Week 1: Job Application Experiences

After reflecting on the reading in the course book, Who, I want to share about the perspectives of being a job applicant.

In the past year, I applied for a position that I was mostly qualified for and I had strong interest in the role and organization. I had previously worked with some of their staff as community partners which left a positive impression. In terms of soft skills needed for the role, I was overqualified. There were a few couple small technical items I didn’t have direct experience with, but I have a background that supports how quickly I can jump in and master new things especially if it’s something that is organization-process specific.

The application included a skills quiz of sorts and I had experience in all, but one. The one question was a “What” type question focused on one of their specific processes and there was no way I could have experience in it without having previously worked there. Perhaps they had a “who” in mind that was internal to the organization already, but it left an impression on me about their ability to see the whole person and have room for growth. Within 12 hours I had a nicely worded rejection email because I didn’t meet all the skills desired. The role I’ve shared about included a lot of cross functional work, communications, relationship management, and scheduling – these are areas where I’ve excelled. The rejection was disheartening because a conversation with the hiring manager may have changed the outcome, but I didn’t have the chance to become their “who”.

In our course book, Who, I can understand the argument on how finding the right people is the essential element for a company to lead to better performance and stronger “what” processes and decisions.


Comments

2 responses to “Week 1: Job Application Experiences”

  1. Tiana Enos-Dano Avatar
    Tiana Enos-Dano

    I strongly resonated with this job application. In my experience, the places that I want to apply to require experience but the reason I need the job is for the experience.

    To put it into perspective, I wanted to work as a pharmacy intern to gain experience to include on residency applications. However, to even be considered as a pharmacy intern you need to have experience in a pharmacy. So in order for me to get into this entry-level job as an intern, I would need to have volunteered at a pharmacy in some capacity. On top of all of these qualifications, depending on the state that you are in, there are different background checks and licensures that are required before setting foot into an area that stores drug. Thus, it is nearly impossible to volunteer without these requirements. It’s a vicious cycle of needing experience to gain experience and is very frustrating in my opinion.
    All that to say, companies (or maybe entire industries) need to rethink how they are evaluating future employees.

  2. Matt Owen Avatar
    Matt Owen

    Great post Jodi! Community partners and those little connections we make are often a great gateway into a career as you discussed even if it doesn’t always go as planned. I personally have never faced a job that has a “skills quiz” within the application process, but I have always wondered how truly “accurate” they are or if they often are just there to help easily root out individuals who don’t fit the companies “who” that they are looking for. It seems you have run into the exact issue I have wondered so it’s great to finally hear someone’s side/story with such a process.

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