“The
Click & Send Mentality Doesn't
Work”
Career Cycles
By Joe Hodowanes, Career Strategy Advisor
Of J.M. Wanes & Associates
www.jmwanes.com
Here’s a challenge for you. Open the telephone white pages and randomly pick a name. Call the person and try to sell them something you happen to have in your pocket (or purse). If they don’t seem immediately interested in your pocketknife, nail clipper or whatever, invite yourself over for dinner so that you can show your item personally.
What kind of results would you predict? How many people do you think you would have to call in order to sell your item…or to actually get a dinner!!??
I use this illustration because people appear to be following the same “strategy” in sending their resumes to companies they find on the Internet -- expecting they will get considered for a job. Once job seekers have electronic versions of their resumes, it becomes relatively easy to fire off e-mails to hundreds of firms and post resumes on every dot.com job board in the universe. Similar to selling your pocketknife through a cold-call, the ‘hit-rate’ is miniscule. Nevertheless, almost every job counselor will advise clients that “it’s a numbers game, and you just have to get your numbers up to where you will get a certain number of ‘hits’ per thousand resumes you send out.” This strategy does work, but it is very inefficient. A major change in tactics is needed to dramatically improve the so-called ‘hit-rate.’
Go back to the hypothetical challenge. Pick a name from the phone book at random. Instead of calling right away, do some very basic research using publicly available information. Imagine doing an Internet search on the person’s name, his street, his town, and his county. Follow all links and leads until something other than your mouse ‘clicks’ and begin to build a more plausible reason for making the call. If nothing resonates a ‘click’, you may as well move on to the next name and begin over. But if some common link begins to materialize, then follow through, as one of our former job search candidates did in the following example:
Wayne performed a search on a random name and eventually discovered this person’s interest in genealogy (it is amazing how many people post their family trees on the Internet!) She had traced her family back to 18th century ancestors who settled in Philadelphia and ran a hardware store. Bingo! By absolute chance, I had long ago bought an old, rusty pocketknife for fifty cents at a yard sale. It had the name and location of an old-time Philadelphia hardware store embossed on the metal surface. Using the e-mail address she had posted on her website, I told her of my ‘antique knife’ from a Philadelphia hardware store. Long-story-short, she expressed an interest in buying the knife! I sent it to her for free, just to prove my point. After she received it, she e-mailed a message saying that if I was ever in Columbus that I should say “hello.” Sounds like dinner to me!!
The obvious moral of the story --- use the same tactics in applying for a job online. Spend some quality time actually reading information posted on the company’s website. Read the press releases and company history. One time I accidentally found the name of a college classmate among the senior management biographies posted in a section of the company website, which required at least four click-throughs to find.
Oftentimes the links can be subtler. Be guided by your own creativity and ability to do research until you find something very special that connects your unique characteristics, hobbies, and/or professional assets with something of genuine interest to the target company or, better yet, to an individual within the company.
Suppose you are interested in relocating to Corning, New York. You research the corporate website of Corning Incorporated where you discover the company’s interest in starting a glass museum in the historic section of downtown Corning. A search of the local newspaper archives reveals that company vice president Mr. Jones (not his real name) has proudly announced acquisition of property for the museum on Main Street. Now, imagine your cover letter conveying a sense of passionate urgency in being considered for a job: “Dear Mr. Jones, I read of your long standing interest and recent progress in establishing a showcase museum for your company. I have been collecting antique crystal ever since I found a discarded chandelier made by Tiffany himself. When I learned that Corning Inc. was looking for a managing curator for its showcase museum and for its worldwide touring collection, I just knew that my background in library science and convention planning would be of value to your search for the right person.”
Compare this targeted approach with the “click and send mentality” of just sending your resume and a generic cover letter to hundreds of companies. There are no guarantees, but this type of approach, although time-intensive, will significantly increase your chances of being seriously considered for job openings. You might even get an invitation to dinner!
Joe Hodowanes, a career strategy adviser in Tampa, Florida, offers a free resume
and career analysis. Fax your resume to (813) 936-0201 or email it to
jmwanes@jmwanes.com For questions, call Joe at (813) 936-0091 or visit
www.jmwanes.com on the Web. All Job Search Advisor articles on this website are the property of
www.jmwanes.com
(J.M. Wanes & Associates). You may download
a copy for personal use. Redistribution without permission is strictly prohibited.
© 2005 J.M. Wanes & Associates.
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