Does applying to two different kinds of jobs at one company lower your chances of getting either one?
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Does applying to two different jobs at one company significantly lower your chances of getting each one? I am interested in two different areas (and then they outline both of them). Would it be a bad idea to apply to both of them at the same company? How does the process usually work with processing applications?
Without outlining the specific jobs, I’m going to answer the specific questions.
As to whether reduces your chances by applying to more than one position, well, it depends. I interviewed someone for the show not long ago who was a corporate HR recruiter. He commented that his firm’s applicant tracking system was set up to recognize individuals who were, “frequent appliers.” In his firm which was a medical facility in the mid-Atlantic states, his firm would get applications from people for multiple positions that they weren’t qualified for. The system is set up to block them from applying because they are little more than a spammer to them.
“Yes,” you can think, “they may hit on one of them.” These people are not paying attention and don’t really care about the impact on the person reading the resume; they just want to work for the company. What firms look for our someone who can fill individual job. You can see the disconnect there.
Thus, multiple submissions can have an adverse impact unless you’re going to individual hiring managers. So, if you are applying through the applicant tracking system, you’re starting to lower your value to them. After all, even if there are two different recruiters handling the two different jobs, the system is going to recognize that you’ve applied through two different types of position. Even if they look at the resume, there recognize that it’s the same person applying for two different jobs, realize that you probably don’t fit either of these roles and reject your resumes.
Or they may look at them and think to themselves, “Spammer!” Or they may just simply say, “Huh,” and delete your resumes.
So, it can have an adverse impact, it can have a neutral impact, it can have a negative impact, at worst.
Let’s review the scenarios:
“Huh?” (rejected).
“Let’s consider him for this one, but delete the resumes for the other.”
“Spammer!”
There is no situation where they are going to say to themselves, “Fabulous! We received the resume for two different jobs!”
And the probability is that two different recruiters are coordinating two different jobs so there is going to be internal friction so they will have to figure out who is going to be the primary interviewer and who will be the secondary. Remember, corporate recruiters are now being evaluated based upon outcomes, too. Thus, it’s not simply you getting hired (which I know is all you really care about); for them, they have metrics they have to live up to and you will probably be wasting their time they could be better served elsewhere.
Continuing, how does the process work with applications? Would I be talking to the same recruiter? I’ve addressed that already.
The fact that you are submitting your resume to two different positions, involving two separate groups, demonstrates that you’re an amateur to them. As such, you are sending a signal to the employer that you don’t really have a career yet and are trying to sort things out. After all, in their thinking, you can be interested and qualified in one area, not the other. The fact that you’re leaving it to the winds, to the ether to sort it out for you, sends messages to employers.
Even if the two jobs reflect an old paradigm and a new one, they say are themselves, “Ah! She’s trying to make a career change. She’s not good be happy doing this old work if we hire her for that.” You see, it’s not just as simple as whether it is going to one recruiter or two. It is the impact and that message that the recruiter or recruiters is left to interpret. Left to their own devices, recruiters pause, leave the window open and go on to something else. In their subconscious, they try to process the conflicting messages that you are sending by applying for two very different jobs.
Usually, when they pause, they hesitate for lengthy periods of time. When that happens, they come back and re-review the resume and don’t act on it then. Eventually, they reject the resume.
Can it turn out differently? Absolutely! How will it probably turn out? Not so good for you. You are far better off zeroing in on one thing you want that you are qualified for and going for that.
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Do you think employers are trying to help you? You already know you can’t trust recruiters—they tell as they think you need to know to take the job they after representing so they collect their payday.
The skills needed to find a job are different yet complement the skills needed to do a job.
Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter has been a career coach and recruiter for what seems like one hundred years.
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