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Steve asks:
> How do employment agencies and headhunters filter candidates?
Buzzwords. They have stupidware that notices how my resume says I
worked with DBAs and programmers who used SQL, Java and Perl.
They thus offer to connect me with some job requiring ten years'
experience as a DBA/programmer with Perl, Java and SQL. Their
broken squishware ignores my stated occupation of tech writer.
They also filter out all the programmers who didn't mention Perl.
"Sheesh," I say. May I say it again? "Sheesh." Anyone who can
program in Java can pick up Perl in a few days. I've done it.
But filter they do, and they allow HR departments to avoid having to
reject some unqualified applicant from a "protected" category.
Those lawsuits can mess up an HR director's day.
Hmmm. Maybe I *should* follow up on those programmer-DBA positions.
--Peter Neilson
(feeling especially certifiable today)
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