In continuing what has been an ongoing theme here about the workplace, culture and the hiring process, I was directed to the following article that outline the frustrations of a young woman named Taylor Grey Meyer as she tried to secure a job with the San Diego Padres.
Here are some excerpts (Please note there is some harsh language):
Taylor Grey Meyer estimates that she applied for a job with the San Diego Padres at least 30 times since moving to Coronado, Calif. Initially, in the sales office; but as she was alternately rejected and ignored, she lowered her sights. This past March, she applied for a minimum-wage job selling tickets at Petco Park. This is what she heard back:
We want to thank you for your interest in the above mentioned position. We had many fine applicants for the position, including you. However, we have filled the position with someone whose background and credentials we feel best meet our needs at this time. We welcome you to apply for any future positions we have available that match your skills and experience.
Sincerely,
The Hiring Manager for the ?Ticket Seller ? San Diego Padres (San Diego, CA)?
MLB Baseball Jobs
It was after getting that latest in a series of rejection letters that she was sent the following:
On Sun, Aug 5, 2012 at 10:09 AM, wrote
Hi Taylor,
I wanted to reach out to you as you had previously applied for a position here with the Padres to join our Inside Sales Program. While it may not have been a fit at the time, we appreciate your interest in the position and encourage you to pursue your dream of working in professional sports.
With that being said, I wanted to make sure you are aware of an opportunity to get your start and to pursue a career in sports. Dr. Bill Sutton, author of Sports Marketing, has asked our organization to host the Sports Sales Combine here at Petco Park on September 14-15. It will be the first ever West Coast Combine! As a Combine attendee you would have the opportunity to spend quality time with the hiring managers for multiple teams from different leagues across the country.
The rest of it goes on to say that Taylor would have the privilege of being able to attend this combine just so long as she paid $495 to do so. Well that was the final straw for Taylor as she wrote the following back:
On Sun, Aug 5, 2012 at 11:56 AM, Taylor Grey Meyer wrote
Hi [Redacted],
I wanted to thank you for reaching out to me when thinking of ways to meet your quota for the Sports Sales Combine.
After careful review I must decline. I realize I may be burning a bridge here, but in the spirit of reciprocity, I would like to extend you a counter-offer to suck my dick. Clearly, I don?t have one of these, so my offer makes about as much sense as yours. But for the price you?re charging to attend the event, I?m sure I would have no problem borrowing one.
snip
Let?s talk about why I wasn?t a good fit with your organization. Was it my extensive education that made me less of a fit, that now paying $500 will allow me to overcome? My graduate work in sports commerce? Being a law student, working toward becoming an agent? Was it my past experience overseeing the execution of national and international events? Wait, I know, maybe it was my previous internship with Major League Soccer, and that I actually got my ?start? in professional sports at the age of 15 when I volunteered at a minor league ballpark in my hometown. And given all that, I chose to apply with the Padres, at least 30 times since moving to San Diego. Persevering through countless anonymous email rejections, I continued to submit my resume despite never even being granted the courtesy of a face-to-face interview. All for the joy of making $30K a year. Maybe you?re right. Maybe I?m not the best fit for your company. But here?s a nice fit, my foot in your ass.
All the best,
Taylor
Ouch.
Her frustration is understandable:
Meyer, 31, says she has been out of work for 10 months, and dropped out of law school in July because the loans simply weren?t enough to live on. She?s been sleeping on a friend?s couch since then, and applied to fast food restaurants and chain stores, only to be told she?s overqualified. (Perhaps her BA in psychology, from the University of South Florida, doesn?t help, though she claims she?s an internship shy of a master?s degree in sport and leisure commerce.) The Padres? invitation to the job fair was just the last straw.
In a sense, I can feel Taylor?s pain. For the last 2 months, I have been out of work. I haven?t been out of work for any length of time longer than a week or two since I was 17. I just turned 42 last week. A contract I had was summarily terminated in the beginning of June without warning and since the day I received that news I had been looking for work with zero luck.
I?ve lost count of how many times I have submitted my resume on job boards, to recruiters and directly on company websites.
I experienced some of the same frustrations as Taylor such as being rejected because was overqualified. And since I lack a degree, I was also rejected for despite being qualified for the position based on strictly on experience.
There are still too many businesses that say to their HR department, ?We need to hire a _________? and the hiring manager grabs the template they have for that position, fills in some details and posts it to CareerBuilder or Monster and then goes about filtering through the resumes, rejecting perfectly qualified candidates who may be the best thing they?ve ever passed up because they waiting for the ?perfect? candidate.
Perfect in that they match some preconceived notion of what a ?perfect? candidate is.
Thankfully for me, an opportunity presented itself for me to take a shot at a position. I was lucky enough to find somebody that didn?t put my resume through some arbitrary filter. As such I was offered, and have taken a position with Mr. Smith Media. I?ve already been working on some smaller projects and I can?t say how happy I have been to wake up in the morning and get to work instead of looking at job listings at Indeed.
Hopefully things work out for Taylor! And I hope even more that the hiring process in this country changes.
If you haven?t read Rework by the guys over at 37Signals.com, you should. They personify the new and better model for finding the right people for their team.
About Jay Caruso
I am a photographer and businessman living in the Atlanta, Georgia area. I can help with your company branding through the use of photography as well as SEO, social media marketing and business consulting.
Source: http://www.twelvestonescreative.com/broken-hiring/
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