Big Company HR person 1: “Why aren’t we getting good candidates for our open positions? I know! Let’s buy a high-powered HR software to help us qualify applicants through a pipeline, and push them to it from LinkedIn.”
Big Company HR person 2: “That’s a great idea. Let’s take it to the CIO!”
Company spends a lot of money installing a huge system, and then base their entire hiring strategy on it. Candidates apply. System gets stuck. There is no way to contact the company from the application.
Big Company HR person 2: “Why isn’t our new, high-powered application system generating any promising leads?”
No one in HR is allowed to see metrics or logs. IT isn’t looking.
Me, mailing company rep: “Hey, guys, uh, your system is broken.”
Silence.
Me, mailing second company rep: “Guys, really, your system isn’t working.”
More silence. Big Company HR person 1: “Hmm, I guess we’ll never know.” ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Thank you, LinkedIn, for reminding me that even here, in 2020 — where we’re all drowning in software, apps, devices, clouds, “things,” and services — more than ever before — it’s about who you know.
UPDATE: After writing this out of my frustration, I got another email bugging me about why I hadn’t finished going through the company’s four-hour application process after the first 15-minute IQ test, and I responded again that their system won’t let me proceed.