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The Job Hunters Chronicles

Engineer Says: Be Prepared to Follow-up

Sure, the effort to post a resume online is minimal. But following through to win the job takes time, labor, says software engineer

By "KDW," Chicago, IL

I was working as a software engineer for a major defense contractor in Northern California, but looking to move because of dual-career considerations and my then-fiancée's work needs. This is an obvious handicap because of the logistical problems of scheduling interviews and what seemed to me to be a cultural bias on the part of employers to consider candidates not currently nearby geographically. I also had absolutely no network in my chosen location. On the other hand, being a software engineer I had a highly marketable skill set as well as being in my prime as a candidate (old enough that I knew what I was doing but not yet too expensive). I worked with Monster online as well as more traditional headhunter approach. These were obvious choices to me because of the distance involved and their passive nature. After some initial setup they worked on their own with periodic checkups from me. Kind of like a good investment fund.

I posted my resume with Monster and ran daily searches in the Chicago area. The headhunter turned up nothing, though this is not surprising as Chicago is not exactly a hotbed of technology development or DoD contracting. I was also deluged with interview requests from companies in the Bay Area (a hotbed of technology development) that ignored the information on my posting indicating that I was only interested in offers from Chicago.

In the end, my current company found me through Monster. There was a lot electronic back-and-forth before I was called in for an interview. It is very easy for companies to make time-consuming requests of an applicant in a short email. It may be that the casual and effectively anonymous nature of email may make people feel less restraint about assigning tasks to people that don't work for them yet. I went through two lengthy phone interviews and was required to submit a code solution for a problem provided by the company. I was at first resistant to, and quite frankly insulted by, the request. Once I acquiesced, however, the process moved forward and an offer was eventually made.

The company that eventually hired me and that I currently work for finds engineers almost exclusively through online searches. The rigor applied to the hiring process once a candidate is selected varies depending on the seniority of the position in question. In no cases, however, does the process stop for the candidate when the resume is posted.

I don't think of my situation as common or ideal, but the online approach was to some extent my only option. I definitely believe it is worthwhile to supplement any traditional job search with an online component because of the small up-front effort involved. My experience does show that while the up-front effort is minimal, the follow-through can be very laborious and time consuming.