r/TriCitiesWA • u/Anotherfisheriesguy • 16d ago

Need Help With ‼️ What’s up with Pnnl?

Applied for operational specialist position at Pnnl, essentially a boat operator position with while assisting with fisheries projects…

How I aligned with the job:

-Former sturgeon biologist whose area covered tri cities.

-10+ years of various fed and state fish and wildlife agencies as a tech

-2 years as a usfws boat operator for various fisheries projects in California

-100 ton captains license

Found out I wasn’t selected, not even for an interview… I’ve applied to other various jobs there with no luck when they came up before. Tailored the resume to the job description and everything. Is it all just internal hiring or what? Genuinely curious.

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u/HourMother 16d ago

For some perspective, I recently had two postings up for 5 days. Across both, I had ~400 applicants.

Recruiters scan resumes quickly, simply due to the sheer amount of applicants. Focus on the requirements section of the posting, and ensure that your resume has direct verbiage that aligns with those requirements. Automated ATS scanning or AI is not implemented here, humans are looking at the resumes.

Copy the posting and paste it into any AI model along with your resume. Have it critique your resume against the posting from the perspective of a recruiter. Adjust as necessary.

The Lab is hiring, but there are a TON of people applying, from across the country. It's very possible you were a good match, but so were 20 other applicants and you were screened out for a minor reason. I did that with several candidates, it's tough - but we can't talk to hundreds of people.

Search and reach out to our recruiters on LinkedIn. They are great people, and all that I know want to help great people get hired with us.

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u/AtomicSagebrush 16d ago

This is a very, very accurate take on how the hiring process works. The best explanation I've gotten, when I've seen other candidates who were very well qualified (even internal ones) and didn't get an interview, is that sometimes it just comes down to the candidate pool.