The fact that a job applicant doesn't read through the entire job posting doesn't mean he doesn't have attention to detail - it can mean he decided that reading it thoroughly is just not worth the time.
Just because someone sends his resume without reading the ad doesn't mean he'll take the job. He may just want to know whether the company finds him interesting before he will think whether this job is what he wants.
The idea is to hire someone that's best for the job, not someone who is best at getting the job.
Granted, not reading the posting thoroughly is not a good indicator, but it really is an extremely minor one. If the candidate is poor there will be plenty of other reasons to disqualify, and if it's an otherwise good candidate it's really not worth getting too worked up over.
I always read the entire thing to see if there's anything special that the company's interested in -- "Familiarity with X, Y, and Z (all rare things) desired but not necessary." Let's say I happen to know a lot about Y, but it's hidden mid-way through my resume. I'd adjust my email w/ resume to highlight what I know.
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The fact that a job applicant doesn't read through the entire job posting doesn't mean he doesn't have attention to detail - it can mean he decided that reading it thoroughly is just not worth the time.
Just because someone sends his resume without reading the ad doesn't mean he'll take the job. He may just want to know whether the company finds him interesting before he will think whether this job is what he wants.
If reading the job posting thoroughly is not worth his time, why should the company believe he'll think doing the job is worth his time?
The idea is to hire someone that's best for the job, not someone who is best at getting the job.
Granted, not reading the posting thoroughly is not a good indicator, but it really is an extremely minor one. If the candidate is poor there will be plenty of other reasons to disqualify, and if it's an otherwise good candidate it's really not worth getting too worked up over.
I always read the entire thing to see if there's anything special that the company's interested in -- "Familiarity with X, Y, and Z (all rare things) desired but not necessary." Let's say I happen to know a lot about Y, but it's hidden mid-way through my resume. I'd adjust my email w/ resume to highlight what I know.