During my recent job search, one of the incidents that most upset me occurred when I was rejected for not having software development experience. One small problem, I have 7 years of development experience, above and beyond my 12 years in testing and QA. This would have been obvious to anyone who actually read my resume. Hell, it would have been obvious to anyone who skimmed my resume and just read my job titles. I highlighted my 7 years of development experience at the top of my resume in the Executive Summary section fer cryin’ out loud.  I guess I should have used neon signs.

The whole thing started out like many other job openings, I was called by a recruiter who thought the resume I posted on-line was a match for one of his positions. I was asked to send the latest and greatest copy of my resume, and an essay detailing how my experience matched up with the job requirements. So I did.

(Editorial note: I was asked for such essays several times during my job hunt, the Federal government being the worst offender. Total and complete waste of my time, every time. I should have known this job was a no-op just from that red flag.)

I waited for several days while the resume pile was reviewed for the position. After a few days, I sent a polite email inquiring about the status of the hiring process. This is where I got the bad news that I was not one of the candidates being granted an interview because the hiring manager had decided that he wanted his testers to have some development experience. I replied back with an email pointing out that I had such experience, but never received a reply. Needless to say, I have a different job now.

This incident pissed me off for a couple of reasons. First there was the whole being rejected for not having something I actually did have.  It should be a law that HR and hiring managers read the damn resumes they solicit. Honestly, I understand being rejected when I’m not qualified, but being qualified and being rejected for not being qualified? Fuck that.

(Yes, I know that there is as very good chance that the reason they gave me is a BS reason and I was actually rejected for other reasons. But is it asking too for them to lie better?)

Then there was a job requirement that was not mentioned in the job requirements. The job description I was given, the one that I had to relate to my experience, never mentioned that testers should have development experience. Had they mentioned that apparently very important fact, I would have been sure to highlight my development experience in my (waste of time) essay.

This is something I ran into a lot, the list of job requirements would be incomplete, so I would waste my time and the hiring mangers time by applying for positions that I really was not a good fit for. I actually had a phone screen once where I later found the job re-posted with additional requirements a few days later. Thanks for getting my hopes up, asshole.

Then there was the position where I was brought in a for a face-to-face interview, and heard bupkus afterward. I called and left a voicemail for the hiring manager, but he never called back. I’m assuming I did not get the position.

Let’s put sum it up this way, job hunting is a scary, awful, soul crushing time for the unemployed. Hiring managers and HR reps need to keep this in mind and not jerk people around. I had my feelings crushed several times a day during my job hunt, and some of it could have been avoided if someone in a hiring position had their act together, or just took a couple of more minutes to think things through. Had they thought about the job requirements and posted complete ones, rather than vague ones; had they actually read my resume; had they not posted a job they knew was going to be cancelled, or posted a job just to see what kind of resumes they got. (Apparently this practice is more common than you think.) These people had a lot of power to affect my life, and so many of them were completely thoughtless about it. A few were actually out and out jerks. All I asked for was some common courtesy.

All I can say to all those hiring managers and HR people, karma is a bitch, peeps. When you go job hunting, I hope you run into someone just like you.