This is a fairly detailed article and it points out the two "realities" in the engineer career situation. Yes, the companies do want exact fits and they would rather wait a long time than start with anyone with less. Yes, they get tons of resumes and weed out most, and yes (contrary to what Dave Jensen says), they still filter through resumes on key words. And, yes, there are lots and lots and lots of guys out there with good schooling and good track records and they are mad that they are sending out 10 resumes per day and getting two interviews per year and no job offers.
Some words about Microsoft. IIRC, the article says they get 100,000 resumes per year, hire 1,000 per year. Mostly if not all PhDs.
I think its sad that a guy can figure out what is "hot" today, and then get a PhD in that some 4-5 years later and then its not "hot" anymore. Guaranteed shoot-yourself-in-the-foot.
The article also made reference to the NSF with its shortage shouting for many years and lots of people are doubting that this is the case.
There were references to recruiters who have a hard time selling candidates to employers because the employers want that "exact fit". Personally I think it stupid especially when they would rather wait 6-12 months to get exactly what they want.
And, the article mentioned that there are databases of employees, present and past.
