Missing Questions and Standard Formats on Job Sites

So I have been posting my resume and experience on the most better job board sites for a few weeks now. Using these boards has been an experience for a Systems Analyst types such as myself. The basic principle with these site is you give them your name and contact information along with a version of your most current resume along with a standard cover letter. They match your data with jobs their algorithm believes to you are qualified to work in. Well, as I say, that is the theory.

My use and ongoing research shows that it is a flawed method at best. The HR users, recruiters and hiring managers are not getting the best information they need to make a good decision as to hire the poster or not. What they are getting is some words and phrases crammed onto a few pages, often reformatted badly. Anyone here ever decided whom to date from online profile knows the problems facing the applicant and the hiring managers. They just don't have enough of the correct information to make a good decision about who to employ. So what is missing from these sites?

Let's begin with what I don't like and finish up with a few qualified suggestions.

First there is no standard form of resume asked for by the sites. Sure they give suggestions on what your "paper" resume should look like on paper. What they don't give you is a format you should be creating your resume with so that it will be machine readable by their site. Oh sure, they have scanners that parse your typed resume into what they believe is correct. But my name is not "G.729 Intellivoice" and I have not worked at  "Majoring in Computer Science" nor held a position of "improve existing".

The downside of this unstructured process is that I have a few resumes each of which highlights my abilities and career for specific positions. Or if I update my resume and re-submitting it to the parsing engine. I then have to go through and correct all their parsing mistakes. This is dull work which I do not like doing which means I do not do my best effort at using the site because no one likes to beat their head against a wall too often.

Give me a clue in the form of an outline for your parser so I can then explain my story in a form that your parsers will correctly understand.

On the flip side there seems to be no standard form for, or enforcing of, how positions are posted by employers. As a job seeker I am doing the same 30 second review of a job that hiring types are doing of my resume. I am looking for certain items. If I do not see what I am looking for I move on to the next posting. Oh sure, sometimes I just apply for the position anyway because I like what I have read but I am just not sure what the Job is looking for in an applicant.

Yes, yes, calm down now. No need to rant here and now. I know that plenty of job seekers would try to game the system if they knew all the standard forms but who cares? The scammers are pretty easy to spot by a qualified manager so that the scammers can be reported by the posters to the site to keep the under control. A few thumbs down on resume submissions will eventually teach the problem applicants to behave.

There is no interview conducted by the site as to the particulars of the job and work environment. Why not save us all some time and trouble by posting a some valid questions for the applicants and the job posters. What questions you ask then? Well certainly none of those crap (yes, crap) questions about how many ping pong balls will fit in a 747, the weight of a 747 or the take off velocities, V1 or V2, of a 747 on the moon (unless you are an aircraft design engineer.) I am hoping that companies have realized, as I did about 20 years ago, that these standard interview questions the second thing uploaded to the Internet. No, I am asking for are practical questions that will assist in placing the candidate so companies can get on with business.

If essay responses are too hard to handle multiple choice questions could be offered. But really folks, adults should be able to answer a question with a dozen words in writing.

1. Why are you looking for work now?
• More money
• More away time
• Shorter Commute
• Change of Scenery
• A better job
2. What dates in your employment history are directly related to this position?
3. Which page or paragraph on your resume should the Hiring Manager be looking at first to show you are the best applicant for this position?
4. Do you have questions for the Hiring Manager about the job not related to salary?
5. What are you looking for in Life?
6. What is your goal after getting hired? 
7. Do you want a long career with us?
8. Why are willing or not willing to relocate for this job? 
9. Are you able to work in a place where developers don't shave, wear sandals to work and don't bathe regularly? (Lord I wish I knew the answer to this one before working in Redmond.)

Notice no questions about Salary or hourly Rate?

1. How long to your really need me to work for you in this position?
2. Are you looking for promote from within?
3. How often does the team serve cake for birthdays? Will there be ice cream too?
4. What beverages does your company supply?
5. What is the real dress code?
6. What happened to the last person who held this position?
7. Is there any real business reason that I cannot telecommute or work remotely for this job?
8. Why are you interested in me as an application when I will have to move 2,000 miles to take this job? Are you sure you are using the right resources to locate another candidate closer?

Okay, so my questions are not the greatest but then again I am not the HR type.

If some sort of better scanning, screening and interview was available to applicants and managers then the whole process would work a bit more efficient all around.