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Question

I have created list of 10 most frequently asked questions by head hunters.
So for some time, when I was asked for one of them I just copy-pasted answer from pdf, and this worked quite well, but sometimes I had to change words a little to better fir in context.

Then, I have started sending this pdf along with cv.
This is the moment, when I have noticed very big drop in response rate.
When copy-pasting answers I had around 4 replies per 5 send mails, but when attaching pdf's it's like 1 in 10.

Why is that?
Isn't it handy for head hunter to have all answers at once?
Do they feel offended or something?
All answers are the same as I was copy-pasting.

EDIT:
I am experienced software programmer and I nearly always fulfill 100% of job requirements.

The biggest problem is: I am studying two degrees at once, so I can
take only part job and they want to employ me on full-time job.

Second most frequent question is: if I want to migrate to other country to
work, which I don't.

Third one is about cash, I prefer to tell them how much I want in
first mail, so we won't waste time if they cannot afford.

Forth question is: when can I start, which is one month.

Fifth is that I do programming test only if they pay for it.

Sixth is that I do not provide telephone number, I don't tell them why, but
I simply don't want to talk with them during my lectures, and they
ring just then.

Seventh is when I can meet with them, that happens to be in 3 weeks.

Sample rate is:

40 out of 50 responded, when not attaching pdf

1 out of 10 responded when attached.

EDIT 2:

I have done one more approach - instead of sending pdf, I have moved all answers into html template, that I have sent to around 10 employers.
After one day I got back 5 replies.

EDIT 3:
I would like to thank You all who answered or commented on this question - I believe I have learned a little from each and everyone of You.
Frankly, I would like to accept at least half of those answers, but Stack Overflow limits me to one.

Why are you even contacting headhunters yourself? And why so many? — May 24 '16 at 20:48
I have the exact same problem with the women I try to sleep with. When they come back to my place, I give them a pre-packaged travel bag with their own toothbrush and mini-sized toothpaste. In my fridge, they can see that I have a dozen champagne bottles in there. And when I give them a red rose and tell them how special they are, they will take a peek into the room to see where I've pulled the rose out of -- only to find 20 red roses individually wrapped. After that, the night doesn't go well at all. I don't understand. Does anyone have any idea what could be going wrong? Normally roses work! — May 24 '16 at 21:19
"Yes, I really email 50 employers, I have script to do it" - I can't help but feel that your approach is going to make you look, basically, like a spammer. And that doesn't sound like a good way of getting results. Also, your answer to question 1 will rule you out of the vast majority of opportunities, and your answers to questions 5, 6 and 7 all make you seem extremely difficult to work with. — May 25 '16 at 0:02
After reading your edit, I am more convinced of my position. You are coming across as pushy and rude. This may not be your intent, but given the vehemence with which you reject the advice below, the assumption may not be far off base. — May 25 '16 at 12:25
1) You sound incredibly entitled and rude. If the language or tone you use here is even close to how you correspond with employers, good luck being taken seriously. 2) There are few remote-only jobs. Very few international remote jobs. Almost none that are part-time. 3) Point 5, 6 and 7 instantly disqualify you for most hiring processes. — May 26 '16 at 9:22

score 10 · Accepted Answer · 2016-05-25 19:43:33Z

There's an old joke: A guy goes to a doctor. He says, "Doctor, every time I twist my arm behind my back like this, I get a sharp pain in my shoulder." And the doctor replies, "So stop twisting your arm behind your back like that."

If including this file with your resume is hurting your response rate, then stop including it!

That said, I think the bigger question is whether the idea of sending a "here are my responses to questions I get asked a lot" with your resume is a fundamentally bad idea, or whether the problem is the specific answers you gave.

I don't see a problem with the basic idea. I've been involved in hiring people a number of times, and while I don't recall ever getting such a list, I can't imagine why it would turn me against the applicant. Indeed, as it's unusual, it would probably catch my attention. And when an employer gets a ton of resumes, anything that makes yours stand out is good. (Well, not if it stands out in an obviously negative way, but you know what I mean.)

I'd look at the answers you're giving. I suspect that one or more of your specific answers is raising alarms with potential employers.

Or, of course, the decline in your response rate could be coincidence. I've applied for a lot of jobs in my life, and a 4 out of 5 response rate seems very good. I had one time I got a 100% response rate, but that's because I contacted one company and they hired me the next day. I haven't kept statistics but I'd guess that normally I've gotten less than a 10% response rate.

** Update ***

Wait, I may have misread the question.

The question starts out with OP saying that he sends this FAQ with his resume. But then he says he sends the FAQ instead of cutting and pasting responses to specific questions.

If you apply for a job based on ad ad somewhere, and send this FAQ with your resume, I'd think that's a perfectly good thing to do. Though see RichardU's comments below.

But if you send in a resume, and the employer then responds with an email asking questions, and instead of directly answering their questions, you reply to the email by sending this generic FAQ, I'd say that's a bad idea. It tells the employer, I don't care enough about this position to actually read your questions and answer them, so I'll just send this generic FAQ. Even if all the employer's questions are covered in the FAQ, it looks like you don't care.

If you don't mean that the employer sent you a personal email asking these questions, where do the questions come from? Maybe I'm misunderstanding.

No matter how bad my answers are, when I get asked them one-by-one answers remains the same, so I guess it's just idea of attaching A4 pdf with FAQ. So the question is - is generally pre answering questions bad or form (pdf) or amount of text (A4)? — May 24 '16 at 21:07
The idea of' "pre-answering" questions seems like a good one to me. If your sure it's not the specific answers, I suppose there could be something about the PDF itself that turns employers off -- particularly clumsy formatting, or so long that they say "hey I'm not reading all this, forget it", or ... something. Without more details, I can't say. You might try tinkering with it. But in the long run, if it's hurting you, dump it. — May 24 '16 at 21:11
@Jay it comes across as pushy and difficult and unwilling to follow directions and/or guidance. NEXT CANDIDATE. — May 24 '16 at 21:19
@LaconicDroid Too fast. You need to build a little suspense. But hence your handle, I guess. — May 25 '16 at 4:54
@Jay I'm not an HR person either, but I've dealt with them for years and I won't repeat what I think of them in polite company. I can say that they don't like things that don't fit into neat little piles. A strange PDF like that would just annoy them. What's important to remember is that it's not what you, I, or the OP think is a good idea, it's what HR wants to see. The only exception would be a startup or small company that doesn't have an HR dept, or headhunters that just don't care about personal relationships. — May 25 '16 at 13:34

score 12 · Answer 2 · 2016-05-24 22:46:05Z

What you are doing is extremely impersonal and puts workload from yourself onto the headhunter. This alienates from the good ones and bad ones both. The good ones want to build a relationship with you and sending them a canned response can show that you are not interested. The bad ones don't want to spend 2 minutes reading the response. If they can't get their answers in ten seconds they feel they are wasting their time.

Maybe this is dropping your response rate but my impression is that if you think this is a good idea then this type of activity discourages recruiters you wouldn't work well with.

Edit:
Comment from OP

You are seconds person that says about "relationship" especially in
context of head hunter, and then immediately about their time shortage
- this two things just do not go along. Let's be honest, I do not want any relationship with head hunter, and head hunter don't want
relationship with me - I want job, and he wants finder's fee.

The "good" ones care about offering you good service and not wasting your time so you will come back to them when you are looking for your next job. By coming back impersonal you are showing them this effort is wasted, so you don't fit their business model very well. The bad ones just care about how many applicants per hour they can throw at openings and have no interest repeat clients. By making more minutes of work for them you are wasting their time and don't fit their business model.

You are seconds person that says about "relationship" especially in context of head hunter, and then immediately about their time shortage - this two things just do not go along. Let's be honest, I do not want any relationship with head hunter, and head hunter don't want relationship with me - I want job, and he wants finder's fee. — May 24 '16 at 21:28
"I want job, and he wants finder's fee" - sounds like a good approach to take if you want to ensure that you only ever work with crappy recruiters. I've dealt with plenty that would love to work on a basis like that - only problem is, they're the ones I never want to deal with again. — May 24 '16 at 23:59
"puts workload from yourself onto the headhunter" Isn't that their job? — May 25 '16 at 16:56
@Kevin For the good ones this isn't a problem. For the bad ones who are just about firing off X number of applications per day regardless of fit, adding a couple minutes to the process makes you undesirable. — May 25 '16 at 17:06
I really do not understand this idea of dividing into categories like "good head hunter", "bad head hunter", "employer himself". In any case I do not know to whom I am sending CV, and in any case I do not care - I will get job or not. How can I benefit from "good head hunter" after getting a job? — May 25 '16 at 20:18

MelBurslan 7,00511123 · Answer 3 · 2016-05-24 20:25:52Z

up vote
5
down vote

It just means, you don't care to answer their questions personally but expecting them to hunt and peck among the stuff you put in a page, thinking they will all need that information.

Revert the tables and think how you feel when you get a canned response email from one of the companies you have a relationship with and asking them a question which is important to you? Well, they feel the same way when you send them everything including the kitchen sink, while they are asking for a small portion of this information.

It is the establishment of a relationship, not a volume game.

answered May 24 '16 at 20:25

MelBurslan

7,00511123

I have actually thought about it this way, but employers and head hunters do send pdf's with described job offers this way, and no future employee feels bad about it.
â€“Â xinus01
May 24 '16 at 20:28

Recruiters (who are not on top of my favorite people list) play the numbers game. They throw as many balls to the wall as they can, using their handy dandy software, mostly from India, for us, US based potential employees in IT field, just by a keyword match. They do not care if you are actually fit for the job. They basically expect you to eliminate yourself by not responding. If you respond with a general form letter, they do not have time to read it because it takes away from their numbers game. This is the gist of it. My original answer was for recuiters who has genuine interest in you
â€“Â MelBurslan
May 24 '16 at 20:32

You say "they don't have time to read this", but if I won't send them full list at once, but answer them one-by-one it will take much more time. I am not drawing like between head hunters and employers in this question, as I simply reply to job offer and I do not know who reads it. They just have to ask few standard questions, I am just trying to save out mutual time.
â€“Â xinus01
May 24 '16 at 20:37

For the ones that are gebnuinely interested in you, you are alienating them by effectively telling them "I do not have time to answer your questions personally", which is basically offending them. The others, i.e. the pond-scum of recruitment industry, would not even consider reading a page full of answers to see if what they need is in that page. They want to see "Java development: 5 years" and two or three more lines like this. If you give them 50 lines, they skip your answers
â€“Â MelBurslan
May 24 '16 at 20:46

So You hold that there is no problem in sending answers before questions, but amount of text to read is what scares them? So solution is to shrink answers to 5-10 lines and attach to email as text?
â€“Â xinus01
May 24 '16 at 21:03

Â |Â
show 2 more comments

Rory Alsop 5,55612340 · Answer 4 · 2016-05-25 16:51:18Z

If by some magic you got past a recruiter and my HR department and I received your paperwork, I would pop it in my discard pile for a very simple reason:

Cannot follow simple instructions

Even before we get to any qualifications, if you can't do as asked specifically, and provide results in the format requested, then why should I think you can follow more complex instructions?

I'f I'm looking through 100 CV's for 1 or 2 positions, I am going to use anything that lets me cull from my pile of paper, as I don't have time to spend 15 minutes on each CV. I will cull all that are badly formatted, or have silly spelling mistakes, or are unreadable, or appear to be a pre-written boilerplate (which is what you are sending out)

Boilerplate shows me you are not personally invested in getting this role. I will want to hire people who have researched my roles, and my company, and can demonstrate they want it, not someone who has sent out 50 CV's hoping any of them work.

How is pre-answering or sending bulk answers not following simple instructions? They didn't instruct me anything (yet?). — May 25 '16 at 20:28
@xinus01 the key is that they asked you to answer specific questions in a specific order and a specific way; those are their instructions. Not doing so comes across as extreme arrogance at best and inability to follow the simplest instructions at worst. — Sep 20 '16 at 10:10

Richard U 77.2k56200307 · Answer 5 · 2016-05-24 20:54:13Z

up vote
2
down vote

A resume/CV is like a movie trailer. The point is to generate interest in the movie, not reveal the entire plot.

What you are doing by sending the PDF is revealing the entire plot. Now they feel they've seen the entire movie and don't need anything else from you. What they are likely feeling towards you is the same feeling you'd get if you saw a trailer and felt you've seen the entire movie: cheated.

They are, after all, headhunters and it is their job to ask questions. By pre-empting them, you're not coming across as helpful, you're coming across as trying to do their job for them.

Go back to your original strategy and be prepared for questions, but never ever answer them in advance.

answered May 24 '16 at 20:54

Richard U

77.2k56200307

I cannot agree that they "don't need anything else from" me after answering all their questions - their job is to deliver employee, which they don't. Also, wouldn't You like to someone else simplify and speed up Your job?
â€“Â xinus01
May 24 '16 at 21:01

2

@xinus01 I repeat, you're coming across as trying to do their job for them, as well as pushy, and quite frankly, rude. THAT translates as being a potential headache should they send you on an interview. So, they will pass you over for someone who seems less problematic.
â€“Â Richard U
May 24 '16 at 21:18

How is simplifying and speeding up their job pushy and rude? If You are selling car, and I am trying to buy it, then I WILL ask for price, who rode it etc - why won't You just tell me about it at the beginning? Would that be pushy and rude?
â€“Â xinus01
May 24 '16 at 21:31

3

@xinus01 My own observation of you is that you are in fact acting in an unprofessional manner. You are convinced that your way is the right way and disregard any opinions offered, ignoring what is said and instead reiterating your position. There is a distinct and significant difference between being eager and being pushy. Asking if someone has any questions is being eager. Providing a list of prepared answers is pushy. It is also impersonal. Ignore the advice being given to you at your own peril. We have some very experienced and accomplished people here and you are trying our patience
â€“Â Richard U
May 25 '16 at 12:21

I am not ignoring Your advices, I am just trying to confront them with my point of view. I can always get back to answering questions one-by-one, so this is not a problem. I want to learn, how can I automatize my process with minimal to no loss of reply rate in context of "being rude or nonprofessional".
â€“Â xinus01
May 25 '16 at 20:39

Â |Â
show 1 more comment

Paolo 1,148149 · Answer 6 · 2016-05-25 12:45:32Z

up vote
1
down vote

No, it is not a good idea (imo, obviously).

You are a programmer, they are not and a FAQ is not something they are used to: they are evaluating people and not evaluating the features of a software that can be explained in a FAQ on the vendor's website.

Also writing down cash in a checklist is something that feels 'rude' to me (but that's me, is something I dislike badly and prefer to discuss face to face). The same for the programming test: your position is understandable but leave money out of the first contact.

What you can do is attach a cover letter to your submission with the very same content in a written text:

Dear sirs,
here is my cv for position XXX.
Please understand that
studying 2 degrees at once I'm looking for part jobs only in my
area/country.
Because of the above I'm available for a
meeting/interview in X weeks and could start in Y months.

For any contact please use my email address: should you need a phone contact let me know your number and I'll call you back as soon as possible.

Best regards

answered May 25 '16 at 12:45

Paolo

1,148149

About money - if I would not include it, I would have like 10x more interviews, however, after passing them I would have to decline 90% of them, so in the end I would waste HUGE amount of time. I remember one job offer like that, I came to interview and answered everything 100% correctly. They rang (yep, I was providing phone number back then) hour ago and said I got the job, and we just need to talk about money and hours. I was so much shocked, when they have offered like 70% of what I was earning back then. I have immediately get out, and I am getting furious whenever I think about it...
â€“Â xinus01
May 25 '16 at 20:33

As for programming tests - it takes few hours each. I can easily get a job without such a waste. I know that they won't pay me for doing interview test, so this is just my most pleasant way of telling "You must be out of Your mind, if You think that I will do anything for free". Jobs with programming tests are like 3 per 60, so around 5%, they can be ignored without problem. Also, I have tried Your idea of shortening it into text (see my edit in question) and it turned quite well, thank You.
â€“Â xinus01
May 25 '16 at 20:36

1

If you turn down 90% of the offers because of the money, maybe your bar is too high or you target the wrong ads... 90% is a huge number
â€“Â Paolo
May 25 '16 at 20:45

I don't need these 90% employers, I just need one that meets my expectations. About my bar - I am continuously pushing it up, so it's obvious that I will eventually hit cap, and this is my point - to work for as much money, that no one offers me more. And about wrong targets - it's very hard to pick right ones, especially with head hunters involved. For same job level I have seen offers with cash in range 8-12k (spacial case of facebook group that requires to provide cash offer). Only general rule is bigger company = bigger cash. This is also whole point of "spamming" and automatizing.
â€“Â xinus01
May 25 '16 at 20:50

1

you didn't get it: if your expected salary is higher than the actual cap for the position you apply for, nobody will ever consider your cv. you can push as much as you like but the market is the limit. ask for a salary above the max and your cv will be dumped in no time.
â€“Â Paolo
May 25 '16 at 21:26

Â |Â
show 2 more comments

IDrinkandIKnowThings 43.7k1397187 · Answer 7 · 2016-05-25 20:22:13Z

It is going to depend a lot on your list of FAQ's and your answer to those questions. My tips for creating an FAQ to submit would be:

For the most part limit your FAQ to Yes or No questions or questions that can be answered in 3 or 4 words.

When skimming a resume I do not want to read and reread answers to understand them. But short answers are fine and can help me make sure you fit the basics of the position.

Avoid questions that may make you be perceived as a negative person.

Most of the questions you include should be answered yes. A few no's in the middle are fine but If I look at your list of questions and it reads no, no, no, no... I agree you are a no, even though I may have never even read the questions.

Make sure the questions are ones that most employers want to know.

If the list of questions is irrelevant then I am going to wonder if your communication skills are lacking or if your decision making abilities are impaired. Neither answer helps you. So make sure your questions are worth including.

It is also entirely possible that you are skipping the initial filters by providing them the information they need. If you are contacted by 9 recruiters and 8 of the jobs that are not a good match for you, vs the one that is a potential good match then your FAQ is doing its job.

I have added FAQ in my edit in original question. I have been thinking about not including "negative" answers, but truth is, they will ask them anyway, and I will tell them "negative" truth. — May 25 '16 at 20:26

score 10 · Accepted Answer · 2016-05-25 19:43:33Z

There's an old joke: A guy goes to a doctor. He says, "Doctor, every time I twist my arm behind my back like this, I get a sharp pain in my shoulder." And the doctor replies, "So stop twisting your arm behind your back like that."

If including this file with your resume is hurting your response rate, then stop including it!

That said, I think the bigger question is whether the idea of sending a "here are my responses to questions I get asked a lot" with your resume is a fundamentally bad idea, or whether the problem is the specific answers you gave.

I don't see a problem with the basic idea. I've been involved in hiring people a number of times, and while I don't recall ever getting such a list, I can't imagine why it would turn me against the applicant. Indeed, as it's unusual, it would probably catch my attention. And when an employer gets a ton of resumes, anything that makes yours stand out is good. (Well, not if it stands out in an obviously negative way, but you know what I mean.)

I'd look at the answers you're giving. I suspect that one or more of your specific answers is raising alarms with potential employers.

Or, of course, the decline in your response rate could be coincidence. I've applied for a lot of jobs in my life, and a 4 out of 5 response rate seems very good. I had one time I got a 100% response rate, but that's because I contacted one company and they hired me the next day. I haven't kept statistics but I'd guess that normally I've gotten less than a 10% response rate.

** Update ***

Wait, I may have misread the question.

The question starts out with OP saying that he sends this FAQ with his resume. But then he says he sends the FAQ instead of cutting and pasting responses to specific questions.

If you apply for a job based on ad ad somewhere, and send this FAQ with your resume, I'd think that's a perfectly good thing to do. Though see RichardU's comments below.

But if you send in a resume, and the employer then responds with an email asking questions, and instead of directly answering their questions, you reply to the email by sending this generic FAQ, I'd say that's a bad idea. It tells the employer, I don't care enough about this position to actually read your questions and answer them, so I'll just send this generic FAQ. Even if all the employer's questions are covered in the FAQ, it looks like you don't care.

If you don't mean that the employer sent you a personal email asking these questions, where do the questions come from? Maybe I'm misunderstanding.

No matter how bad my answers are, when I get asked them one-by-one answers remains the same, so I guess it's just idea of attaching A4 pdf with FAQ. So the question is - is generally pre answering questions bad or form (pdf) or amount of text (A4)? — May 24 '16 at 21:07
The idea of' "pre-answering" questions seems like a good one to me. If your sure it's not the specific answers, I suppose there could be something about the PDF itself that turns employers off -- particularly clumsy formatting, or so long that they say "hey I'm not reading all this, forget it", or ... something. Without more details, I can't say. You might try tinkering with it. But in the long run, if it's hurting you, dump it. — May 24 '16 at 21:11
@Jay it comes across as pushy and difficult and unwilling to follow directions and/or guidance. NEXT CANDIDATE. — May 24 '16 at 21:19
@LaconicDroid Too fast. You need to build a little suspense. But hence your handle, I guess. — May 25 '16 at 4:54
@Jay I'm not an HR person either, but I've dealt with them for years and I won't repeat what I think of them in polite company. I can say that they don't like things that don't fit into neat little piles. A strange PDF like that would just annoy them. What's important to remember is that it's not what you, I, or the OP think is a good idea, it's what HR wants to see. The only exception would be a startup or small company that doesn't have an HR dept, or headhunters that just don't care about personal relationships. — May 25 '16 at 13:34

score 12 · Answer 9 · 2016-05-24 22:46:05Z

What you are doing is extremely impersonal and puts workload from yourself onto the headhunter. This alienates from the good ones and bad ones both. The good ones want to build a relationship with you and sending them a canned response can show that you are not interested. The bad ones don't want to spend 2 minutes reading the response. If they can't get their answers in ten seconds they feel they are wasting their time.

Maybe this is dropping your response rate but my impression is that if you think this is a good idea then this type of activity discourages recruiters you wouldn't work well with.

Edit:
Comment from OP

You are seconds person that says about "relationship" especially in
context of head hunter, and then immediately about their time shortage
- this two things just do not go along. Let's be honest, I do not want any relationship with head hunter, and head hunter don't want
relationship with me - I want job, and he wants finder's fee.

The "good" ones care about offering you good service and not wasting your time so you will come back to them when you are looking for your next job. By coming back impersonal you are showing them this effort is wasted, so you don't fit their business model very well. The bad ones just care about how many applicants per hour they can throw at openings and have no interest repeat clients. By making more minutes of work for them you are wasting their time and don't fit their business model.

You are seconds person that says about "relationship" especially in context of head hunter, and then immediately about their time shortage - this two things just do not go along. Let's be honest, I do not want any relationship with head hunter, and head hunter don't want relationship with me - I want job, and he wants finder's fee. — May 24 '16 at 21:28
"I want job, and he wants finder's fee" - sounds like a good approach to take if you want to ensure that you only ever work with crappy recruiters. I've dealt with plenty that would love to work on a basis like that - only problem is, they're the ones I never want to deal with again. — May 24 '16 at 23:59
"puts workload from yourself onto the headhunter" Isn't that their job? — May 25 '16 at 16:56
@Kevin For the good ones this isn't a problem. For the bad ones who are just about firing off X number of applications per day regardless of fit, adding a couple minutes to the process makes you undesirable. — May 25 '16 at 17:06
I really do not understand this idea of dividing into categories like "good head hunter", "bad head hunter", "employer himself". In any case I do not know to whom I am sending CV, and in any case I do not care - I will get job or not. How can I benefit from "good head hunter" after getting a job? — May 25 '16 at 20:18

MelBurslan 7,00511123 · Answer 10 · 2016-05-24 20:25:52Z

up vote
5
down vote

It just means, you don't care to answer their questions personally but expecting them to hunt and peck among the stuff you put in a page, thinking they will all need that information.

Revert the tables and think how you feel when you get a canned response email from one of the companies you have a relationship with and asking them a question which is important to you? Well, they feel the same way when you send them everything including the kitchen sink, while they are asking for a small portion of this information.

It is the establishment of a relationship, not a volume game.

answered May 24 '16 at 20:25

MelBurslan

7,00511123

I have actually thought about it this way, but employers and head hunters do send pdf's with described job offers this way, and no future employee feels bad about it.
â€“Â xinus01
May 24 '16 at 20:28

Recruiters (who are not on top of my favorite people list) play the numbers game. They throw as many balls to the wall as they can, using their handy dandy software, mostly from India, for us, US based potential employees in IT field, just by a keyword match. They do not care if you are actually fit for the job. They basically expect you to eliminate yourself by not responding. If you respond with a general form letter, they do not have time to read it because it takes away from their numbers game. This is the gist of it. My original answer was for recuiters who has genuine interest in you
â€“Â MelBurslan
May 24 '16 at 20:32

You say "they don't have time to read this", but if I won't send them full list at once, but answer them one-by-one it will take much more time. I am not drawing like between head hunters and employers in this question, as I simply reply to job offer and I do not know who reads it. They just have to ask few standard questions, I am just trying to save out mutual time.
â€“Â xinus01
May 24 '16 at 20:37

For the ones that are gebnuinely interested in you, you are alienating them by effectively telling them "I do not have time to answer your questions personally", which is basically offending them. The others, i.e. the pond-scum of recruitment industry, would not even consider reading a page full of answers to see if what they need is in that page. They want to see "Java development: 5 years" and two or three more lines like this. If you give them 50 lines, they skip your answers
â€“Â MelBurslan
May 24 '16 at 20:46

So You hold that there is no problem in sending answers before questions, but amount of text to read is what scares them? So solution is to shrink answers to 5-10 lines and attach to email as text?
â€“Â xinus01
May 24 '16 at 21:03

Â |Â
show 2 more comments

Rory Alsop 5,55612340 · Answer 11 · 2016-05-25 16:51:18Z

If by some magic you got past a recruiter and my HR department and I received your paperwork, I would pop it in my discard pile for a very simple reason:

Cannot follow simple instructions

Even before we get to any qualifications, if you can't do as asked specifically, and provide results in the format requested, then why should I think you can follow more complex instructions?

I'f I'm looking through 100 CV's for 1 or 2 positions, I am going to use anything that lets me cull from my pile of paper, as I don't have time to spend 15 minutes on each CV. I will cull all that are badly formatted, or have silly spelling mistakes, or are unreadable, or appear to be a pre-written boilerplate (which is what you are sending out)

Boilerplate shows me you are not personally invested in getting this role. I will want to hire people who have researched my roles, and my company, and can demonstrate they want it, not someone who has sent out 50 CV's hoping any of them work.

How is pre-answering or sending bulk answers not following simple instructions? They didn't instruct me anything (yet?). — May 25 '16 at 20:28
@xinus01 the key is that they asked you to answer specific questions in a specific order and a specific way; those are their instructions. Not doing so comes across as extreme arrogance at best and inability to follow the simplest instructions at worst. — Sep 20 '16 at 10:10

Richard U 77.2k56200307 · Answer 12 · 2016-05-24 20:54:13Z

up vote
2
down vote

A resume/CV is like a movie trailer. The point is to generate interest in the movie, not reveal the entire plot.

What you are doing by sending the PDF is revealing the entire plot. Now they feel they've seen the entire movie and don't need anything else from you. What they are likely feeling towards you is the same feeling you'd get if you saw a trailer and felt you've seen the entire movie: cheated.

They are, after all, headhunters and it is their job to ask questions. By pre-empting them, you're not coming across as helpful, you're coming across as trying to do their job for them.

Go back to your original strategy and be prepared for questions, but never ever answer them in advance.

answered May 24 '16 at 20:54

Richard U

77.2k56200307

I cannot agree that they "don't need anything else from" me after answering all their questions - their job is to deliver employee, which they don't. Also, wouldn't You like to someone else simplify and speed up Your job?
â€“Â xinus01
May 24 '16 at 21:01

2

@xinus01 I repeat, you're coming across as trying to do their job for them, as well as pushy, and quite frankly, rude. THAT translates as being a potential headache should they send you on an interview. So, they will pass you over for someone who seems less problematic.
â€“Â Richard U
May 24 '16 at 21:18

How is simplifying and speeding up their job pushy and rude? If You are selling car, and I am trying to buy it, then I WILL ask for price, who rode it etc - why won't You just tell me about it at the beginning? Would that be pushy and rude?
â€“Â xinus01
May 24 '16 at 21:31

3

@xinus01 My own observation of you is that you are in fact acting in an unprofessional manner. You are convinced that your way is the right way and disregard any opinions offered, ignoring what is said and instead reiterating your position. There is a distinct and significant difference between being eager and being pushy. Asking if someone has any questions is being eager. Providing a list of prepared answers is pushy. It is also impersonal. Ignore the advice being given to you at your own peril. We have some very experienced and accomplished people here and you are trying our patience
â€“Â Richard U
May 25 '16 at 12:21

I am not ignoring Your advices, I am just trying to confront them with my point of view. I can always get back to answering questions one-by-one, so this is not a problem. I want to learn, how can I automatize my process with minimal to no loss of reply rate in context of "being rude or nonprofessional".
â€“Â xinus01
May 25 '16 at 20:39

Â |Â
show 1 more comment

Paolo 1,148149 · Answer 13 · 2016-05-25 12:45:32Z

up vote
1
down vote

No, it is not a good idea (imo, obviously).

You are a programmer, they are not and a FAQ is not something they are used to: they are evaluating people and not evaluating the features of a software that can be explained in a FAQ on the vendor's website.

Also writing down cash in a checklist is something that feels 'rude' to me (but that's me, is something I dislike badly and prefer to discuss face to face). The same for the programming test: your position is understandable but leave money out of the first contact.

What you can do is attach a cover letter to your submission with the very same content in a written text:

Dear sirs,
here is my cv for position XXX.
Please understand that
studying 2 degrees at once I'm looking for part jobs only in my
area/country.
Because of the above I'm available for a
meeting/interview in X weeks and could start in Y months.

For any contact please use my email address: should you need a phone contact let me know your number and I'll call you back as soon as possible.

Best regards

answered May 25 '16 at 12:45

Paolo

1,148149

About money - if I would not include it, I would have like 10x more interviews, however, after passing them I would have to decline 90% of them, so in the end I would waste HUGE amount of time. I remember one job offer like that, I came to interview and answered everything 100% correctly. They rang (yep, I was providing phone number back then) hour ago and said I got the job, and we just need to talk about money and hours. I was so much shocked, when they have offered like 70% of what I was earning back then. I have immediately get out, and I am getting furious whenever I think about it...
â€“Â xinus01
May 25 '16 at 20:33

As for programming tests - it takes few hours each. I can easily get a job without such a waste. I know that they won't pay me for doing interview test, so this is just my most pleasant way of telling "You must be out of Your mind, if You think that I will do anything for free". Jobs with programming tests are like 3 per 60, so around 5%, they can be ignored without problem. Also, I have tried Your idea of shortening it into text (see my edit in question) and it turned quite well, thank You.
â€“Â xinus01
May 25 '16 at 20:36

1

If you turn down 90% of the offers because of the money, maybe your bar is too high or you target the wrong ads... 90% is a huge number
â€“Â Paolo
May 25 '16 at 20:45

I don't need these 90% employers, I just need one that meets my expectations. About my bar - I am continuously pushing it up, so it's obvious that I will eventually hit cap, and this is my point - to work for as much money, that no one offers me more. And about wrong targets - it's very hard to pick right ones, especially with head hunters involved. For same job level I have seen offers with cash in range 8-12k (spacial case of facebook group that requires to provide cash offer). Only general rule is bigger company = bigger cash. This is also whole point of "spamming" and automatizing.
â€“Â xinus01
May 25 '16 at 20:50

1

you didn't get it: if your expected salary is higher than the actual cap for the position you apply for, nobody will ever consider your cv. you can push as much as you like but the market is the limit. ask for a salary above the max and your cv will be dumped in no time.
â€“Â Paolo
May 25 '16 at 21:26

Â |Â
show 2 more comments

IDrinkandIKnowThings 43.7k1397187 · Answer 14 · 2016-05-25 20:22:13Z

It is going to depend a lot on your list of FAQ's and your answer to those questions. My tips for creating an FAQ to submit would be:

For the most part limit your FAQ to Yes or No questions or questions that can be answered in 3 or 4 words.

When skimming a resume I do not want to read and reread answers to understand them. But short answers are fine and can help me make sure you fit the basics of the position.

Avoid questions that may make you be perceived as a negative person.

Most of the questions you include should be answered yes. A few no's in the middle are fine but If I look at your list of questions and it reads no, no, no, no... I agree you are a no, even though I may have never even read the questions.

Make sure the questions are ones that most employers want to know.

If the list of questions is irrelevant then I am going to wonder if your communication skills are lacking or if your decision making abilities are impaired. Neither answer helps you. So make sure your questions are worth including.

It is also entirely possible that you are skipping the initial filters by providing them the information they need. If you are contacted by 9 recruiters and 8 of the jobs that are not a good match for you, vs the one that is a potential good match then your FAQ is doing its job.

I have added FAQ in my edit in original question. I have been thinking about not including "negative" answers, but truth is, they will ask them anyway, and I will tell them "negative" truth. — May 25 '16 at 20:26

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