Immediate Job Applicant Disqualifiers For Graphical Designers & Web Developers
September 19th, 2007
Written By: Adam Sussman
When they say: “You will never find anyone better than me!”
When they send me an email saying: “Dear sir, after thoroughly reviewing your website we feel our company is a perfect fit for the project you posted”.
When they write: “I saw your posting and I am probably not what you’re looking for since my skills are with ASP, not PHP. But I wanted to send you my resume anyway.”
Sigh! I will just file that under “Deleted Items”.
I cannot fault this person for not being fluent in English but seriously, he is applying for a job. I know we are becoming a global economy but attempt to at least make a solid first impression.
Finally, “I saw your posting. If you would like to learn more about me please let me know and I can send you my resume and perhaps some sites I’ve worked on.”
Wow, I feel as if this person has just blessed me with his time.
September 20th, 2007 07:06
It’s always nice when you can scan quickly and know that the person sucks. More troubling is the ones that don’t jump out as sub-par and require your time to investigate further only to discover that they’re not right.
Hiring is never easy…
September 20th, 2007 19:54
The second one is lame - Ever heard of Google? They can find websites without you knowing the URL beforehand! Well, only if your company has balls.
September 20th, 2007 19:56
“It’s always nice when you can scan quickly…”
It’s always nice to deal with someone who uses English correctly, too; that way you don’t appear to be an idiot using words that are too big for you…
“Scan” means to examine carefully and in full detail; there cannot by definition be any such action as “scanning quickly”. The word you should have used was “skim” not “scan”.
September 20th, 2007 20:11
I work as a recruiter and it’s almost embarrassing how quickly I can dismiss some applicants… I’ve actually sent a feature request to the company that supplies our candidate management software to ask them to include a time delay function on rejection emails - I feel bad rejecting someone 15 minutes after they send their résumé.
September 20th, 2007 20:15
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This
scan /skæn/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[skan] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation verb, scanned, scan·ning, noun
–verb (used with object)
1. to glance at or over or read hastily: to scan a page.
2. to examine the particulars or points of minutely; scrutinize.
3. to peer out at or observe repeatedly or sweepingly, as a large expanse; survey.
September 20th, 2007 20:15
ur just a bunch of racist ignorants!!!
Non speaking English people codes way better than u, stupid soabs (did i spell that one right Rick Lionhart, stupid name by the way)
Linus is European, Bill is American. That should sum it up.
The world Rocks, USA dont.
The Empire will soon fall
September 20th, 2007 20:24
Does it take much practice to be that pedantic, ricklionhart?
According to my Oxford American Dictionary, this is one of the definitions of “scan”:
“look quickly but not very thoroughly through (a document or other text) in order to identify relevant information”
September 20th, 2007 20:29
C’mon, I think these are generally pretty generic. Assume that someone isn’t an idiot: Basically, they don’t come across as stuck up, don’t mention your website, claim to have the skills your looking for, speak good English, and provide their resume / portfolio off the bat.
Do you talk to all participants like that?
There’s a couple things that stand out as red flags for hiring designers to me:
1. Bad typography choices. If you’re using Times New Roman or another MS Word-default font, forget it.
2. Bad alignment choices. An all-centered resume means immediate disqualification for me. Good designers know grids, and if their resume doesn’t have one, they’re out.
Jeffrey Veen has a list of dos and don’ts for design portfolios that I particularly like also.
September 20th, 2007 20:37
I like how the comments are just people arguing about the correct usage of the word scan. It’s like freakin Cocoa Dev…
September 20th, 2007 20:39
O, I also like how there is a XHTML 1.1 valid link on the side. When you click it, it says there are 219 errors, including the Content-Type. The first thing to do when switching to XHTML1.1 is change your Content-Type. (Second thing: hack it so it goes back for IE because it sucks… darn Microsoft)
September 20th, 2007 21:05
Ricklionhart is right, BUT — and this is a big BUT — language, in the respect that language is a collection of specific words that imply specific meanings, is never static.
Ever hear someone say, “I feel nauseous?”
That used to drive me crazy, because in my trusty 1961 Webster’s dictionary with the slate blue cover, the onion-skin pages, and the thumb cut-outs for quick access to each letter of the alphabet, the word “nauseous” was clearly defined as [I’m paraphrasing here] “having qualities or characteristics that cause nausea. e.g. a nauseous smell”
In fact, when someone would tell me they feel nauseous, I would smartly say, “You know, you’re right; you’re making me sick!”
Ha hah. Except by 2007, so many people had used the word nauseous to mean nauseated, that the two words had become synonymous in usage and meaning. Even Webster’s acknowledges the definition this way now.
Once a word is used often enough to connote a specific meaning, and understood by a majority of the intended audience to have clearly communicated a specific idea or concept, then the word has now achieved a new definition — even if that new definition diverges from the “original” definition.
If you think about it, the problem is one of perspective; how far back should one go in choosing the authentic, authoritative “original” definition? 40 years? 100 years? Back to the 18th century?
I would argue that there is no “right” answer; it depends on the word’s current usage flexibility, it depends upon the audience certainly, and undoubtedly it also depends upon how comfortable with change the speaker, writer, IMer, or blogger is.
So when greg said “scan quickly,” I’d wager that everybody who read his remarks still correctly understood the specific concept or idea he was attempting to communicate. By that yardstick, greg is absolutely, incontrovertibly in the right in using the word “scan” just the way he did.
So what if greg was trying to assuage his own feelings of inadequacy by “me tooing” a post that appears to be, at its core, a none-too-subtle attempt by ShandyKing to make himself feel better than others by putting others down?
Obviously, ShandyKing is attempting to instill in himself the sense that he’s somehow different than or better than “they” are; he does so explicitly by using rich imagery to evoke the image of “them” in the first place!
greg does nothing more than unabashedly attempt to include himself in the “exclusive” club that ShandyKing has created.
Then you, Ricklionhart, obviously inspired by all this, unwittingly follow the example set by ShandyKing and in turn put greg down.
Dude?! How unique or different are you, really, if you’re but one member of an ever-expanding group of people all expressing the same negative behavior?
September 21st, 2007 03:37
Why does everyone on this website seems so bitter and jaded?
September 21st, 2007 03:38
hem, seem*
September 21st, 2007 08:10
Wow. Bet everyone loves working with you…
September 21st, 2007 09:18
Well shit, I feel as if I’ve been put in my place. I know quite a few of you are extremely busy digging and commenting away on other peoples blogs, so it’s quite the honor to have you take the time to share your two cents with me on such an important topic as this.
BigBadBill, I really want to thank you!
Your take on the use of the word “nauseous” was a highly informative and I enjoyed reading every long winded second of it. Especially the part where you go into detail about your “trusty 1961 Webster’s dictionary with the slate blue cover, onion-skin pages…”
Even more I just want you to know I appreciate you weighing in and correcting everyone on the use of the term “scan”. I for one was one of the few people who read “scan quickly” and immediately reverted back to my 18th century dictionary thus leaving me in a state of confusion.
September 23rd, 2007 20:15
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