| There is no trust by default. You've handed me a piece of paper (your resume), that you've authored, that puts you in the best possible light, with facts that I cannot verify independently without your permission. Where have you earned trust? 99% of the people I interview have lied on their resume. When I accept an interview, it is because your resume has stood out. That doesn't mean I have put my guard down and instantly trust you. Everything you do at the point where the interview is accepted is looked at. Appearance, handshake, attitude, demeanor, etc. We advertised a position in May and received 41 resumes. Of those, four were reasonable candidates. I personally called all 41. The 37 were told that their resume didn't meet our requirements, thank you for applying. Resumes are rarely kept on file for later hiring. When you hear that, it is a friendly way of getting you off the phone. Employers lie too. Of the four, only one seemed like a reasonable match. During the interview, despite his claims of his coding experience, he wasn't a problem solver. Could he have really worked 4 years for a competitor without being able to solve a problem I had posed? As it turns out, he had just received a promotion but was using that title to represent himself. A true illustration of the Peter Principle. Was I wrong to be skeptical? He didn't get the job. My competitor knew he was laying off people. He gave them promotions to make them more marketable when they applied for other jobs. He didn't do them a favor. An interview is a date. I have to decide in that two hour period whether you're the right candidate. A decision costs me roughly 90 days of your salary plus a reduction in someone's efficiency while you are brought up to speed. This carries a cost as well. You earn trust. You do this by answering honestly during the interview without giving me those canned answers that are the double edged sword. You don't embellish things on the resume by extending dates a little bit to cover up for a period of unemployment. The ONLY piece of data I can get from a previous employer are your dates of employment. I can't get salary history or even whether the company would rehire you. Anything else that company gives me is illegal. Unless you've given me permission, I cannot talk to your coworkers or previous managers. Handing me your Aunt's name as a reference is worthless unless she writes code or has seen you in a work environment. So, as an employer, what have you set forth other than handed me a piece of paper and a cover letter expressing interest in a position that should make me trust you? If I pursued you, that's a different matter, but then the original author wouldn't have posed his question. |