Dear HR Pros, Be Transparent - Workology

Dear HR Pros, Be Transparent - Workology Dear HR Pros, Be Transparent I graduated college on May 15, 2010 with a Bachelor of Business Administration in International Business. I knew before I graduated that it would be hard getting a job. My dad was laid off from his job and it took him six months to find another. He then had that job for six months and got laid off again in which he was unemployed for another six months before finding his current job. Our economy sucks.  Thats a bold statement, but I think there has been a breakdown in communication between the HR world and those applying for jobs. I dont necessarily blame this on Human Resource professionals because their industry has been affected just as much, if not more than other industries. Dear HR Pros, Be Transparent I have applied for job after job after job after job to no avail. You send your resume to employers through job sites such as  Monster.com,  CareerBuilder.com, Yahoo Hotjobs,  Craigslist  (which is a joke),  Simply Hired,  Snagajob.com, and directly to employers. My experience through these job sites is awful. You spend over an hour filling out ridiculous surveys that employers say really do help, only to find you arent qualified for a certain job. That isnt including perfecting your cover letter for each job and fine-tuning your resume to make it stand out for a certain job. I have learned that its not directly HRs fault most of the time because these are required systems and it costs a lot of money to deviate. Im not sure HR professionals really understand the effort and time it takes to fill out these applications. If a job applicant was only applying for their job, Id understand the time that it takes, but we are filling out 5-10 applications a day. Thats a full time job! I have been told in the past that if an application takes more than an hour to fill out, that I shouldnt waste my time in completing it. I wish I could afford that luxury, but in reality most people cant. I spend hours a day filling out these surveys to test if I like to build ships or solve math problems. I think these assessments are jokes nonetheless, but essential if you want to get a job. I€™ve read different job boards and blogs that have broken down the logic of these questions. I know for a fact that Human Resource specialists and directors have tons of applicants per job, and in doing their job they dont have time to read and carefully consider every applicant. They brush over your resume in five seconds, when it took you an hour or more to fill out the entire application. There are even more professionals out there that give you opinions on how to make your resume stand out, but there is no logic to it, because everyone differs, there is no one way. Everyone is frustrated. College graduates who dont have a job by the time they graduate are told to return to school and get their masters, but what about after their masters? With no experience and a lot of education, you wont get anywhere. Internships that are paid are few and far between and you usually have to be enrolled in school to obtain one. Once you graduate, you are thrown to the wolves without experience, which means you are less likely to get a job that you want. If the position makes under 25K, then Im over qualified. Do HR professionals understand that we all have to start somewhere? There are two sides to the coin, but I think HR professionals usually look at the wrong side. Its been two months since I graduated college. Those who are looking for jobs explain the process as depressing. I think it could be a lot better if HR professionals were more transparent in the process. I know its hard with 100,000 applicants per job, but its hard on our end as well applying everyday for months at a time until we hear news. We can show patience if you help us out and if we didnt get the job, send us an email, anything. What do you think?  Are HR professionals looking at potential applicants in the wrong manner? Are the job assessments really useful? I would love to hear from previous HR professionals about these assessments and what they tell you about applicants. Disclaimer:  This post is not meant to upset Human Resource professionals because I know your job is just as hard, your budget is being slashed, and you have tons of applicants to few HR Specialists. What I said isnt anything that I havent been told by people who are searching for jobs. Its a rough process and I believe if there was more communication we would all peacefully co-exist and finding a job wouldnt be such a long and depressing process. Blake McCammon, is an intern at  Xceptional HR  and is also our Gen Y twice monthly blog contributor.  Connect with Blake on  LinkedIn,  Twitter, and  Facebook.  Blake is a recent grad of Northeastern State University with a degree in Business Administration.  During school he created and managed his universitys social media strategy while also spearheading the universitys Go Green campaign.