“I’ve sent out what feels like hundreds of résumés with no calls. I know I’m qualified for all the jobs, but can’t understand why I’m not getting a buzz.”
This is an all-too-common complaint. If you aren’t getting responses from your résumé, either it is serving poorly as your sales brochure, or you are sending it out to the wrong openings. Ponder these questions:
- Are you targeting as specific as possible a job? Think in terms of niche marketing … the more specific your marketing is, and the more focused you are in what you are targeting and your message about why you would be an outstanding candidate for it, the more success you will have. On the other hand, if you are sending out to lots of different jobs, you will tend to have weak results.
- Are you writing a powerful cover letter with each application? One that is focused on what the listener wants to hear instead of what you feel you should tell them?
- Is every part of your messaging concise and results-oriented?
- Does your résumé and cover letter prove you will deliver?
- When you tell people what you want, do you explain what results you can produce instead of what sort of ‘experience’ you have?
- Are you spending much more time meeting people 1-on-1 than you are sending out résumés? No matter how good the résumé, sending it out blind to published openings puts you in direct competition with everyone else who is applying, and the hit rate is very low.
Another way to help get to the bottom of this is to find someone you trust in Human Resources (the higher the level the better) or recruiting, or even a career coach, and sit down 1-on-1 with them. Explain exactly what the job is that you are seeking, and ask whether they would get excited about your candidacy based on your résumé.
What are your thoughts? Leave a comment.