Unemployed UK jobseekers are “fools”, claims new guide
According to a new guide traditional recruitment models are ‘foolish and futile.’
Penned by Chris Pires the book Shred your CV and Find a Job Fast claims "to reveal to the hundreds of thousands of UK unemployed the foolishness and futility of traditional jobseekers’ tactics."
The author said: "It is remarkable the number of people who write a CV and a generic cover letter, sign up to an online jobs board then simply bash out hundreds upon hundreds of applications and expect to get somewhere. "I am not saying that people shouldn’t have a CV or ever join a jobs board," he continued, "but it is foolish to pin their employment hopes on these passive strategies. To carve a place for yourself in a tight and unforgiving jobs market, you need to take a more innovative, interactive approach."
What a load of nonsense
But Simon Lewis, editor of digital recruitment advertiser, Only Marketing Jobs, and former ‘traditional’ recruiter with a decade of varying staffing experience, believes Pires’ claims to “help people find their dream job” should be noted with caution:
“In his book Mr Pires claims to be a “professional ‘job hunter’, taking short-term jobs ranging from three to twelve months, and then looking for the next job. I would question what on earth is a professional job hunter. Is he taking roles with the express intention of moving on when the mood takes him so that he can add more ‘knowledge’ to his book? If so I would consider him a mercenary more than anything ‘professional.”
Planning a strategy
In his book, Pires contends that successful job seeking must be conducted in a scientific manner: candidates should not only produce a outline plan of their intended career, but should set about populating this plan with careful planning, significant research and, most importantly, by interacting with key players in their chosen field.
Lewis comments: “Whilst it is true every jobseeker ought to work to a strategy I find it peculiarly that Mr Pires considers himself an expert in the field. His LinkedIn profile advertises that he has had three jobs since leaving university in 2004, two of which lasted less than a year. What’s the point in being brilliant at interviews if you don’t want the job you applied for? He might be good at getting jobs but is he good at the right jobs?
LinkedIn doesn’t work
Pires believes professional networking sites such as LinkedIn are flawed: "People often think that by populating their LinkedIn profile or signing up with recruitment consultants they are creating a ‘network’ – they are wrong.”
“Jobseekers don’t sign up with recruitment consultants to create a ‘network’, explains Lewis, “they register with relevant recruiters as an extension of their reactive application process. Sure, the less-informed jobseeker will multi-apply and this can cause a false sense of security but I believe jobseekers are becoming more educated in this regard. Mr Pires’ comment about LinkedIn has merit: people are still working out how to use this for their own advantage.”
No relevant experience
The author of this controversial guide concluded: "I am not a trained recruitment specialist, an HR expert, or very highly qualified for that matter" said Pires, "yet I have succeeded in getting any job that I have targeted regardless of the degrees, doctorates or years of experience that were ‘needed’ by the employers.
"Through my own experiences, through trial and error and through common sense, I have simply found a highly successful formula for finding work – this book is my chance to share that formula with others," he concluded.
“Balderdash and piffle”, exclaims Lewis. “If, as he claims, Mr Pires has been successful in knocking down educational barriers, then fair play to him. However, I doubt very much this rings true in a climate where job application levels are higher than ever before and the minimum requirement for the ‘sifting’ phase is usually the education. And with CV parsing technologies becoming increasingly intelligent, and with the advancement of sophisticated ATS (applicant tracking systems) no sales pitch can beat a system designed specifically to negate external influences. I accept there will always be the special cases, but to consider ‘getting through the back door’ to be a generic occurrence is fundamentally wrong.”
What do you think of these comments? Do you agree that jobseekers are systemically wrong in their job search? Can someone with less than five years commercial experience really be qualified enough to guide you through the full job search life-cycle?
Original source: www.rec-con.co.uk
Additional comment: Simon Lewis | Editor | Only Marketing Jobs
You can purchase a copy of Chris’ controversial book via his website
Related posts:
- Only half of jobseekers will use social media to find a job by 2011
- LinkedIn to charge jobseekers for ‘premium’ services
- Jobseekers need to learn a little respect
- Charging jobseekers for recruitment services. Is it really so wrong?
- Get 2010 off to a flyer with this jobseeker guide to striking it rich
- Future bright for jobseekers, says TV’s recruitment Dragon
- The jobseeker’s guide through the hiring process – 11 top tips
- Marketing jobseekers seeing reason to cheer
- A Short Guide to Getting Acquainted with Google+
- Marketing jobseekers use ‘old boy’s networks’ to secure employment
I’m a recruiter in the life science industry and I agree wholeheartedly with your comments regarding Chris’s book. I’ve not read it completely but have got the gist from his website and he appears to be “form over substance”. True, there is no one correct way to obtain a job but his credentials, ideas and approac appear a little suspect.
Thanks for your comment, Phil. I didn’t want to slate the guy’s personal credentials but for a self-proclaimed copywriter I’d have thought the least one would expect would be grammatical correctness.
Pires writes a book called “Shred your CV”.
He then says “I am not saying that people shouldn’t have a CV…”
#fail
There is now a certain cat scurrying amongst a number of very uncertain pigeons. So, watch this space…
I thought his book was refreshing to be honest!
I’ve been applying for jobs for a few months and have not gotten very far with my CV. Unless I start talking to people and asking questions about whats happening in the market, I’m not sure I’m to go far I think…
Sue, this guy has very little experience and to call yourself a ‘professional interviewer’ is somewhat dubious, to say the least. Have a look round this site for some tangible (and credible) career advice – from those who have experience, rather than an scamming idea.
I’d be very wary of people like Chris if I was an employer. I’d want to recruit staff who aim to stay with a company long-term, instead of disrupting the daily flow, causing other staff to constantly retrain new recruits – especially in the small/private UK industry. Maybe Chris should be concentrating on his CV more, avoid writing time-wasting books, and stop this daft job-hopping idea that employers won’t stand for. It’s all very black and white in my book – write your cv, apply for a job and earn some money to pay for your bills! Miaow!
Change can be intimidating particularly when your current strategy has supported you thus far and so much easier to live by; so why change right?
If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always gotten.
Talking as someone in the recruitment business I would not condone those candidates to shred there CV!