I did some research recently on jobs for a friend of mine whose company downsized and was shocked just how many open jobs there are out there.
I think the main thing a lot of people, especially 35+ year-old people, do is get stuck in the old way of thinking that 1) you should only apply for jobs that specifically match your existing skills or past education/training, AND 2) that companies will only hire people that match every line item on their requirement list.
When I was looking at jobs for my friend, I remember seeing some of the "Required skills" lists and thinking, if someone had all of those skills, it would cost that company well into the mid-six figures and even then, it would be a short term rental because that person would be in very high demand all over the country.
In the professional world, jobs are mostly about interviews and money. Most companies list job openings hoping to get awesome employees for non-awesome salaries. However, what they really want is someone who can do one or two things consistently well while being reliable showing up and doing their job.
I agree. Actually, in my hiring practices I want that great person, but they can be difficult to find. My company is actually willing to pay above average for great developers, but the deal is. Truly great developers are hard to come by. (because great means more than just knowing your job)
I don't know how many times I get resumes that look good on paper, and then you talk to the person and can immediately spot the person and the resume are two different things. I won't hire deceptive people. If you're a liar. You won't be on my team. Always be up front about your skill set and whatever else. Trust is not given out, it's earned and if you fail by lying to be before I even met you. You will never earn my trust.
The project manager I hired had a decent resume, not fantastic. When I would ask her about something specific on her resume, she immediately said. I've done this, but minimal and I do not want you to think I'm an expert at this. I took that as a very good sign. She passed all my questions and the fact that she was truthful about what her real skill set was was enough for me to make her an offer. She has been the best PM I've worked with thus far in my career. That's saying a lot.
The character of the person I hire is of extreme importance to me. Happy workers are productive workers. Unhappy or lazy workers breed unhappy and lazy workers. I will have none of that working for me.
Due to the difficult in finding people who have the high end skills said and have character. I tend to end up hiring more people that have promising aptitude for a given position if they also have great character and grow them. A majority of our help desk team actually came from our warehouse / manufacturing. They told their managers they wanted to go into IT. We interviewed them and their home hobbies where IT related things. (programming, building PCs, etc) I gave them their shot and so far they have been doing very well and in some cases have moved out of help desk into Network Administrator, Systems Administration, and one even decided to move into QA. (no idea what possessed them to do that! hah but to each their own! QA takes a certain type of personality)
