Why do so many employers refuse to put a company name on a help wanted ad?

Question

It's very frustrating to see job after job with just a PO box address or a generic e-mail address. How can you tailor a resume and cover letter to meet the needs of the employer?

Unfortunately, too many of those ads, are written to be cost-effective and don't list very many details, so you have no idea what the person is looking for. And when a company gets 50+ resumes, you want your resume to be the one considered for an interview.

Answer 1

Normally it is done like this to avoid applicants from showing up at the job site and numerous phone calls. Try this, if they give faxing as an option for your resume, use that number to track them down. you can go to whitepages.com and do a reverse phone number look-up. This way you can get either the company name, address or both. With either of those you should be able find what you need to tailor your resume.

Answer 2

The companies don't want to be flooded with phone calls, or having resumes sent to random names from the website, so they just post a PO box. The skills they are looking for should be clearly posted in the ad itself.

Answer 3

Read the ad carefully as it tell you what they are seeking. With P.O. box & no phone calls HR can concentrate on reading response. Also remember that HR might not have an opening. HR is building a file for the future. Also sad to say some one is going to get fired and they prefer they not know yet.

Answer 4

For some reason they seem to want to not let people know who they are applying to. I agree with you, it is frustrating. What if you applied to the place you were already working, it could be embarassing. Also I once applied to a company that I didn't want to apply to this way. Had to dance on that one.