phineas wrote: 

That's just rude and bad business practice.

 dionysius wrote: 
You're just impressed I got the rap question right.

I did really know that one too - funny side story: on vacation a couple weeks ago the new(ish) Beyonce song came on the radio, and my wife rolled her eyes. I said "what, you don't like Beyonce?", there was a long pause and a studied look, followed by "I spend a lot of time w/ you, and I know you don't listed to this at work, so it's kind of scary that you know who this is?".  I'm sort of a pop culture sponge sometimes...

 MayBaby wrote: 
Pure statistics. I throw a lot of stuff out, it's bound to be right now and then!

 phineas wrote: 
Yea, if everyone practiced it, life would be easy.

I've had the same thing happen, Phin. I'm sorry. I know it sucks. I used to blame my personal traits but now, I believe it is more the economy. But to alienate a talented individual? The companies are short-sighted. Things will turn around and they will be the losers. Meantime we are.

Related to my earlier post, last spring I applied to a position and was called in for an interview. Spent over an hour with the principal, who seemed to like both me and my portfolio. In wrapping up the interview, he said that he'd be calling me back in to meet with the other principal. Over the next three weeks I followed up with 3 voice mails and a couple of emails and heard back, of course, squat. That's both bizarre and frustrating — spent half a day (with prep, travel, the interview itself) and then nada? Likely a case, as beaker notes, where I'm better off not getting the job, but kripes...

As in most things, the Golden Rule is a pretty handy guide to living...

 glassbuteo wrote: 
TeeHee!  Well, I am planning a trip to Augusta to visit and gather some tools and materials... the back porch shop will be operational by Spring : )

 Welly wrote: 
That's why I try to find the direct number to the business, find out who the owner is, learn about the company. Google makes it pretty easy. Maybe you have to make a call or two to find the right info but screw online applications IMHO.

 MayBaby wrote: 
I am more and more impressed with Islander all the time.

Send us a catalogue or something, too! Price quotes, estimates, etc. Y'all do work for folks in Texas?

 AliGator wrote: 

I'd give up on that one. When I was out of work a few years ago I applied for dozens of jobs on-line through agencies and recruiters.
My experience is that unless it is an on-line application directly to the employer's company web site you never hear back.

 MayBaby wrote: 
If we ever get around to redoing our kitchen, we'll talk.

Dang! That Islander is right again!

I've done local networking and I am making friends where I can. It gets interviews.

But um... Y'all gonna buy my stuff someday?

 MayBaby wrote: 
Right. I'm looking local or remote work. Not easy to find stuff that fits me.

 islander wrote: 
Right. This company is hiring, but you have to apply via CareerBuilder. Which is annoying. I guess I could find out who the HR person is and write a personal letter and point the way to my resume. Because I fit their requirements for the one position to a T.

Yeah, I'm looking for work, but I've got a peculiar skill set and some things I'm not willing to compromise on. I do a lot of local netowrking, and I hope some day it will help me score some meaningful paid work.

 AliGator wrote: 
I'm not impressed with CarrerBuilder and think that Monster is the biggest POS. I do it, though. I try to find the business phone number if they don't provide it.

I was talking about local interviews mostly, but I did have a video conference interview, and almost got the job! I was to report to work in a couple of days. I would have if I hadn't been paranoid about the business originating from Hong Kong. I got a bad feeling and let them know. They called back and said they would go with another candidate. I'm glad in this case.

 AliGator wrote: 
More often than not, a company is "fishing" when they run an ad, and then promote from within.

 AliGator wrote: 
Website stuff is tough, especially right now. We had a lightly advertised position a couple months back, and had literally hundreds of responses. I did not read them all. I did resort to the form letter "we'll contact you if interested", just to handle the volume.  I did phone interviews w/ 6, face to face w/ 3. I did personally contact all the "no thanks". But I also think I kind of limited the interview round so I wouldn't have to do that much.  

I currently get about 10 hits a week on our unpublished resume box. I have an autoresponder that says "not hiring at this time, but we'll keep you on file". We do, but honestly if I were to open another slot, I'd ask for a fresh round of resumes.

It's a tough market right now, and I think a lot of places are in the same boat. If you are looking I'd say be persistant, they aren't going to take you out of the running because you showed to much interest and drive. I'd also say applying online or to a generic box is like playing the lottery. You need to do the networking thing. Meet people who are overworked and ask when they are going to do something about. Get that inside line and be the application on the desk before they have to post it anywhere. Then even if they do post, at least they read yours, and an inside recomendation helps too. 

Oh, and I don't know about employment agencies like Snelling. They will advertise for a position and it won't be available. maybe because they don't like me but most likely, they are building an employee base.

 MayBaby wrote: 
Well, I didn't even get an interview. When I was interviewing with Flickr, it took for.ever. for them to get back to me about my status.

 AliGator wrote: 
Well, all I can say is what I've done, and Darcy thinks is appropriate. I called back one week after the interview. If an answering machine or secretary answer, I just tell them that I'm still interested, a valuable asset (in brief) and I am looking forward to being there.

No answer in a week? I do the same, then I should call again next week but I give up.

 hippiechick wrote: 
Yeah. I just looked, and neither position I applied for is still listed on their website. Oh well.