local job boards as they were getting too many candidates from outside the area.
Q. Do you participate in purchasing database searches from job boards or do you typically post an advertisement?
A. Most said they typically posted an advertisement, but if they were looking for someone with a certain specialty, they would pay for a database search rather than putting an ad on the job boards.
Q. What is the average number of responses you get from a typical employment advertisement?
A. Between 200-500, sometimes more, depending on the position. They said additionally that most people were not qualified for the position, as the candidates did not READ the job posting thoroughly. Those were immediately eliminated.
Q. What happens to the resumes once you receive them? Are they printed out and filed or put into a database?
A. Some of them said that they printed them out and read everyone of them (especially the people from the City of Phoenix recruitment department) to see if the candidates matched the position requirements. Others said that they were scanned into a database.
Q. How many candidates are generally selected from the initial pool of candidates?
A. The average answer was 12, some as high as 20 and others as low as 5
Q. How many candidates do you interview for the second or final interview?
A. Average answer was 5, as low as 3 and high as 10
Q. How does your company follow-up with applicants for:
1) the initial application?
2) after the first interview?
3) after the final interview?
A.
1) initial - most said that they respond with a card or an email receipt.
2) first interview - they said that they respond with a letter saying that they did not get the position, but invite them to apply again.
3) final interview - they said they respond to all candidates
***interesting side note - they said that they do not let all 1st interview candidates know that they have made the cut until they interview the top choices in case they end up with duds.
General Questions on Resumes and Cover Letters
Q. What is the first thing you look for on an applicants resume?
A. They said they look for skill matches first to their ad, then they look at dates of employment. They said if you job hop, you should have a good explanation of why. (I personally do not see this as a problem in aviation, because everyone moves quite a lot to gain hours and experience)
Q. Are cover letters an absolute must to accompany a resume?
A. An absolute must, especially if they ask for one. Cover letters no more than 3-4 paragraphs. They also said that if they are looking at your resume and have a question, they refer back to the cover letter to see if there is an explanation.
Q. Do you read the cover letters?
A. Yes, but not if it is too long, they do not have the time.
Q. What about an individual who has been unemployed for some time? Should they explain the reason for this in the cover letter?
A. They do not discriminate against this because of the economy the way it is right now. Yes, explain the reason in the cover letter.
Q. How do you feel about cell phone or company numbers on resumes? What about email addresses?
A. Do not use company email or phone numbers. Use a home phone if possible - but ONLY if you can get a reliable message. No stupid messages on voice mail (like a long Van Halen song or your child's voice on the message). They said it was a turnoff.
*** side note to this - one woman shared a story about a job seeker getting 2 phone calls in an interview and making an outbound call - needless to say, the interview ended!!
References
Q. How many references do you want an applicant to provide?
A. Most said a minimum of 3, some said as high as 5
Q. How many actual references do you contact?
A. Most said that they contacted all references and some said as few as one.
Q. How often do you contact the former employers on the application?
A. Once again, a mixed bag on this question. Some said they contacted every one. Others said that they only contacted the last few. We all know aviation is different.
Q. What if a candidate does not want you to contact a current employer? Is that a red flag?
A. They said they do not contact a current employer unless there was a job offer. The job offer was contingent on the background checks. Some said it was a red flag. (I gently reminded them that people have to feed their families and that is why they do not want the employer contacted until there was a solid job offer. Most said they contacted HR)
Q. When contacting a current employer, what questions do you ask about the candidate?
A. This was interesting. They said that they asked any questions they felt they could get answers to. They said if it was offered on the other end, they would take the answers. (I would suggest ONLY putting HR as a contact, not your direct supervisor on an application, as HR people know better what to answer.)
Q. Have you increased background checks on employees since 9/11?
A. Yes, but it depended on the position. Sensitive areas definately.
Q. What kind of background checks do you conduct? Credit checks?
A. Most said that they did FBI, fingerprint and some said they did credit checks if the position was one that required it. (for instance, defense contractors do a credit check because if you are in a top secret area, they do not want to think you will sell secrets to get out of debt)
General Interview Questions
Q. Do you tend to hire more for skillset or personality?
A. Most said they hire for personality and fit with the company. They said they assume you have the qualifications and will check that out in the employer background check.
Q. When candidates are asked what goals they have in 5 or 10 years, what are you looking for?
A. They said that they were looking for something that was more original then the standard answer of "advancement." They wanted to know that you did some research on the company and had ideas of where you might want to go within their company.
Q. What percentage of questions are general, situational and behavioral?
A. They said that the situational and behavioral questions were about 90% of their interview. They said to make sure that you come with examples of times where you solved problems, etc.
Q. How many times should someone contact you if you are playing phone tag with them?
A. Some said no more than twice per week. Others said that if they call you and leave a message, call them back. If you get a voicemail for them, leave a message. HOWEVER, do not continually leave messages. One HR person said that a gentleman left him 10 voicemails within a 2 day period.
Those were all the questions we had time for. I hope that perhaps this has shed some light for all of you.
Kathy
