ALT-2 Employment Ads Reading between the Lines
One of my pet peeves with employment ads in the newspapers is this: it lists the name and the phone number of the person to contact. But when you, sometimes they won't even put you through. They just simply say, "Oh, we're just taking names and numbers",or you'll even get through to somebody else other than the person to ask for. Even if you do leave your name and phone number, they'll never get back to you.
Over the years, a lot of companies have used blind ads whenever they advertise for help. They will tell you to send your resume to either a P.O. box or a newspaper box number: no company name, address, phone number, or contact person.
Here's my other pet peeve: staffing agencies. Whenever they put ads in the paper, in my opinion, they are very misleading. You tell them about a job opening that you saw in the paper, and they'll either give you a song and a dance; you go in there, fill out the paperwork, and not even tell you whether or not the job is open. I have often asked them this question: Is the job really open or is this how you generate applicants?: and I've been told that it's both? They'll too take your name and telephone number and never call you back.
When the agency calls you for the job and you ask what the name of the company is, they won't even tell you because they (the company) probably doesn't want to be inundated with phone calls and resumes, and the agency loses the client. Well just that's too bad!
What I have done is this: if I see an ad in the paper where they tell you that they're just simply taking names and telephone numbers, and I can't speak to the person who's handling the job, then I just tell them that I'm not interested. I have done this before, and believe me, they won't get back to you. It's nothing but a waste of time!
When I was out of work in 2001, I also left after-hours messages on the company's and/or contact's answering machine. This way, I can leave my message with the contact person directly instead of going through a receptionist, secretary, or administrative assistant. Sometimes it worked; sometimes it didn't. But this is the way that I did it.
I too tried responding to blind ads in the paper, but now I don't anymore. If they can't tell me the name, address, and phone number of the contact person, then why should I waste my time? What have they got to hide. Why do they have to be so secret? I even read that it's not a good idea to respond to a blind ad, because after all, it may be your own company that you're sending your resume to.
It's better to respond to an ad that has either a contact person's name and/or department (mainly Human Resources), a telephone and/or fax number, or an email address. At least you know who it's going to.
