post and pray

v.

To place a job advertisement in a newspaper or other general location and hope that good candidates respond; to post a résumé to an online job site and hope that you get a response.

— post-and-pray adj.

Example Citations:

Organizations that have spent years reinventing their supply chains and turbocharging their computer systems seem oddly content to keep hiring the old-fashioned way: by posting open positions in newspapers or on Internet job boards, hoping that enough candidates see them, and sorting through the résumés — what Mr. Warner calls the ''post and pray'' school of recruiting.

— William C. Taylor, "To Hire Sharp Employees, Recruit in Sharp Ways," The New York Times, April 23, 2006

Lent said she understood state law requires a superintendent to be in place by the time Morse leaves June 30.

Advertisements will be placed in national education journals, and posted on Michigan Web sites, Pridgeon said.

"Actually, we've already started getting calls about this. It's not just post and pray."

— Juanita Westaby, "EGR search moves into high gear," The Grand Rapids Press, April 13, 2006

Earliest Citation:

Although some boards — and there are literally thousands of them — have begun to get more sophisticated, offering job search tips and career advice, most are basically post-and-pray operations, in which job seekers submit resumes and hope for the best.

— Karen Robinson-Jacobs, "Functions of Job-Search Dot-Coms Evolving ," Los Angeles Times, August 8, 2000

Related Words:

boomerang

bozo explosion

flexicurity

plug and play

stop-loss job

upstaff

worklessness

Categories:

Employees

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