Following Up With Employers

If you are waiting for a response to your winning resume good luck; there's a high probability that call will not come.  There are thousands of job seekers out there competing for the same job you are competing for.  Several months ago, I heard that a local employer received over three hundred resumes for one job.  That is a lot of people for one job.  The truth of the matter is that employer will not look at three hundred resumes; he or she will not even look at one hundred.  Worse yet, once the employer has narrowed down his selection, he will interview about 10 candidates.  In spite of these stats, you can land an interview.  It will take more than you sending your resume and waiting.

I will encourage you to develop one skill that millions of job seekers lack - follow up skills.  I want to know whether the employer received my resume.  Most importantly, I want to get a timeline on when the employer is going to be inviting candidates in to interview.  I stress the need to follow up with the employer because it helps to get your resume out of the stack.  About three months ago, I had a customer state that he was able to get an interview when he called the employer to follow up on their receipt of his application.  Having a good resume is not the silver bullet anymore.  I can get crowded out the more job seekers resume the employer receives.

I have seen job posting that ask that you not contact the employer.  In such case, do as the employer request.  Do not make an attempt to contact the employer.  I, however, will see if I can locate someone within the organization that I can find out at least when the employer will be interviewing.  If you are not successful with trying to gain access through networking, you have to rely on the strength of your resume.  Is your resume a tight fit, based on the job requirements?    

Great Resume Writing is Hard Work: It’s Doable.

Last week confirmed what I did not want to admit when it comes to resume development.   I taught a resume development workshop and a resume lab.  Unlike a resume workshop, a resume lab is geared towards helping customers develop their resume with staff assistance.  I sat for about an hour with a screen and computer and illustrated my approach to two types of resumes (chronological and functional approaches), from top to bottom.  At the end of the lecture/demonstration, I had blank faces.  I realized that, with one exception, the workshop attendees had no clue of how to remotely do what I had accomplished on screen.  The truth of the matter is, like any skill you want to master, resume development takes more than practice.  It takes a lot of time thinking about what you have done and properly conveying those thoughts to paper.  There are tons of bad resumes out there, and sometimes bad resumes get noticed, but this is rare.   Don’t reduce your stock value in an employment market that is growing more crowed every day.  Your initial presentation has to be on point.  Invest the energy in making it the best it can be:

1.        Make sure you at least attend a resume workshop, even if you think your resume is the best ever. 

2.       Get someone to coach you through making your resume a winner.  Remember, everyone has an opinion on how you can improve your resume.  You may value your neighbors’ input, but he or she may not be the best person to provide resume guidance. 

3.       Once you have a final product, analyze how well it’s working for you.  For example, if you were to send your resume out to 10 employers, for positions you are well qualified for, keep track of the response rate.    

4.       Continue to refine your resume as your job search evolves.