I’ve uncovered a Black Hole in our Universe, by Janet

Wikipedia notes a black hole as follows: “In general relativity, a black hole is a region of space in which the gravitational field is so powerful that nothing, including light, can escape its pull. The black hole has a one-way surface, called an event horizon, into which objects call fall, but out which nothing can come.”

I discovered one (actually hundreds, but I don’t want to brag) over the last few months. It’s called the “apply now” button when submitting a resume for a potential job. Since I was laid off from my job on March 27, 2009 I have been actively seeking employment. I’ve been sending my resume to companies whose job requirements match my talents and years of marketing and sales experience. I am only sending my resume to those companies where my skill sets match and I’m not randomly sending out my resume to fill a quota that is required to collect unemployment. I’m not going to waste mine or the company’s time.

If physic departments from around the world want to know where I found the many black holes, they exist where (and when) you have to click “submit” on a search engine or company website to send your resume. Once I’ve done my part, I have no idea where my resume goes after that. My speculation is that this one-way gravitation field is found within most company’s HR department (or hiring manager) universe.

I know companies are busy. Most are working with skeleton crews in efforts to survive in these tough economic times. I can appreciate the time, efforts, and resources it takes to communicate back to the hundreds of people submitting a resume for one job, but that is what technology is for. To date, I’ve only heard back (and I’m talking automated emails only – I certainly don't mean a phone call or a generic letter via snail mail) from less than 2% of the companies where I have submitted my resume (I’m keeping track). That’s a shame. With today’s technology a company can easily filter information and responses back to the potential employee through the world of automation. Even if it is a “thanks but no thanks”, at least there is closure. We move on and then we crawl back into our own "black hole".

I’m taking my “black hole” theory with me when I get back into the workforce (that is if anyone will respond to my resume). It’s been an alarming wake up call for me to be on this side of the hiring process. I am determined to be a better person (manager) when I’m on the other side of hiring and I will provide proper tools of communications in effort to give timely feedback to all candidates. This way they know their resume was received and what’s going on with the employment opportunity. Whether the feedback is good or bad, just hearing back gives those of us seeking work, a sense existence in the universe called unemployment.