"Dumb down your CV" - jobseeker told

[Mully]

http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/3662358/Jobseeker-told-to-dumb-down-CV

Apparently, WINZ have told someone looking for a temporary job to remove mention of her degree in her CV:


Ms Meehan, 22, completed a political science degree at Victoria University in 2008 and since then has been doing administration and customer service work. Her last job, on a cruise ship, finished in March. She will join the navy in July and wanted a fulltime job until then

Does removing a PolSci qualification from your CV count as dumbing it down??

Reminds me of the old joke;
What did the Engineering graduate say to the Arts graduate?
"Big Mac Combo please."

[Swoop]

A place where I worked some years ago, we had a chap with a batchelor's degree who worked in the cafeteria making sandwitches.

It was the only job he could get since there was a glut of "intelligensia" in the workplace.
Guess he should have studied to become a plumber.

[yachtie10]

Don't see what the issue is (Its reality in the current marketplace)

I have been told this many times but I'm not a good liar

I get sick of the "why would you want this job?" and "youll just leave when a better job comes up"

By the way I am Unemployed if anyone has a job (IT preferably)

[Slyer]

I thought it was fair advice. I've heard of people being turned down because they are overqualified many times. Especially when it's just for a short term job.
I'm just remembering back from my old countdown days where many of the teenage part timers were smarter than the full timers...

[doc]

Yep I think its a good idea of WINZ, she only wants a short term job.

[avgas]

I got turned down from 500 applications - most of which were due to "over-qualification" - it got to a point where I had cut all the crap out of my cv so it only said who I was, the fact I had dug holes for a few years, and 3 years of work at M10.
Then they said I didn't have the skills to make coffee.
Turns out you have to make passionate love and finish their sentences to make some recruitment agents feel like they could hire you.
Job market is nicely fucked in NZ. Recruitment agents have done a good job at this.

[dogsnbikes]

I can relate to that,I have been turn down for jobs because its was deemed I was over qualified for the positions I applied for Hmmmm my view is that the people doing the interview's were insecure in there positions and wanted staff dumber than themself's

As for the young lass or anyone you want's a job short term they would be best to go door knocking and even if it was a job in a packhouse now kiwifruit is being picked and normally packhouse's start slowing down in june,

just a thought:innocent:

[Headbanger]

Fuckin hard case.

I can't get through to the interviews on the positions I want, and when I get through to an interview for a lower level position I get the same shit, why in hell are you applying for this position?, You will be gone as soon as better role turns up.

[Dave Lobster]

Doesn't EVERYONE leave their job when a better role comes up, regardless of their qualifications??

Or do companies pride themselves on hiring people with no ambition??

[Mully]

Doesn't EVERYONE leave their job when a better role comes up, regardless of their qualifications??

Or do companies pride themselves on hiring people with no ambition??

I wandered that too.

Reading the article again, I don't actually get the impression that she's telling anyone at these jobs that she's ony there till July.

In which case, WINZ was right. Apply for a job at a supermarket or fast-food joint - does she honestly think a company is going to want to go to the drama of training and such if she's only going to be there two months?

[Tank]

Im 100% behind the WINZ person (fucken stupid media beatup).

She is offering great advise - Set your CV (and covering letter) to the position you are applying for.

That dosnt mean telling lies - just making sure you highlight the appropriate bits. Obv going for a role at Pack and Slave - a uni degree is less useful because they expect you to be there "only until you can get something better" - thus they go for the great unwashed so they retain their staff longer.

Simple good advise from WINZ - yet the dipshit media make a big thing of it.

[Headbanger]

I also agree with Winz.

In the past when I have wanted quick employment digging ditches, I told the employer I was a gun at using a shovel.

[avgas]

Doesn't EVERYONE leave their job when a better role comes up, regardless of their qualifications??
Or do companies pride themselves on hiring people with no ambition??
You would be amazed at the number of companies I have worked with that wanted ONLY the minimum level required in my contract. Nothing more.
Seems management feel threatened if your any more than a robot these days.
Protecting their own, and all that.

If I were in their position, I would take all the free stuff I could get.

[ckai]

I wonder if a mate of mine does this? He's a registered engineer in the UK came here and worked his way up in a local firm and was just about to go for reg here then BIG shit hit the fan in his personal life. He decided to take some time off and do some volunteer work overseas for 6 months. It's now been over a year and he still hasn't been able to get work. He's even been turned down as a baggage handler. Not on the dole because he doesn't want to and has been living off the money he made when selling his property in the UK.

Pretty rough. Especially when he's done volunteer work. He came back right when the job market went up the shit.

I should mention this to him.

[Spuds1234]

The reason why she cant get a job is because she only wants to work for 2 months. No fast food joint would hire her unless she lied or didnt tell them that she would be leaving in 2 months time.

[The Pastor]

Lol cant get a job at maccas lol

[spacemonkey]

So in short a political science grad makes political hay out of a politically incorrect suggestion?
*meh*

For a short term job on a supermarket checkout of shelf filling role until your intake in the navy I don't see the problem in dumbing it down to make it quick and easy for yourself.
Hell I know I waaay dumbed down my CV when applying for a job at my current company..... And they still thought I was overqualified by a long way so offered me a different job (further up the ladder/higher payed) to I applied for.

[Bren]

Fark, if I dumbed down my CV I would be a retard.....wait, Maybe I am one already!!!

[rainman]

Turns out you have to make passionate love and finish their sentences to make some recruitment agents feel like they could hire you.
Job market is nicely fucked in NZ. Recruitment agents have done a good job at this.

Amen brother. I've had recruiters refuse to entertain applications for roles I'm eminently qualified to do because "this job is not the right aspect for you'. They are generally morons and do nothing to justify their exorbitant fees. One or two exceptions, of course.

And apparently I'm too highly skilled to do anything anyone wants in NZ at the moment. WINZ told me to consider going to Australia. How's that for ambitious for NZ?


Doesn't EVERYONE leave their job when a better role comes up, regardless of their qualifications??

Or do companies pride themselves on hiring people with no ambition??

Ah, someone who believes market mechanisms work for employment.

Leaving roles every few years (in IT) for better ones, aka climbing the corporate ladder, is only a good thing while you are young, apparently. As an immigrant, I did a bit of this to get established in NZ - started in a more junior role, climbed often (headhunted from time to time), stayed at some roles for up to 5 years, but sometimes only about 2. Apparently this is a bad thing now though, as "clearly I'll just bugger off when conditions improve". So "The Market" does not work, and it is not actually possible to take a lesser job at a lower rate... I have lost count of the roles I've applied for where I have been prepared to meet the market $-wise (~50% of what I was earning is still better than what I am earning). These are roles I can do or have done, not speculative applications, but in most cases I don't even get a response.

[oldrider]

Fark, if I dumbed down my CV I would be a retard.....wait, Maybe I am one already!!!

Yep, you and Nick Smith both but look where it got him and look where "he" has got us!

[avgas]

Fark, if I dumbed down my CV I would be a retard.....wait, Maybe I am one already!!!
Don't feel too bad. Turns out if you have "B. Engineering" on your CV people think you are retarded.
They are only half wrong.

[StoneY]

I got turned down from 500 applications - .

500?????? Surely your inflating that number, or your applying for shit way outside your square (like in another universe, LOL)
Seriously...........
I use recruiters and mate, never had to send the CV more than 5x for a strike, 10x for a catch maybe your CV needs a 'dumb down' ??? :lol:

[avgas]

500?????? Surely your inflating that number, or your applying for shit way outside your square (like in another universe, LOL)
Seriously...........
I use recruiters and mate, never had to send the CV more than 5x for a strike, 10x for a catch maybe your CV needs a 'dumb down' ??? :lol:
Good point. When I look at my emails during that time I had about 500 application.
I was getting desperate for work - as was living off savings. Applying for pretty much everything.
Of those applications I would say probably at least half didn't get back to me in 6 months. Had "Interviews" with about half a dozen recruitment firms. Had a few face-to-face's at a couple of companies, most of whom didn't know what they wanted, or send the wrong person to interview me.....F&P even gave me a phone interview, where they had cocked up and short listed me for an I.P. role after I had applied for an I.T. role.

I stopped applying for jobs as my MBA had started, within 1 week I had an interview for a job I had applied (directly to the company). Did the interview, they were dumbstruck that I did not have work. I had the contract in my hand that afternoon. I asked them why they didn't deal with recruitment agents - they said they paid for value added, and saw no value in recruitment agents.

I have also had bad Ju-ju with HR. Right now my wife cant get back into banking due to HR in various banks. Turns out 5 years banking experience only 3 years ago isn't good enough haha. I have also dealt with an engineer who was hired by HR in a company - the guy was the dimmest individual I have ever met. Took him 2 weeks to calculate 12m of electrical cable from a diagram.

So actual number of declines during that period more likely was around the 200 mark. All declines from recruitment agents, most usually sent as an automatic response for applying for a job, I must not have had the right 'key words' for their word search to pick up. And they are too lazy to read CV's.
If you want a job through them, to get anywhere - copy their job sheet onto the first page of you CV and say you can do all of that.

[StoneY]

Good point.

yeah I gotta admit recruiters can be misleading, im leaving my current job coz I was sold a lemon by a recruiter (I WAS best fit available but its soured 9 months later) but due to connection right here on KB I aint gonna be out of work for long....muwahahahahaha

[SlashWylde]

Turns out you have to make passionate love and finish their sentences to make some recruitment agents feel like they could hire you.
Job market is nicely fucked in NZ. Recruitment agents have done a good job at this.

I concurr. Had a damnably hard time dealing with a few recently. Managed to convice one that I could do the job advertised and eventually got through to a job interview with the company that was hiring. Didn't get the job as the sole other applicant had more direct experience in this field. But a few months later, the company head hunted me (at the same time another company was wooing me) and made me an offer. I start on Monday! :-)

[SlashWylde]

All declines from recruitment agents, most usually sent as an automatic response for applying for a job, I must not have had the right 'key words' for their word search to pick up. And they are too lazy to read CV's.
If you want a job through them, to get anywhere - copy their job sheet onto the first page of you CV and say you can do all of that.

YES, exactly!

[mashman]

I used to be the "pet" for a recruitment agency, the solid guy that makes them money... constantly on the phone offering me new positions... I told a mate to submit his CV to the agency, personal reccomendation and all that... He was constantly harassing the agency to find out the outcome of his interviews... never heard back in ALL cases... they're there to make money and treat people like shit that don't earn them anything...

As for WINZ... ahahahahahaaaaaaa they're wrong in so many ways... but that's only because employers most are stupid... I mean why would you want to hire someone that's applied for the job and come for the interview and could bring so much more to the job than the unqualified person as they class the person as over qualified... not exactly sound business sense... more like utter idiocy, but that's the way we seem to do business these days... Employers seem to value a face that fits over the skills that a person can bring...

[rainman]

500?????? Surely your inflating that number, or your applying for shit way outside your square (like in another universe, LOL)
Seriously...........
I use recruiters and mate, never had to send the CV more than 5x for a strike, 10x for a catch maybe your CV needs a 'dumb down' ??? :lol:

Recently? I haven't applied for 500 roles but probably more like 200. That's recruiters and direct. There's not a lot out there ATM, for some skillsets, although modest signs of improvement. CV has been engineered to within an inch of it's life, multiple versions highlighting different skills, etc.

[NighthawkNZ]

Im 100% behind the WINZ person (fucken stupid media beatup).

She is offering great advise - Set your CV (and covering letter) to the position you are applying for.

I have to agree I use to always take out or add the bits as required depending on the position I was applying for.

They didn't need to know I was a graphic artist a a bit od a wiz kid on computers when I went fruit picking... But when I was building the you would think what could fruit picking over... well it showed I wasn't to scare to get up a ladder or affraid of heights, but again nothing about my computer skills

and now like wise I am now a graphic artist again I don't mention either the fruit picking or building skills... but mention the the graphic and computer skills including navy info...

I entire depends on what the job is and how bad you want the job to how you write up your CV

[avgas]

yeah I gotta admit recruiters can be misleading, im leaving my current job coz I was sold a lemon by a recruiter (I WAS best fit available but its soured 9 months later) but due to connection right here on KB I aint gonna be out of work for long....muwahahahahaha
I am waiting until mba is sorted (should be finished early next year). My current role pays the bills - and I can't be arsed dedicating time to something as fruitless as recruitment agent applications right now.
Speak of the devil - looks like a recruitment agent is head hunting me right now.....

[Headbanger]

WINZ told me to consider going to Australia. How's that for ambitious for NZ?

.

Winz are awesome.

Loved having a young women half my age inform me of the facts of life.

Then after reading my CV with all my experience, training and qualifications suggest some training...to complete what I already had....wtf?.....then inform me I'd have to attend a seminar where they would teach me how to prepare a CV (lady, its in your fucking hand and its awesome), dress for an interview, and talk to people.

FFS, I do not arrive for an interview in a skull shirt, puffing on a rolly, smelling like weed, booze and b.o. and going "yo yo wat up my nigger" just because so many of the unemployable fuckers that waste there days there do.

Anyway, I told her my back fucks out, too many years doing hard labour so no use giving me a job on a shovel as it will be wasting every bodies time. Mine, winz, the employer, But hey I have a lot to offer and there is plenty of young fuckwits in sight who would be well served doing some shovel work.

At which time she informs me that its highly likely they will refer me to a position that will be unsuitable and that I'm not allowed to refuse it, and if I do refuse it then I'll be bounced onto a sickness benifit....

FUCK ME FUCKING DEAD.

[avgas]

Headbanger I feel your pain. Old man had similar situation about a decade a go.

I walked into WINZ (ONCE!) head hung low as I had no work. The forced me attend a day of training on how to apply for jobs - I then showed them my inbox with (at the time) 200 applications pending. Poor girl did not know what to do - turns out winz applicants who are already applying for work aren't in the manual.
I still didn't qualify for anything, even assistance to get a job.
If winz disappeared tomorrow, and took the benefit with it - I would not cry a single tear. I would simply buy an 20 gauge and show the wife how to clear a doorway of thieves.

[Love my Bonnie]

Don't feel too bad. Turns out if you have "B. Engineering" on your CV people think you are retarded.
They are only half wrong.

I got a B. Education, cant get a job either.
I was turned down by BP, cant even use my degree to pump gas!!

[Forest]

I've been working for myself for the last ten years.

Why the fuck would any capable person want to work for somebody other than themself?

[Big Dave]

I've been working for myself for the last ten years.

Why the fuck would any capable person want to work for somebody other than themself?

More money.

[Headbanger]

I got this one a couple days back.


Thank you for your recent application with us. We have had a great response to our advert and regretfully you haven't been shortlisted for this particular vacancy. However, we feel you have some very valuable skills so would like to keep your details in our HR file should an alternative position arise in the future.

Please contact us if you do not wish for us to keep your details, otherwise I hope we can be in contact with you in the future should a suitable vacancy arise.


It was almost enough to make me think they had actually read my CV, felt I had some valuable skills and they were hoping to contact me in the future......

But no, The moment passed.

[Indiana_Jones]

do companies pride themselves on hiring people with no ambition??

It seems to be that way with a lot of companies out there.

I guess I'm lucky I work for a company that encourage people to advance themselves and will help with time off work and help pay for it.

-Indy

[Smifffy]

It's no wonder that HR & Recruiters are the first to moan about a skills shortage - It's most apparent in their own industry!

[StoneY]

I've been working for myself for the last ten years.

Why the fuck would any capable person want to work for somebody other than themself?

After 10 years of self employment and contracting I prefer the 7.5 hour days and regular salary deposits as opposed to the 16 hour days and fuck all money left after tax, rates, leases, cell bills, etc etc.

You keep on working for yourself if that dings your bells, its not everyones cup of tea, some like having a life to enjoy as well!

[Coldrider]

Self employment for me, bosses suck it up big time.

[avgas]

I got this one a couple days back.
It was almost enough to make me think they had actually read my CV, felt I had some valuable skills and they were hoping to contact me in the future......
But no, The moment passed.
Oh don't worry they will.
I haven't applied for a job for over a year now. Seems now they are getting desperate for a few jobs out there. Digging deep into their database.
I have been 'invited' to applied for 10 jobs in the last week. This is hilarious considering they could not even get me the most basic job 14 months ago.
I wish I met a DBA for one of these firms - would get him to put my name on the top of all the lists and queries.

[Toaster]

I got a B. Education, cant get a job either.
I was turned down by BP, cant even use my degree to pump gas!!

That is because it is an OSH issue.... pumping gas is a danger to service station staff, much like checking oil or water levels. Best just stand behind the counter and try to sell expired chocolate bar specials. But hey Petrol Station service would be a whole other thread!