Employment quiz- would you have gotten this sample question correct?
- Thread starter GON
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GON
$100 Site Donor 2024
I have been applying for a lot of jobs. Although targeting Arizona, Colorado, Texas, Utah, Hawaii, and California- I have also applied for jobs in Florida, Bulgaria, Korea, Washington, Romania, and Japan. Last week I did an interview on Teams for the Japan job.
Something new I learned was the impact of AI. I was not getting much response to my resume/applications, and learned that AI was likely preventing the applications to go forward. I redesigned my resume to be AI friendly. My applications are generating significantly more responses. But my resume looks brutal because it is designed for AI, not for a human/ hiring manager, or director.
The biggest wakeup call in the application process next to AI, has been DEI, and age. I won't discuss DEI, but I am being told that nobody really wants a 60-year-old for many of the positions I am applying to. Learning about the age thing is a wakeup call. I feel young, ready to contribute---but on a MACRO sense few organizations want to hire a 60-year-old. I just wasn't tracking that.
GON
$100 Site Donor 2024
My application was rejected for one job because I marked the wrong box, The reply from their HR was:
You were not considered for this position because you certified that you have been convicted of a domestic violence crime.
I wrote back and said I have never ever been charged/ convicted of anything except minor moving violations.
Their HR response:
This position is subject to Lautenberg Amendment. Persons convicted of misdemeanor crimes of domestic violence are prohibited from occupying this position. Have you been convicted of a crime in domestic violence?
You responded to this question with “yes.” By self-certifying that you have been convicted of a crime in domestic violence, you removed yourself from consideration.
Unfortunately, we are unable to change/edit applicant responses once the application is submitted. Due to this, you will be unable to be considered for this vacancy. However, it will not affect your status for any future vacancies.
I would recommend reading the questions/responses carefully and double checking your answers to ensure that you are not screened out in error in the future.
I was glad they provided a timely reply and provided detail on why this happened. I wasn't thrilled that I could not correct a box check error in an application---- but I am a big boy and understand.....
You were not considered for this position because you certified that you have been convicted of a domestic violence crime.
I wrote back and said I have never ever been charged/ convicted of anything except minor moving violations.
Their HR response:
This position is subject to Lautenberg Amendment. Persons convicted of misdemeanor crimes of domestic violence are prohibited from occupying this position. Have you been convicted of a crime in domestic violence?
You responded to this question with “yes.” By self-certifying that you have been convicted of a crime in domestic violence, you removed yourself from consideration.
Unfortunately, we are unable to change/edit applicant responses once the application is submitted. Due to this, you will be unable to be considered for this vacancy. However, it will not affect your status for any future vacancies.
I would recommend reading the questions/responses carefully and double checking your answers to ensure that you are not screened out in error in the future.
I was glad they provided a timely reply and provided detail on why this happened. I wasn't thrilled that I could not correct a box check error in an application---- but I am a big boy and understand.....
My plan, or one of my plans, was to get laid off in my 50's with a package. Save that. Live on beans then mooch on unemployment while I "job hunt" knowing absolutely an old white guy goes to back of the line...........and frankly hating the whole interview process so much, that yeah..........NO. I had enough $.
This is interesting and helpful information. The DEI thing and then the concept of firms not wanting to hire a 60 year old - how much more hypocritical could it get???? There is huge value in the experience and wisdom of older workers. Age is every bit a part of DEI as anything else.
I cannot relate to job hunting at age 60. I'm 68 and working at the same outfit for 47 years. I attempt very hard to stay abreast of new technology, i.e., sometimes the trendy phone apps. that the young people are so enamored with. I ONLY use them if they actually work, not because they are "cool". I ask my subordinates for new ideas and to teach me. Not "I've been doing this 3 decades and my way is the only way".
Can you play the "experience and wisdom" card in your line of work? Can you demonstrate that you are up to snuff with current technology? Can you step up your marketing of yourself as better because of your age. Play the DEI card to your advantage. Make them want you. Best of luck.
I am assuming that you were told about your age situation by your peers and friends and not by the HR organizations who rejected your applications. That would obviously open them up to age discrimination labor law liability if formally documented as part of why you were not hired or interviewed.
Regardless of the source, that attitude is quite prevalent in today's corporate mindset where the goal is to hire and promote youthful workers who can contribute for more than just a few years before retirement. I witnessed it repeatedly for the past decade in the workplace where very capable and deserving senior peers were passed over for promotion to mid-to-upper management positions in favor of 30-40 y.o. workers who previously reported to the senior individual(s). My HR associates claim that is the current strategic policy to retain talent in the age of mass attrition, particularly since the pandemic altered the values of the workforce. There are many indications that it also serves notice to the senior workers that it is time to retire; hence, trimming some of the higher level salaries from the payroll. As always, the focus of a business will be the bottom line results, especially if stockholders are involved.
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GON
$100 Site Donor 2024
Yes, absolutely correct. No HR person has told me I am not in the running for a vacancy due to age.
I would also assume that Jeff Bezo's fiancé never told him that she would not be soon to marry him if he didn't have generational money. But I suspect if Jeff was a store manager at Target, she would not be his fiancé' today.
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The answer should be: “unnecessarily true”.
I wonder how AI would answer the question.
So what sort of job are you applying for that has such nonsense questions to have to answer?
I'm now 67 and have been in my current position for what will be 24 years in May.
I find it quite tolerable and sometimes very rewarding.
There are those I've worked with who have said that they can't effing stand it. That is truly sad.
If someone really hates what they do then they should find something else to for a living. If you're talking about what you do for a third of your waking hours five days each week, if you aren't reasonably happy with it you should find something else to do.
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Glad i never had to answer though questions. I know when to start, when to take a break, lunch and going home which is optional. 40 years three generations went from 2 service people to 47 when i retired. Now 70 servicemen and still invited to retirement parties.
Much easier to spout philosophy than to put in to practice.
That's on the level of "get three jobs and buy a house"
Age discrimination has been quite prevalent for decades. In fact it wouldn't surprise me if it has always been that way. I recall hearing about my dad experiencing it in the 70's. As a young guy, I happened to overhear my parents talking one time. I saw the effects it had on my dad. A very smart, highly educated, and principled man. Not to mention an honorably discharged Korean war Veteran. "Overqualified" was apparently often used by interviewees during his job search. Or that they were looking for someone who could grow with the company. The obvious qualification being that they were looking for someone younger.
My mom had to go to work to support the family. Being unable to provide for his family, broke my dads spirit. He was an excellent dad, and human being. He never had the same attitude after he was unable to find gainful employment. Starting his own business didn't pan out either, as it was the Carter recession years with double digit interest rates.
I wish you the best in your search. There are still some people out there hiring who value experience, and a good work ethic.
Maybe so, but if anyone really dreads going to work at the job they have, it can't be good for their health, mental and physical.
They are those who can compartmentalize their lives and endure awful jobs for the money.
For others, it is certainly possible to find something else to do that pays a decent wage.
In terms of working multiple jobs to afford a house, there are those who do it, keeping their eyes on the prize.
