scrubbedexpat091

As someone who has had to do hiring plus my own job, the last thing I had time for was to reply to people who had applied for a job, unless we were actually hiring, resumes and applications went into the shredder never looked at.

AdobePinon

Perhaps it would be easier for everyone just to have a message on your website: "We are not hiring at this time. Please do not send us your résumé."

Alternatively, how hard is it to have a pre-generated message ready to go out to the applicants who are turned down / never even considered?

Bluegrass Lass

I went through 2 years of unemployment, and I never once applied to a job that wasn't actually advertised. Of course I also added my CV/Resume to some companies databases, but that doesn't go to a specific position AFAIK. I think that's a pretty reasonable approach to take to job hunting.

RICH

2 years unemployed is pretty reasonable? Did you actually get a job that was advertised?

If I become unemployed next week, which is possible, I would be struggling to last 2 months.

Bluegrass Lass

Weelllllll....the long and short of my story is that we actually relocated back to Scotland for awhile last year, so that added an additional roadblock to my looking for work (since I couldn't focus on looking locally, and had to focus on the impending move). Then we moved back to the US this past Dec. So the criss-crossing of the ocean twice didn't help my job hunt.

I never said 2 years unemployed was reasonable at all. But to answer your question, yes the job I have now was advertised on careerbuilder's website. And yes, we struggled.

Bob

Unless the place is very small, that's what HR/office manager is for.

Other wise, if it is an unsolicited email for a job, fair enough, but if there is a job posted, it's terribly rude and says a lot about a company that doesn't even acknowledge an application, even if with a standard reply.

Steerpike

I have to agree with N1cky overall. I worked 25+ years in silicon valley in software/IT, used to work in London.

I never answer my desk phone and don't listen to voicemails these days, but I religiously answer emails and I do that during all waking hours - before my first coffee in the morning till I fall asleep at night (if it weren't for use as a conference call tool, I would get rid of my desk phone entirely). My boss and I were joking the other day about why people ever bother leaving voicemails. If you need to communicate, send an email or use IM; phone calls are very intrusive.

I started my US career working in Palo Alto and living in SF, so commuted down 280. I quickly learned that it was best to come in late and leave late to deal with traffic. I've kept that up ever since, and now - living walking distance from my office - I still don't go in until around 11am, but once there stay till at least 7 or 8pm. My colleague and I get a lot of our quality work done after 9pm when his kid is in bed and my g/f is happily watching TV ... via email, IM, and remote desktop sharing.

I'm happy driving here and hate driving in the UK. What's the rush? chill out, take it easy, smell the roses .... I get totally stressed out driving there now (I used to ride a motorbike in central London, I can't even comprehend doing that now).

I don't take much time off (vacation) and when I do, I always take my laptop and phone, and keep in touch with work. My niece got married in UK last year, I went over for less than 7 days and worked to keep up with stuff every evening from the hotel.

I always find it amazing that I can order something on Amazon and choose the supposedly slower 'free' shipping and stuff shows up within a day or two. Now, I'm in Scottsdale most of the time these days and there is apparently an Amazon distribution center here but stilll - never ceases to amaze me.

'entitlement' ... 'T&Cs' ... words that I shudder to hear.

I just can't imagine working in a company that could predict what was going to happen 3 months from now. Granted, I seek out and enjoy startups, and in a startup, you wouldn't even dream of taking more than a few days at a time. A week - if you are very lucky. But three months in advance ... whew, that would be a stretch! But also, come to think of it, I don't know if I want to plan my vacation 3 months out ... I kinda like hopping on the internet and finding a quick, unexpected trip to Europe, or taking an impromptu trip to Utah to explore the Canyons ...

Dan725

Ah, that's the spirit - woe betide proactive people who take the time to research your company and send speculative letters....in the shredder with 'em, where they belong!

If its people just randomly spamming, that's one thing - but if anyone in my professional network ever came to me and got in touch with a well penned email, I'd at least do them the courtesy of replying. As far as not replying when jobs are posted (or even after interviews, as sometimes happens), not even something as simple as an auto-reject - that's just downright rude to me.

md95065

Yes - that really sums it up ...

Bottom line is that, as the OP has noticed, things really are different in the US.

California isn't just "the UK with better weather, earthquakes and cheaper gas" and nor should anyone expect it to be.

dlake02

That is just stunningly rude, and exactly the attitude that I hate. Sorry - this is EXACTLY what I'm complaining about - a selfish, short-term attitude to anyone else. And I hear European after European complain about it here - my German colleagues really don't understand it.

And again, that explains why everything here is so short-term. Again, try thinking about someone OTHER than yourself for a change. Think that OTHER people have a right to a holiday and may need to plan. Think that other people may have to save to travel, book ahead, have children at school that have fixed times for vacation, commitments to other people.

We have to book 6 months ahead as my in-laws also need to plan, my sister in law (a teacher) needs to plan, my brother (a GP in the NHS) needs to plan. They work on about 6-12 months deadlines, and I don't think it's unreasonable to plan ahead a little. I also have to think about sending my son to a good University, pension, savings.

Try picking up the phone an booking three return tickets on specific dates to fit in with your family's commitments SFO-LHR in July/August for 2 weeks. You simply HAVE to plan ahead. Especially if you also want to pop over to see family in France and friends in Germany at the same time. It gets to be very expensive unless you book 3-6 months ahead.

I'm not sure I care ! I'm not asking YOU to plan YOUR vacation 3 months - I'm asking you to consider the impact of you planning on other people that you work/interact with.

Why ? I have entered into a contract with my employer. In return for my knowledge and work, they give me things. They are entitled to my undivided attention within that contract, and I am entitled to aspects such as sick-leave, holiday, maternity/paternity, pension, access to health-care, etc. Maybe you just go to the supermarket and give them money and walk out empty-handed, but I prefer a two-way contract where both sides understand what is required.

If you think that by not having rights as a worker you will somehow be better treated, you are deluding yourself.....

dlake02

OK - explain this one to me please ? Why does no one send SMS ? I used to send/receive between 4000 and 5000 SMS messages per month to customers and colleagues in Europe (just the normal quick questions or updates such as "which train" "which meeting room" "on my way" etc). I have done for years and I know that I'm not a heavy SMS user. And it has useful features such as delivery/read confirmation, urgent, etc....

I tried that here for a few months, and other than for family, it didn't work. No-one responded at all !

md95065

OK - calm down.

We all have different personalities and needs and, unfortunately you appear to have found yourself in a particular culture that does not match up well with your expectations.

That is unfortunate.

You might find it interesting and/or helpful to take a look at the various Myers-Briggs personality types in order to better understand why some people behave in ways that appear to be so different from yourself. It certainly helped me (a classic INTP type) to understand why our project managers at work seemed to be so insanely obsessed with making lists and schedules ...

At the end of the day there really isn't much that you can do to change the culture - if the irritations are minor then you can learn to relax a little and live with them, but if they are major and of fundamental importance to you then you probably need to look elsewhere ...

Chrisdc

I think this may be specific to your industry/social situation.

All my friends and colleagues use SMS all the time now... though it is a relatively recent phenomenon.

md95065

Probably because from the moment that SMS was introduced into the US to the present day pretty much all cell phone plans charge per message - yes you can buy an unlimited messaging plan, but that per-message charge meant that the adoption of text messaging in the US was much slower than in Europe.

Chrisdc

SMS was introduced to the US at a time when Instant Messaging was very popular. It was (and probably still is) much more widely used here than in the UK. That made SMS less of a 'killer app" and slowed adoption. Plus what md95065 said.