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Job-Seekers Find Their First Task is Jumping Through Hoops

Employers can be very choosy.

With about six unemployed people for every posted job, hirers have the luxury of large, and often quite talented, applicant pools.

And, boy, is that frustrating the applicants.

In the quest to find the perfect hire, many employers are putting candidates through hours, days or even weeks of tests, interviews, presentations and tryouts.

Many job hunters feel caught in an endless cycle of investing time, sometimes money and always hope, only to be rejected again.

And, after all that, they often find that, if the job was filled at all, it went to an internal candidate.

Pam Sexton said she had what basically amounted to a full-time job for three weeks, applying for a job at the University of Phoenix. The process was all very professional, she said, but it swallowed an incredible amount of her time and energy.

She filled out an application and a more in-depth questionnaire, had a phone interview, sent her college transcripts, gave a sample teaching presentation, participated in a group exercise and had face-to-face interviews.

But, once again, after seven months of similar processes and “so many blood tests, drug tests, personality tests,” she said she’s jumped through lots of hoops to no avail.

Rachelle Rand, who’s been looking for work since December, applied for a business school position at Grantham University. She, too, said the process was professional but time-consuming.

Her first hour-long interview was on the phone, with four people participating. Her second round, a week later, took all day: She said she interviewed with about 20 people back-to-back.

She learned within days (a much-appreciated quick response) that she didn’t get the job. Later, she read on the institution’s Web site that the job went to an internal candidate – someone she’d met in her interviews.

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