I love Tom Cruise as much as the next girl, but the point of the picture is to show you what it feels like to be searching for a job. Barely hanging on and all that the picture implies.
And now that I’ve used Tom Cruise to get your attention, please read on.
Trying to get your resume read these days calls for creativity and lots of luck. With the amount of candidates going after any one job, I try to find ways to set myself, and my resume, apart.
Let me give you an example. There is a company that is headquartered in another state (not in PA) and they are looking for someone in my area of expertise in my geographic location. I’ve applied to this company for similar positions in the past and have never heard back from them one way or another. I apply online as they request but then I follow-up with an email to the person in charge of the department I’d be working in. Last year, I went so far as to send this person a Fed Ex envelope containing my resume and cover letter.
In mid-January of this year, this company was once again looking for someone to fill a position that basically matches my resume. Once again, I applied online and also sent an email to the department Vice President.
I belong to several job boards in my field and the other evening I received an email from one of the job boards indicating this company I’ve been targeting has 2 positions in my field. However, the only way to apply was through the company website which I have already done. Once again, I try to be creative and get myself noticed.
I decide to search on linkedin.com for a contact in Human Resources at this company. I find a name and over the weekend I call the headquarter office and try to leave a voice mail for this person using the company directory. However, the voice mail system keeps kicking me out every time I spell the name. Now what?
Next I craft an email with my resume attached and try an email address for this person. I have no idea what the format of their email addresses is, so I first try first initial and last name. Example: jsmith@acme.com. Immediately after hitting send, I receive an email back saying that this is not a valid email address. Next I try “jane.smith@acme.com” and what do you know, it works!
So now a real life person in Human Resources at this company has my information. What she does or doesn’t do with it is a whole other blog entry.
Stay tuned and if you’re the HR Generalist in question, CALL ME!!!
Now you can get back to Tom Cruise . . .
