Galen College of Nursing

Galen College of Nursing's ATS is everything that's wrong with employers' attitudes today.

It starts by demanding your salary requirements (and everyone wonders why salaries have been stagnant for so long). Then, it throws in the first disqualifier. If you admit you're unemployed, REJECT...

If you lucky enough to be employed...what fucking right does this corporation have in invading your professional space by asking to contact your employer???

Next, they demand the personal information of your colleagues and clients, information that can be misused and abused in the wrong hands.

Next is the employment history. There's the offensive-as-hell demand for salary history (illegal to ask this now in MA, MN, and a few other places), and yet another demand to contact your supervisor. Are they planning to tell him/her what you typed in the "Reason for Leaving" box?

And, finally, we wrap it up with the ultra-offensive demand for an explanation of gaps in employment. 

I've already shared my thoughts on the topic of "employment gaps" in an earlier post. 

I keep asking, how does a member of the new and oh-so-wonderful gig economy complete an application like this.

After reaching my point of complete disgust, I closed the window and sent them a message via their Facebook page, "I was interested in submitting my resume in response to your ad for a multimedia specialist, but after getting very frustrated with your ATS I gave up and closed my browser window. Is there a human being to whom I can directly send my resume to be reviewed?"

After five days, I still had not yet received a reply. I sent another message, "I find it incredibly sad that you couldn't be bothered to reply to my very simple message...One last thing -- please tell your HR department that demanding a person's current salary in a job application is now ILLEGAL here in MA. It's just a matter of time before that law elevates to the national level, so I strongly recommend you remove that offensive aspect of your online application. It's costing you good applicants (I myself walked away from applying)."

This finally prompted a reply from them: "We apologize for not getting back to you sooner.  Every applicant must apply through our online application process.  Can you please provide me with your number and I will have someone from HR to reach out to you for assistance?"

In other words, no, I can't send an old-fashioned resume to anyone, because they're too dumb to know how to read it. Gotta have that ATS do it all for 'em. What a sad state this country is in.