Resume Black Hole

CIO.com provides some new tips on how to find out if hiring managers are checking you out on social networking Web sites, blogs, personal Web sites, etc. By monitoring the traffic to these personal Web sites, job applicants can determine if their resume has fallen into the "abyss of disinterest," the article states.

I interviewed some young federal employees last summer to gauge their views of the federal hiring process, and many spoke about the perception that their resumes were sent into a black hole, pointing to a major flaw in the government's ability to communicate with applicants. Perhaps tracking traffic to professional profiles and Web sites is a potential solution for federal job applicants plagued by the lack of communication and lengthy hiring process. Still, I wonder if checking the online profiles of job applicants is a common practice among federal hiring managers, who often receive thousands of applications for a single job posting.