Dave2--Pass the People Skills, Please!!

I got a call today from--allegedly--a prospective employer. The lady said that the company had seen my resume on the online website where I posted it, and she had a few questions. Her first question was, "Do you currently have any licenses?" Now, my resume--updated less than 10 days ago--clearly states that I am currently licensed in 28 states for a particular function.

So the lady seemed rather shocked when my reply was, "Apparently you HAVEN'T read my resume," and I hung up. Because either she HAD read my resume and was attempting to insult my intelligence, or she HADN'T read my resume and was a baldfaced liar. In either case, I don't believe I really WANT to work for folks who will either insult my intelligence or lie to me.

Maybe I just need some lessons on them thar "people skills" that Dave2 keeps talking about...

It is possible that a person at that company reads the information on the web resumes and takes down the contact information and passes it on to a different person who contacts the potential employee. The second one asked what are called "Screening Questions", which would obviously include licenses. It could be legitimate.

It's also possible they are testing you. With so many people exaggerating their resumes, it would be an easy way to see if the person actually knew what was on their resume. In a lot of interviews, the people conducting the interview don't even have a copy of your resume and have never read it. They were just told to interview you. I guess it depends on a few factors but the biggest one is how bad you want a job.

I'm 57 years old...and I have little patience for people intentionally wasting my time. If they haven't read my resume, why can't they just be honest with me and say so? After all, they're expecting ME to be honest with THEM, and I should be entitled to reciprocity.

I'm NOT some wet-behind-the-ears kid who thinks he can lie and it won't be discovered. Everything on my resume is true, because a) at my age, I'm too damn lazy to make up a good lie just to impress someone, b) at my age, I'm too forgetful to keep up with keeping lies straight, so it's easier to tell the truth, and c) I was raised with a fairly good sense of right and wrong. Besides, they can just contact my ex-employers and my references and get the truth, so I have no motivation to lie [I'm not applying for any $100,000 a year and up jobs that MIGHT be "worth" lying for, in the eyes of some people]. And I'm not claiming to have found a cure for cancer--or even diarrhea; I'm just claiming that I worked certain places during certain time frames, and performed certain tasks while employed there...and these claims are easily verified.

I just think that the way this beginning of a phone interview was handled showed a LACK of respect for me. OK, so you might say I haven't earned any respect from them; again, I see that as a 2-way street. If they start out by showing me no respect, their expectations of respect in return should be quite low as well.

I'm 57 years old...and I have little patience for people intentionally wasting my time. If they haven't read my resume, why can't they just be honest with me and say so? After all, they're expecting ME to be honest with THEM, and I should be entitled to reciprocity.

I'm NOT some wet-behind-the-ears kid who thinks he can lie and it won't be discovered. Everything on my resume is true, because a) at my age, I'm too damn lazy to make up a good lie just to impress someone, b) at my age, I'm too forgetful to keep up with keeping lies straight, so it's easier to tell the truth, and c) I was raised with a fairly good sense of right and wrong. Besides, they can just contact my ex-employers and my references and get the truth, so I have no motivation to lie [I'm not applying for any $100,000 a year and up jobs that MIGHT be "worth" lying for, in the eyes of some people]. And I'm not claiming to have found a cure for cancer--or even diarrhea; I'm just claiming that I worked certain places during certain time frames, and performed certain tasks while employed there...and these claims are easily verified.

I just think that the way this beginning of a phone interview was handled showed a LACK of respect for me. OK, so you might say I haven't earned any respect from them; again, I see that as a 2-way street. If they start out by showing me no respect, their expectations of respect in return should be quite low as well.

I dunno....Think if I was lookin for a job, I'da answered the questions.... People will put anything on a resume just to get that call and lying is the norm it seems.....

"the company had seen my resume"

She may have been told to call you by someone in the company, and was reading the stock questions off of a sheet. If "the company" liked your responses to the questions she asked, you might have received a second call with an invitation to come in for a sit-down interview. I seriously doubt if you will receive a call of apology from anyone in "the company". A few things come to my mind:

Never miss a chance to make a good first impression. . .

The secretary has a lot of influence in some companies. . .

Patience is a virtue. . .

You're fortunate in that you're not in dire need of a job yet. . .

No offense intended, but I think you didn't need to be that short with her.

Wow and I thought I was rude.
I guess you dont need a job that bad huh?

I'd done same thing. If they can't be straight with you right from the get-go, they're gonna be to hard to work for.

You better get comfortable with unemployment, because no one and I mean no one will hire you with that attitude.

Sorry Buzzman I don't agree with you--the lady was most likely testing you. She wanted to see what you answer when asked the question.
You answer told her way more then you might think. Mainly that you have an attitude and have to be managed (handled with kidd gloves). Doesn't matter what your skills are if you're going to light up at the slightest provocation.
I'm 68 and have seen a lot--almost said about everything but that wouldn't be honest. About 5 years ago I was interviewed for a particular job and after listening to the project manager describe what they were I asked what the device was supposed to do--they were trying to figure that out. Uhmmm nad they had already bought stuff and were in testing? Turned the job down. One month later the Homeland Security Program Manager called for anothr interview--face to face--I asked why she called. She had read my resume and was impressed and after going over some of the items in the resume (She just didn't believe I could have done those things) she asked if I would take the position. I carefully explained that when you start buying/building equipment BEFORE you know what it supposed to do you really are hiring someone to blame and I am not anyone's fall guy. One year later I read in the paper that the whole project has been shut down for performance failure and massive cost overruns.

My point never light up be nice and explain your position. You never know what may come of that discussion.

I take it you have food in your fridge?
Which is great....Hey,,Do what you feel...We do still have freedom of speach..
It has nothing to do with people skills.....Your just in a position to be able to do that....I hope......

2 years ago had lady call and said she seen my resume on a job web page, and that I met there qualifcations. Went in for an interview. First question I was ask was do you have any sales expirence? When I said no, end of interview. If they had read my resume they would have seen that I have none listed. Drove 2 hours to interview just to turn around and go home.

Buzzman ,getting a job today is not about experience or what you can do or what you know.It's about answering a bunch of computer generated questons that make no sense or have nothing to do with the job.If you get through that it on to drug testing, back ground checks and kissing someones hind end to get the job.I'm with you, what ever happened to good old experience and work ethic?

So...YOU perceive their questions as a "lack of respect". They perceive YOUR emotional outburst as an indication of your inability to deal with the most miniscule of problems.

As someone who hires (and fires) employees on a regular basis, I'm 110% on their side. YOU blew up over something that shouldn't have cause ANY controversy. The caller did NOTHING malicious, immoral, or unethical. At the very worst, just a poor choice of words. And you expect them to give you a job after that?

Personally, I'm betting they asked specific questions just to see how you handled/MIShandled. the situation. They have that right. You have a right to blunder your way through life, just don't blame the outcome on someone else, who's just trying to do THEIR job.

No one owes you ANYTHING.

Like others have said,you must not need a job very bad because most larger employers will run you thru 2-3-4 screeners(that each take their own notes or opinion) before you ever get near the hiring person.Plus you may have black listed yourself,because most employers(even if in direct competition)resource people do talk to each other.In todays market,you listen and not talk.

bUZZ YOU AND I THINK THE SAME ONLY DIFFERENCE I DO NOT PUT A RESUMEE ONLINE, hoping some wingnut will call me. My exsperiance is when you got to be intervied 3 times and a bunch of other crap for a low wage job it aint for me. I can understand a high pay job or a very tecnical job they want to concetrate on your skills.

You drawing unemployment?

I was involved in hiring new hires for a highly technical skilled trade’s position for about 20 years for a large fortunate 500 company.

When we advertised, for example, needing to fill 2 positions we would get usually around 200 resumes. We would take the most likely looking these candidates and do and extensive technical interview consisting only of questions the directly related to the trade.

After we had a pool of qualified candidates we would give our list to HR and they would do the standard background checks and physical evaluations using the order we ranked the candidates.

Rest assured that some that appeared to have the technical skill were rejected for gut feelings about attitude, poor first impression, or little signals that said I am a prima donna and I will have your company straightened out in a few weeks.

Whenever there are more qualified applicants than there are jobs the ball is in the employers court and if they have equally or more qualified candidates you attitude towards the interviewer speaks volumes.

Remember the old saying “you only get one chance to make a good first impression”.

If you don’t need the job I applaud your independence, if you need a job you would do well to heed the advice some are giving you in this thread

Not only did you missed out on an opportunity to sell yourself when you had an audience, but also missed out on a chance to differentiate yourself from all of the other applicants they were considering. You should have been thankful just to get a call. They wouldn't have wasted their time on you if they hadn't seen something to interest them. Sometimes you have to swallow your pride and make sacrifices to get your foot in the door. You slammed the door on yourself.

That sounds a lot like BHO's Solyndra debacle.

...and THAT is the sort of situation I'm trying to avoid. If they can't be up-front with me BEFORE they hire, how honest should I expect them to be AFTER I'm hired?

I was thinking of the unemployment compensation angle, too. Its a pretty good gig these days- in my state, it comes to about 28 grand a year, and no tiresome "job" to go to.

And "throwing" job interviews isn't anything new- About 30 years ago, another guy and I were trying to fill a clerical position- applicants would come in late, dirty, smelly, butter and jam on their application, etc. Needless to say, their interviews were less than stellar, as well.

My assistant pointed out that they were all on unemployment, and about the last thing they wanted was a job.

Not sayin' the shoe fits, Buzz, but the thought crossed my mind.

No.

In the past, I've gone to work for companies that lied to me in the interview process. So whose fault was it when the lied to me after I was hired? MINE...because I trusted them. Not gonna make that mistake again.

If you haven't read my resume, don't tell me you have. And if you have read it and you're questioning something on it, all you have to do is tell me that. Honesty, in my book, is a 2-way street.

Buzzman's reply to Gordo, and my post, got posted simulaneously- no offense meant, and now we know the answer about drawing unemployment. Glad I was wrong.

I'm not drawing unemployment; last job was a seasonal position, and the season wasn't long enough to qualify. And I'd much rather be working...but I prefer to work for a company that didn't lie to me to begin with. The way I see it, if you MUST lie to me to get me to agree to work for you, there's either something wrong with the job, or something wrong with the company.

I don't think they OWE me anything more than a little basic honesty. If they actually haven't read my resume, they should never have said they did. That shows a lack of honesty UP FRONT, and I've worked for a few dishonest folks before...I'm not looking forward to repeating that scenario.

And I didn't "blow up" on this one. I didn't raise my voice; I just calmly said, "Obviously, you haven't read my resume as you told me you did. This call is over." And then I hung up. No need to stay on the phone with someone who's NOT being honest with me, when it might keep me from speaking with someone who WILL be honest with me. Honesty and integrity are highly important to me. If you can't be honest with me, how do I know you'll be honest with your customers? And if I can't trust you to be honest with your customers, why would I WANT to work for you?

Or maybe I should just overlook the honesty part, and go to work for the first scumbag outfit that comes down the road...is that your point?

She didn't say she read it, she said she seen it and was feeling you out. Guess who lost?

(quoted from post at 16:23:11 12/22/11) She didn't say she read it, she said she seen it and was feeling you out. Guess who lost?

Click to expand...

The company.

I wouldn't hire a person who made assumptions like that and reacted in such a hostile manner before investigating further.

I've read your reasoning for doing what you did and while that is your right I think you jumped the gun by hanging up like you did....even though you did it nicely.....

The problem I see is that you did basically the same thing they did and made an assumption. In other words you automatically assumed that the lady on the phone was lying to you and hung up on her. On their side they lady didn't specifically state that she had read your resume, only that 'the company' had seen it. That being said the assumption was that you wanted a job because you posted a resume. From there it was her job was to start a file for 'the company' on you that would include your qualifications as well as other pertinent info. Your resume most likely didn't have all of the little internal comments sections, etc, etc on it so I doubt seriously if she had it in front of her when she called, and if so it wouldn't do 'the company' very much good without their own paperwork to go with it. Once she got you info on the companies paperwork I'm sure it would have run up the chain and someone else in 'the company' would have compared your answers on said file to your resume. This is their way of making sure you can 'keep your story straight' and that you weren't lying to them by including stuff on your resume that was not true. Wether you as an individual have the desire to do so is irrelevent to 'the company' who is more concerned with catching the other 200 applicants that did lie on their resume before they waste any more time on them. Believe me I've known enough employeers(ie some of my good customers) over the years that got stuck with guys that lied about their knowledge in a particular field and got stuck fixing/repairing the costly mistakes they made. Saddly it's often harder to fire someone than it is to hire them so most companies do everything they can to decreese the odds of that happening. Verifying you know what your qualifications are and didn't just copy and past someone else resume with your name on it is just one thing they have to look at....because it does happen wether it's a six figure a year job or not.....wether the applicant is 18 or 80.........

In the end the offer may not have been legit and if so you did the right thing. Unfortunately, if it was legit, YOU are the only one that lost out because there will always be someone else in line right behind you to take what you turned down. Either way you jumped the gun and now you will never know. Just glad you didn't need the job that bad...... Good luck from here on out, because given your reaction here you'll definately need it in todays job market.

Point is, YOU'RE hunting for a job and can't seem to get a decent one and I'm a typical employer who hires quite a few employees during the course of a year. I'm very much aware of how MOST potential employees go about weeding out undesirables. So I offered you a view of how a potential employer perceives you and your tendency to be a square peg in a round hole. As expected, you can't (won't) see things as they are, but as how you hope things will be.

It's called REALITY. Step up and join the REAL WORLD and quit trying to portray yourself as a victim.