Re: How do you respond to job ads?

["Porrello, Leonard" <lcporrel -at- ESSVOTE -dot- COM>]

If I was hiring, I would disqualify that candidate for not sending the
requested info. That candidate would leave me with the impression that they
do not follow instructions and thus would not follow my lead or give me
feedback about why I should take another direction.

[Porrello, Leonard]
Without an explanation, I can understand your point, but with an explanation your judgement is, in effect, that prospective employees have no power and that from the get-go should act as your subordinates. You seem to forget the give and take in any business relationship. Why should anyone gratuitously provide you with there work, their intellectual capital?

        I would expect a cover letter. That letter must show a summary of
the job requirements and how the candidate fits into the new job.
        Without the cover letter, I would be doing all of the work.
Therefore, I would disqualify that candidate because they would not reduce
my work load, they would in fact increase it.

[Porrello, Leonard]
Though I include brief though detailed cover letters with my resumes, I imagine that if an employer is not getting them, the fault lies with the employer. Applicants might feel that the reasons why they fit an employer's published criteria are self-evident. If all that an employer advertises is "Needs Frame skills and a team player attitude," what would you expect in a cover letter? Anything but "here it is" would be drivel.

I would expect to see a resume and cover in PDF format, with embedded fonts.
This would show me the person's creativity and ingenuity (information design
and layout, and computer knowledge).
A text-formatted resume tells me the candidate is not creative and does not
know how to use present technology.

[Porrello, Leonard]
Not everyone has Acrobat, and I can imagine an employer saying, "what's up with this? This candidate expects me to go out and download and learn an application (Acrobat) just so I can read his resume?"

Of course, the prevailing employer ethos is negative, to find reasons to disqualify people, but if this negative process is not balanced with a genuine effort to bring out the best in applicants, this negative process is bound to bring negative results. I will be moving to my new position in May because I feel that my new employer is as interested in me developing my potential as I am. They seems to understand that my actualizing my potential as a technical communicator will benefit the company's bottom-line. They did not convey this idea and feeling through a weeding-out attitude.

 From ??? -at- ??? Sun Jan 00 00:00:00 0000