Lately I’ve been a-singin’ the Job Search Blues.
As my regular readers know, I am in the market to get back into IT. The bulk of my technical background is in IBM’s database, called DB2. I’ve been working with DB2 since 1987. Prior to that I was a mainframe programmer/analyst and consultant, with copious experience in COBOL and CICS that I have been able to draw on to this day. (For those of you whose eyes just glazed over reading all of this alphabet soup, buckle your seatbelts. It gets worse. But stick with me; the overall story is worth it and may still apply to you.)
Now, I haven’t been in a job search since 1995, and at that time my résumé was a mere formality, since the company that hired me had a business relationship with my former employer. Everyone knew and respected me, so the transition was a breeze.
In 2001 I was downsized, but since I was pursuing other income avenues I felt no compelling need to get back into another IT position right away.
Little did I know that I would actually miss the day-to-day challenges, the water-cooler camaraderie, and the satisfaction of a job well done. So earlier this year I dusted off my résumé and started pounding the virtual pavement. (Did I pick a great time to look for a job, or what?)
Instead of being a breeze, my current job search has been incredibly frustrating. I have no doubt that my skills and expertise would be a great asset to any potential employer. The jobs I am applying for are all great fits. Were the economic reality different than it is today, I am certain that I would have been hired months ago.
But the rules have changed, and I can’t blame everything on the economy. Evidently, no human being reads résumés any more. Instead, they all go through a keyword extractor, and if you don’t happen to use exactly the right combination of keywords, your résumé doesn’t get chosen for further consideration … this time perhaps by an actual human being.
Case in point. I applied at one company for a position ideally suited to my technical background: “Mainframe DB2 Domain Technologist.” I mean, really, could a job title more perfectly describe my background? Having submitted my résumé online for various other positions with this particular company—and gotten nowhere—I opted to apply for this “perfect” position through a friend of mine who actually works there. I emailed him my résumé and he forwarded it on through the appropriate channels.
Later that morning I received an email from him indicating that there was some concern that I did not in fact possess enough mainframe background for the position. I was astonished. I wrote back emphasizing that it was precisely because of the mainframe requirements that this particular position was a perfect fit for me. He passed that back on. I have heard nothing, and it has been several weeks.
So here is what I think happened in this age of keyword-sniffing software. But first some terminology background. DB2 has been around on the mainframe since the 1980’s. (Remember, I started in 1987—that was Version 1.2.) Then IBM developed a version for its PC operating system OS/2. Since OS/2 never caught on commercially, IBM decided in the mid-1990’s to open it up to Windows. It was at that time that I started learning DB2 on these lower-end platforms, which IBM began calling DB2 UDB. UDB stood for Universal Database, their moniker for that version of DB2 that supported advanced features such as user-defined distinct types, user-defined functions, and large objects. (Again, my apologies to my glazed-eyed friends. Please bear with me.)
Well, the term UDB began to supplant DB2, meaning DB2 that runs on Linux, UNIX, and Windows, as opposed to DB2 that runs on the mainframe. This, despite the fact that mainframe DB2 became DB2 UDB once it also started supporting user-defined distinct types, user-defined functions, and large objects. In other words, the term UDB was being misused and misunderstood. That is why now in Version 9 on all platforms, IBM has stopped using the term UDB entirely.
In my résumé and in my cover letter, I used the term UDB correctly, meaning as IBM used it. To me it included mainframe DB2. Sadly for me, to most hiring departments it only indicates the Linux/UNIX/Windows (LUW) platforms of DB2. Hence the keyword sniffer’s concern that I did not have enough mainframe experience.
How frustrating is that.
The saddest thing about the current state of affairs is that most companies must be bypassing exceptional talent due to poorly programmed keyword-sniffing software, not to mention nontechnical eyes perusing technical résumés. In their favor, the current economic reality is leading to a lot of applicants for the same position, so even discarding some highly qualified talent, there remain a lot of applicants to choose from.
As I said, didn’t I pick a great time to look for a job!
Anyway, wish me luck, everyone. Whoever ends up hiring me is sure to be very pleasantly surprised. That’s not arrogance. That’s simply the reality of thirty years of experience in this industry.
To be sure, I’ll keep you posted.
