I put my apps in last night too. Lets see how it plays out this year. Good luck everyone!

I completely passed out last night and forgot. Luckily the jobs I wanted to apply for were still there this morning.

I just submitted applications for two jobs at rayjobs.com. I have to say the new system is MUCH improved over the old one. It only took about 15 minutes for the first one (assuming your resume is up to date) and two minutes for the second one. It is very good at picking out relevant information from your resume so you don’t have to type it again. The last time I applied, using the old system, it took much longer.

If you answer no, you shouldn’t have bothered applying.
Those questions are set to automatically reject you.
If you don’t really, but maybe sort of could say yes, then say yes and see if your explanation holds up in an interview.
I learned that the hard way. I had 42 out of 43 important credentials, and truthfully answered no. Shortly afterwards came the automated thanks but you are not qualified notice.

@Idan wrote:

For several of the jobs I applied, there is a question at the end: “do you have the required years of experience for this position?” I honestly answered “no” to a couple of them. I would get an e-mail confirming that I applied for each one, but about two minutes after one particular one, I got another e-mail saying: “Your background and qualifications have been given careful review with respect to this position. Although you were not selected for this position, we appreciate your desire to expand your career.”

Yep, that’s their “first filter”, you have to say yes to everything to get by that one (that’s why the defaults are all on yes, to make it easier, in the past you had to individually click on each question). After that you have their “second filter” where your resume/cover letter is scanned by a computer program (not a human), to find certain “key words”, that need to be there for that specific job you are applying for. And if a certain amount are not there, you will be sent another automated rejection email.

I’ve heard RPSC gets up to 30,000 applicants each year (NANA around 3,000) so they use the computer filters to get it down to a managable number (NANA doesn’t use compter filters, they actually have people review each application sent in). What are the keywords to have in your resume for each position, only HR and the IT department (which is the largest department at RSPC), who wrote the program know. I’ve been to HQs in Centennial many times, and the HR department isn’t that huge and well staffed. If you make it pass the second filter, and your resume/cover letter seems worthy enough, you will get an automated email, which will have the job description again and pay scale(range), asking if you are still interested in the position and to reply to that email saying so. Your reply goes back to HR.

Once you reply yes, your resume/cover letter are grouped into lots of 10 for each position, depending on when they were submitted. So it’s better to have a really good thought out resume in ASAP, to be in that first group of 10. HR will then send that group of 10 onto the hiring manager for that position, and they will start with the one on top and go down the pile. They will most likely then request an interview. If they don’t get anybody they want in the first group of 10, they request HR to send them the next group of 10 and so on until someone (a primary) and an alternate are chosen for that position.

If you are the recieptent of that “golden ticket”, they will then send you a contract to sign and a ton of paperwork as well to get the P(hysical)Q(ualification) process started. They will probably start hiring in April and can go all the way up until October or later to find people for certain positions for this upcoming summer season, some even at the last minute (which would be like 8 months from now). You also have to realize, with how wonderful the economy is doing 🙄 , most of the summer positions, are already filled with people that are returning from the last summer season, which just ended in Mactown. That’s not say, don’t apply, because you need to play the lottery to win, right!

Oh and since this is “probably” the last time RPSC is going to be doing the hiring, it’s anyone’s guess on how, KBR, CH2MHill, or Lockheed Martin will do it next year.

Thanks for the Nana update, Iceman. That’s good to know. In my mind I was thinking it would be at least March before hearing anything, but now I can think in terms of April being more reasonable. A waiting game is never fun, but breaking it down into blocks of “waiting patiently” and “cliff hanging” helps a lot.

I did notice in last year’s posts that some of RPSC auto “are you still interested” emails went out on the first and second day. This year I haven’t seen any posts like that, so I’m not “cliff hanging” there yet either.

Patience–breathe–patience–breathe…..my new mantra
Cherie

I had five postings in my job cart that I wasn’t going to apply for this year, but wanted to watch their progress; two of them disappeared. Apparently enough applications were received to move them along….or something.

Cherie