Oh The Resumes I have Seen
Today is resume talking day. I took on a project for a friend of mine. She asked me to assist her in finding a Front Office person for a physician's clinic. I took the assignment just so I could get a view into the hiring process for Administrative people. I placed a short ad on Craigslist to see what would happen. The ad was brief and gave a description of the position and what the main expectations were. In addition to the description, I asked each of the candidates to send a cover letter describing why they would be a good fit for a customer service position in this fast paced environment. The add was brief and to the point with my request.
So what did I get for resumes.....In 48 hours I received 33 resumes. That is a pretty good response rate from my estimates. Of them, none really hit the cover letter very hard. Actually, 4 of them did present a cover letter that was more than a two liner. Those 4 did get much more serious consideration than the others did because they DIDN'T FOLLOW DIRECTIONS. It was a simple request that should have only taken a few minutes to produce. I know writing letters is challenging but if some can do it, the others should too. The reason is because they are all in competition with each other.
Your first goal in finding a job is to get an interview. That is it. You have to work this job search thing in stages. You cannot think about getting the job until you get in front of whoever is going to interview you. What all that means is you have to put the time into your resume and cover letter in order to get noticed. Out of 33 resumes I received, I only noticed about 7 of them. The reason is because they had a resume that was tailored to customer service and/or some type of cover letter that gave me a reason to consider them. Remember, you want to get noticed first before you can get the job.
So get noticed first. The second thing is to practice answering the question: "Why are you leaving your current job?" If you say you are leaving because you don't get along with the rest of the people there, that is a red flag for any hiring manager especially for an Administrative role. So come up with a better answer than that. I am sure there are a number of other reasons why the job you are applying for is better suited for you. Think on it BEFORE you send the resume.
Finding a job is a small part timing and a HUGE part selling. You have to think of yourself as a salesperson when applying to jobs. I don't mean you have to be sneaky or embellish yourself to get the job. I mean you have to think about what value you can bring to a new job and get noticed by detailing a resume that will highlight your experience and how it can be utilized at this new job. A good resume won't get you a job however, you can bet that a poor resume will not even get you noticed.
There are other lessons from my view from the other side this week that I will share on a later post. Stay tuned for them.
Let's Get Started!
Jeff
So what did I get for resumes.....In 48 hours I received 33 resumes. That is a pretty good response rate from my estimates. Of them, none really hit the cover letter very hard. Actually, 4 of them did present a cover letter that was more than a two liner. Those 4 did get much more serious consideration than the others did because they DIDN'T FOLLOW DIRECTIONS. It was a simple request that should have only taken a few minutes to produce. I know writing letters is challenging but if some can do it, the others should too. The reason is because they are all in competition with each other.
Your first goal in finding a job is to get an interview. That is it. You have to work this job search thing in stages. You cannot think about getting the job until you get in front of whoever is going to interview you. What all that means is you have to put the time into your resume and cover letter in order to get noticed. Out of 33 resumes I received, I only noticed about 7 of them. The reason is because they had a resume that was tailored to customer service and/or some type of cover letter that gave me a reason to consider them. Remember, you want to get noticed first before you can get the job.
So get noticed first. The second thing is to practice answering the question: "Why are you leaving your current job?" If you say you are leaving because you don't get along with the rest of the people there, that is a red flag for any hiring manager especially for an Administrative role. So come up with a better answer than that. I am sure there are a number of other reasons why the job you are applying for is better suited for you. Think on it BEFORE you send the resume.
Finding a job is a small part timing and a HUGE part selling. You have to think of yourself as a salesperson when applying to jobs. I don't mean you have to be sneaky or embellish yourself to get the job. I mean you have to think about what value you can bring to a new job and get noticed by detailing a resume that will highlight your experience and how it can be utilized at this new job. A good resume won't get you a job however, you can bet that a poor resume will not even get you noticed.
There are other lessons from my view from the other side this week that I will share on a later post. Stay tuned for them.
Let's Get Started!
Jeff
posted by Jeff at
1:11 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home