Alec Saunders SquawkBox

Jason Droege is the top dog at SIPPhone.  Recently, three of us have have experienced a problem with Gizmo consuming more resources than it should.  So, at 2:04 I sent Jason a piece of email outlining what we were experiencing, and at 2:15 I had a reply from him that his engineers were looking into the issue.  That’s service!

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Last night I submitted a couple of job postings to Monster, Craigslist, LinkedIn, Doostang, and xp-jobs. This morning, the flood gates are opened. I have a ton of resumes to go through.  So, how to get through them all? 

I’ve written about candidate selection, and the iotum interviewing process (loosely based on the Microsoft process) before.  One of the most important factors I look at is "does the candidate read and follow directions". That is, did they read the entire job posting?  Are they qualified?  Did they make a complete submission?

• Our job postings say you have to be in Ottawa, and have a Canadian work permit.  Sure, if an exceptional candidate wasn’t local, we might make an exception and find a way to relocate that person here.  But generally, I am not interested in resumes from the far east, or the former eastern bloc.
• Our job postings are pretty clear about the skill set we are looking for.  Do not, repeat, DO NOT apply for a job you’re not qualified for.  When you submit a sales persons resume for a developers job, you’re wasting both our time.
• And finally, our job postings all ask you to submit the solution to a problem alongside your application.  They all say "to move your resume to the top of the pile" you should submit a problem solution.  Fact: I never look at resumes that don’t come with a problem solution.  We get enough candidates submitting a problem solution that it’s not required.

If you’re looking for a job, read the listing in its entirety before applying.  Make your best effort on your application.  That’s what we’re looking for.  People who care enough to do their best.

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