Friday, April 11, 2008

What Is a "Non-Job?"

Some candidates use the term ‘Nonjob’ to refer to Internet job postings that don’t actually have a job requisition behind them. Most commonly the listings turn out to be either H1B postings or recruiters trolling for resumes.

What are some signs that you’re reading a nonjob posting? Let’s start with H1B posts. This is where a company wants to submit an H1B candidate for a Green Card application, so they are legally required to post an ad for the job the H1B holds. Of course the company has no intention of actually hiring anyone else for the position, so the job posting will often contain a ridiculous amount of detail, listing a very specific combination of skills that very few people on earth could possibly possess.

On the other hand, a nonjob posted by a recruiter will usually appear much more genuine. It might even be based on a legitimate job req. There’s typically no sure way for you to identify a recruiter nonjob, but there are a few telltale signs that a recruiter may just be looking to pad his resume database:

  • The job req is vague enough that a lot of people could qualify (e.g., “Looking for people with J2EE or ASP.NET or LAMP or Perl/Python or Ruby skills”).
  • The pay, which most job postings omit, is quite attractive.
  • The possible pay range is huge – e.g., 60K to 120K DOE.
  • The posting stays on a job board for months at a time.

My advice to you if you encounter what you suspect is a nonjob? If it’s obviously an H1B posting, simply ignore it. Even if you’re an H1B yourself, forget it; the company has already picked someone and they are not looking for anyone else.

If the nonjob looks like it’s coming from a recruiter, there’s no real harm in submitting your resume. The recruiter will keep your resume on file, and who knows, they might contact you in the future if a match comes up. But don’t hold your breath.

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