Can someone please tell me how it is that when you submit a CV/resume for a role at UBS that they can get it through to HR, then on to the relevant project team, have them examine it, reject it, notify HR and send an alert out to the original applicant in only a couple of hours?
I have had first hand experience of working for large companies in Switzerland and I never saw anything happen that quickly.
p.s. If anyone from HR@UBS is reading this, your job portal is awful. From a navigation perspective, from a data entry perspective, from an editing your details perspective etc. It did make me think at one point, if this is what they think is the acceptable face of IT for potential IT employees, how bad are the systems that aren't public? Apart from that, it's great.
Easy: They do not. Depending on the job, a large company as UBS receives a three digit number of applications. Obviosly can a project team or a line manager not spend a week reading through all of them - an HR person will make a first selection. This is typically done by some very junior ones or interns. They get a handfull of key words and "must have" requirements and will pass something like the top ten CVs on. The rest goes straight into the bin and aparently you were not in the top ten.
I think they have a system which scans your CV/Resume looking for certain keywords / phrases and then based on certain criteria, forward it up the chain to an actual HR person...or just send you back an automated reply for email addresses like donotreply@...
And they do make the automated replies sound personal...with details like we have sent it to blah and blah...Actually they don't.
Its probably just a batch job which runs every few hours and does this.
The really irritating bit is receiving exactly same "personalized" replies for different applications within a few hours of each other.
I've been through the same thing over and over with Novartis, Roche and other big pharma concerns. And that's only when they bother replying.
A few of the smaller Swiss firms have written me rejection emails, signed by an apprentice. Sadly, the interns and apprentices are given the task of weeding out exactly what the job spec has asked for. All the hyping up of qualifications and motivation for the job in the cover letter has no use, when the line manager never gets to see it.
Think positive: You made the experience and understood how they work, many other applicants did not. Why is that an advantage? If we assume that some intern who has zero knowledge on the subject weeds out the CVs, the logical conclusion is: Use the exact same terms in your CV that are used in the ad! They are the keywords the intern is looking for and we do not expect them to be able to "translate" your CV correctly. Most people would never do so as it sounds completely stupid and is an extra effort - but it will surely raise your chances immedidately.
I had this experience as well, on a Saturday afternoon. I suspect it is generated automatically as I doubt UBS staff would be reviewing resumes on the weekend.
The plus side is that if you do not hear from them in the first day, most likely you have grabbed their attention and moved to their next review stage.
They could also send the no-reply rejection email once they have had enough applications. Try applying for the same job through an agency and you won't have to speak to HR.
The best rejection i've had was from Adecco. When I first arrived, they told me that I wasn't suitable for their agency because I didn't speak German. They printed out my CV, bound it, and sent it back to me in the post. A great free CV printing service
Although I only worked on contract jobs as a recruiter here in CH, I found that HR are useless! Unless you type in all the keywords on the job description into your CV, they wont look at it. My theory is that they press ctrl F and search for certain words. In the future tailor your CV to the job that is adverised. Only then, will they forward onto the line manager.
When I get that quality of reply I write the CEO and state that there seem to be some serious communication deficiencies that I am sure they would appreciate being made aware of. I've never yet had such an email ignored - and I do this whenever I encounter middle management NO can do attitudes - I always make sure I get the real email address of the CEO which is often possible given enough determination and imagination in phrasing Google search queries. If the company is remotely half-decently run then I usually get a grovelling response from someone within a day or two. If not then they really ain't worth knowing :-)
Seriously: Here, a photo is a must in a CV. No need to discuss it, it simply is. Yes, this includes foreign companies as the interns looking at the CVs are locals as well. Get a professional one, not from the passport photo box in the Migros.