fuck this job.com

I'd like to know more about the HR tricks. Why would a job that's posted twice a month be fake?

There's a job I want that's posted about every four months. I always thought it's a pressure cooker job that they keep firing people from. Could it be a "fake" job? What's a fake job?

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Interesting.

[Moderator]

First, let me state, that I worked for HR in a large American company, therefore my experiences may not match smaller companies, or companies in the UK, Australia, etc. Also, in my experience, there is no easy way to "win" against HR. HR has so many hidden agendas, that an outsider, unless they have inside information about the company and the supposed "new job opening", is always going to have a difficult time becoming the "top" candidate for the position.

As to fantasy or fake jobs, in my opinion, most if not all the jobs you see listed over and over again in the newspaper, or on web sites are in fact fantasy or fake jobs. If a company truly needed someone to fill the position, they would put one ad out, interview and hire within one month, that is how HR should work. But in fact, for large American companies with large HR staffs, hiring does not work that smoothly, or work at all in my opinion.

One type of fake job is a job where an internal candidate has been guaranteed the position, however HR is "required" to advertise the position and interview anyway as it is some sort of freaky HR rule. Any candidates interviewed by the company have a snowball's chance in hell of getting the job as the internal candidate has already been given the position and is just waiting for the interviewing "formalities" to end.

Another type of fake job is where HR really has no intention of hiring for the job, as the position is really not an open position. It is a position that might open up in the future after someone retires, or when the company receives that big contract.

Yet, another type of fake job is the "mining for resumes" job. HR has no intention of calling anyone in for an interview, and instead is only compiling a bunch of resumes in case a job opening should come up in the future. Also, HR likes to use this mining for resumes tactic to
compile salary statistics. Many times HR will require that a job applicant list his/her salary requirements on the resume. HR can then determine what is the going rate of pay in the area for the job. HR can use this information for determining pay raises (or not) for the current employee(s) who hold the position.

Also, HR (in large American companies) is required to compile and send in EOC reports each year to the American government to show the racial/ethnic/age breakdown of its employees. HR is encouraged to look for and hire diverse applicants as the more diverse its employees are
the better the EOC reports look. I don't know if the government ever cracks down on companies that do not have a diverse workforce, but I am assuming it is strongly frowned upon. Therefore, HR will continue to look for the so-called diverse applicant who is also qualified (which is hard to do) and it could take months or years before HR breaks down and finally decides to hires that diverse applicant who in fact is NOT qualified to hold the position. HR will then send out rejection letters (sometimes months later) to the qualified people who applied and state that "after having reviewed the many qualified applicants who applied for the position, they have found a person who has *fit* their qualifications and regret to inform you that you will
not be offered the positon. Good luck on your future job search."

I could go on and on...but just writing this is bringing back the HR demons I have tried to erase from my memory these past four years.

Again, my advice for looking for jobs is to be yourself, state your real experience on your resume, and apply for many jobs, preferably for smaller companies or companies where you have seen the ad for the first time. I try to apply for 5 jobs a week, even for jobs that it seems in my opinion that I am not qualified for, or where the pay may be below what I am looking for.

I figure by one year I will have applied for over 250 jobs, and with the law of averages I am bound to find something.

PS: In my experience, with regard to companies that list an ad twice in one month. For example, they list the ad the first Sunday of the month, you apply, you hear nothing, then you see the ad the third Sunday of the month. That company either (1) has a high turnover rate, which means the company probably sucks or HR doesn't know how to hire the correct people; or (2) it is a fake job.
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That was great!

I think the job I see every few months is a fake job based on your "mining for resumes". They always say "you must send in salary requirements or you won't be considered". Like you said.

[Moderator]