Please help me!
When you reply to a job opening by sending a resume or completing an online application, how many entries do you think that company receives? How many do you think the well known resume banks like Simply Hired, Career Builder, or Monster receive? How do you get noticed?
One of Two Things Happen to Your Information
One, it gets placed in a very large pile of resumes and applications on someone’s desk, or two – it gets scanned into a resume bank. Either way it gets buried, most likely gone forever if not written correctly.
True story
One hiring authority, with two large stacks of resumes on her desk, said she did not have time to go through every resume. When queried about her method of choosing the correct fit if she did not go through each resume, she replied “I grab a stack, thumb to the middle and pick the first person who appears qualified.”
To Get Noticed, Use Key Words
If it gets scanned into a data bank, the only way you will get noticed is if your information contains the same exact keyword or keyword phrases the hiring manager will use to search for applicants. How likely will your information be found? An over simplified example: if HR is searching for a skill they call “customer specialist” for their company, only resumes containing “customer specialist” will be returned because that will be their search phrase. While everyone practices customer service, few people call it “customer specialist.” So, list very descriptive job duties in various ways in your general resume that include keyword or phrases hiring authorities might use in searches. Attempt to add variables where it makes sense. When you conduct Google searches, you use keywords and phrases – so do they. Better yet, want to know what words or phrases a particular firm is using? Look at their job posting! Their ads will give you their keywords, keyword phrases and titles! Customizing your resume for each company by working their own keywords into your resume will increase visibility. Companies search by what is familiar to them, their titles, and their descriptions. Use that knowledge to your advantage. Doing otherwise dooms your resume or application to suffocation in some over-bloated databank.
Now the Secret Weapon – STOP sending in job applications and resumes just be added to some “stack,” but that’s another story on creativity.
Looking for a jobs in Waco, TX? Visit our job board.
Your resume is either fighting for you, or sabotaging your job search. If you are submitting resumes and obtaining no results, you need to include with better ammunition in it. Start by getting feedback from family or friends. Give them a copy and ask:
1. Does my resume tell them the type of job I am applying for?
2. After reading, can they tell me how many years of related experience I have?
3. Does it spell-out my accomplishments pertinent to their opening?
4. After the company reads it, will they want to learn more about me?
5. How might they feel I could improve my resume?
While not employment experts, your family’s first impression can help. After reading your resume, will they be able to tell for what job you are applying? After naming the job, will they agree the resume addressing the jobs requirements? Do they think it will “sell” you over your competitors? And Yes, this is a competition.
Your resume must entice the reader to want to schedule an interview to learn more about you. Does it? For more feedback and constructive criticisms, it is very helpful to have someone more experienced review your work who does not know you.
Also, you can’t keep using the same version of your resume for every job. For certain jobs, you can make your resume stronger by tweaking your wording to address how your skills directly pertain to the job skills requirements they posted. Having a resume that results in interviews is an extremely important element to your job search! Invest time in it.
Looking for a jobs in Waco, TX? Visit our job board.
Feeling frustrated in your job hunt? Can’t understand why other people always find the best jobs? What if I told you 60% of positions are filled before ever being posted to job boards? Let me explain.
Jobs listed on job boards represent only a small number of total jobs being filled. So, where are the other jobs being listed? The answer – “They aren’t.” These are jobs filled through networking. Translation… referrals.
Studies show anywhere from 50-60% of jobs are filled before they make the job board. Instead, these positions are filled through referrals, not by applying. The good news, these are better jobs than what you find on job boards. Publicly listed jobs are filled by matching skills to a fully qualified applicant. No imagination. At best, a lateral move. Advancement is out of the question. However, referrals through networking are different.
In positions filled through referrals, it’s more about internal promotions, performance, and future potential. This hidden job market represents promotions and career advancement opportunities. Without the perfect skill-set and experience, your only chance to be evaluated in a favorable light is through a referral from a friend – a friend in your network.
I suggest employing a 40/60 job hunting strategy. The idea is to spend 40% browsing and responding to job board listings and 60% networking. Note, when responding to job listings, send your resumes through the “back door.” Meaning, send your resume in a hand written envelope to the department head needing the people.
Spend 60% networking. Through networking, you will more than double your opportunities. Volunteer at local charities, join service clubs, and attend local events. Let friends, relatives, and acquaintances know you are looking. Network, network, network.
While the job market is not as robust as it could be, it’s not as bad as reported. Looking for a job is a full-time job. So, go to work! Good luck with your job search!
