As someone who is in the job market right now, hiring is ridiculously broken. Anecdote time: During a recent job interview, the interviewer mentioned that the

As someone who is in the job market right now, hiring is ridiculously broken. Anecdote time: During a recent job interview, the interviewer mentioned that there was another position in the organization for which I would be qualified. The position had been open for over a year and the department head was desperate for any half-way qualified candidate. Furthermore, when I say that I was qualified for the position, that was an understatement. I am literally the only person on the face of the earth that has experience in their domain who isn't already employed. I also exceeded all of the requirements from their job ad (e.g. they wanted a BS and I have a PhD). So, I sent a nice cover-letter and resume explaining my experience and expressing interest in their project (it was a pretty neat project). Three days later, HR rejected my application without so much as an e-mail. They still haven't found anyone for the post. I've been seeing this time and again. Hiring isn't about finding good people, it's about rejecting bad people. We'd rather reject 100 qualified employees than risk letting one knucklehead in.