Resume submissions... Do they really hold on to them?
polycounter lvl 11
So here is a question for people that have gone down this road before or have possibly been high enough on the totem pole to choose candidates. When you apply for a position at a company and say for whatever reason (more experience, better suited for the position, etc etc) someone else gets the job over you, does that company ACTUALLY hold on to your resume and look at it when a similar job becomes available or are you better off reapplying should a position open. I know they "say" they keep it on file but I was curious if they actually even look at old resumes when a position opens.
Replies
Of course it is possible that it took them 5 months to read their inboxes as well
Yeah I have seen that. I was just curious once they had followed through, had an interview/art test, etc.,etc (the whole works) and then had another position open 2-3 months down the road if they kept that last person on file in case.
HR will often do a database inquiry of certain words when a position opens for people who have applied within the last 6 months.
Of course it don't think it ever hurts to get in contact with the company if a position opens you're interested in to make sure they look at your stuff.
Best bet is to have a friend that works there, and have them recommend you. Barring that, it's ok to re-submit every couple months or so, just to get back in the front of the email notifications.
I put some good reads here.
http://wiki.polycount.net/GameBusiness
But I think Eric is right - I wouldn't think that many companies actually keep your stuff, when some don't even manage to send any sort of response back...
Sifting through it all is the killer. Most companies don't stay on top of it day by day, except to do the minimum which is to find a worthy candidate for an open spot. The rest of the decent candidates are either flagged in the database as such, or the whole mass is left there for later mining.
Getting a personalized reply is rare, unless you're being seriously considered for the spot, or you have a friend that works there who's asking HR about you, or if you're using a good recruiter.
Do you have a phone number? How many e-mails have you sent to each person? Sometimes things get flooded down, or people check things and then forget to respond.
Lastly, there could be a chance that they just don't care. I've taken art tests, and heard nothing back, despite me following up to even see if they got it. It's the ignoring treatment, if after 2 or 3 e-mails to one person they don't respond within a months period of time it's pretty safe to say they'll contact you if they're interested... eventually, but don't hold your breath.
They're pretty much forced to respond at that point and either say they're no longer interested, or they're still interested but things might be on hold at the momment.
They keep it in their records for 3 months and call you for an interview as soon as the position that you applied for comes available. If they misplace it or throw it away and the position becomes available, they will call you for an interview and request you to bring a copy of your CV because it shows on the record that you applied. During those 3 months you can not apply for the same company again.
Edit: As for emails they would consider the CVs that were emailed to them at the very least unless they are recruiting people, not hiring someone to replace someone else who is leaving in 2 weeks. Reason is because they rarely get a chance to read it due to massive mail recieves.
It happens.
On a side note, my friend met with people from dreamworks in December, and they told him he'd have an interview in January for a position there. He kept following up every few weeks, and he FINALY now this week has his interview there.
Finaly when he said he had an interview at another place they realized they needed to do something.
I don't know if you have anything else going on, but sometimes a little incentive for them to respond doesn't hurt. If in fact you went through all that other process, in your next e-mail I'd try to make your request urgent.
As in, "I'm planning on taking a contract position for x amount of weeks unless I hear from you before XXXX" or "I have another interview for this position and want to know if you're still interested or if you've filled the position."
It seems very odd to have gone through all of that and they don't respond....
All I can say is good luck and maybe try to expand your search? There are more jobs than you think out there, just have to find them... luckily I have a buddy with a knack of finding job openings that he sends my way... from studios I've never even heard of.
If you have a few days to spare it might not be a bad idea to just look at games released in the last year and see what companies they came from. And just send an app in to most. 90% of jobs aren't posted online. And 50% of those that are, aren't posted on places like Gamasutra or Creative Heads etc.
It's hard without experience to really get inside connections, that is part of the reason I love polycount so much. Initially all I was trying to do was network more people from the industry but it blossomed into motivation to do work, advice, critiques, and fun discussions as well.
You're building a resume right here on these boards, people read these, and there are a ton of lurkers. If you take and receive critcism well and give good advice to others, people take notice. If there is one thing I've learned it's reputation accounts for a lot.
Make sure you are sending physical stuff aswell as emails when applying, a nicely printed CV and fancy showreel goes a long way and also leaves an impression as opposed to something just saved on their computer thats easily forgettable and hard to log.
I hope everything works out for you Progg, your swamp scene is great!!!!
True that, and if only someone people understood that.
But I think that if your resume is really something special then they will keep it. Or if its so bad that they want to use it to boost moral of everyone on the team by laughing at it.
Unfortunately I think there's the general mindset of "we get so many applicants, we don't need to spend the time to reply, we'll just be getting more anyhow." Which is not a great way to look at it, but that's the way it is.
If you're hurting for cash, take any old job, but keep adding to your portfolio and applying. Persistence pays off!
Wishing you luck sir.
Often people will simply change their minds. That's what a series of interviews is for, making up their minds about an applicant. And it can change in a heartbeat. And sometimes they won't tell you, just the way it is.