Looking for a gimmick to get potential employers to pay attention to my resume. So far my best idea is to make a DVD movie of myself and include it with my resume. Problem is that a lot of the companies I am looking at do online applications only. Anyone else got any ideas? I gotta go to work I will ccheck back later.
Count me as a “no” vote against gimmicks.
My best reccomondation woould be to find out a name of someone who works at the companies you are interested in. It may not be someone you know (that would be best of course). I have found responding to jobs from monster, etc. is prety much an extreme longshot. There are too many resumes to look at to make one stand out. Many, many people are qualified on paper for the jobs they apply for. It is hard to get noticed. Sending it too someone could get you noticed. It has worked for me in the past. Iwould think a dvd would not be a great thing to include and would probably would not be looked at.
Good luck,
Three words: Network, network, network. As I said in my post in your other thread, you need to work friends, family, acquaintances, etc., etc., etc.
What field are you in. A DVD would NOT be a good way to get your foot in the door as a lateral hire at a law firm, but maybe if you want to be a TV weatherman?
It’s amazing to me the mythic nature that the Resume has taken on. The bottom line is they really do nothing, if you are serious about searching for a job. Many experts on job searching say the best approach is to pick up the phone and start calling the person( people) that would be your boss or report-to person and the range of companies that you are interested in. This will say more about your initative, resolve, business acumen, and direction than an anonymous resume showing up on some manager’s desk though the mail - that will just get sent along to HR or worst case sent right into the garbage! Every job that I have had in the last 10 years has come about this way - in some cases cold-calling into the person who would be my manager. Of course you have to have one( A resume), but my resume was an afterthought and a formailty once an interview/meeting had been established.
Fleck
Yep, we’re saying the sames things, basically. It’s comparatively easy to sit at home and send out hundreds of resumes and convince yourself that you are working hard looking for a new job. You may be working “hard,” but you wouldn’t be working smart.
Most people really hate working the phone, networking, calling potential employers, researching companies, etc. It’s tough work doing that – and that’s why many people default to sending out hundreds of resumes. They then convince themselves they are doing something they really aren’t – i.e., effectively looking for a job.
I can see that helping if you are applying to be a porn star.
Do you do any tricks? Waitaminute…if you do I don’t wanna know.
Being a porn star is my dream – please don’t encourage him in this. The field is crowded enough as it is. I’ve sent out hundreds of resumes, but to no avail.
It’s a challenge too many I am sure, but it does work. It’s a bit easier for me because I have always worked in outside sales and marketing positions where getting on the phone or meeting head-on with key decesion makers is what the job is all about. That’s how things happen - not sending an anonymous proposal or resume. The numbers and the game can be a bit daunting to the uninitiated. These are just general numbers and anectdotal, but seeing as I make hundreds of these calls every month this is what I find. If you call 100 people, you will get directly through to maybe 20( you can leave a voice-mail, but despite what EVERYONE says on their outbound message . . . NO ONE calls you back ASAP, if at all). Of those 20, maybe 10 will want to talk with you. Of that 10, five might be interested in a bit more engagement and of that 5 you might get a meeting with 2 - 3. So you better hit the phone right now and get going. Exactly NO ONE is going to call you up and offer you a job even if you have a world-class resume.
Fleck
Yep, my sister is a partner at a firm that helps senior manager types in their search for a job. And she echoes what we’ve been saying here. I forget what statistic she cites, but it is a small percentage (certainly under 10%, maybe under 5%) of people get job through the “traditional” method of sending out resumes, applying to newspaper ads, etc. Rather, it’s through what I/we have been saying – networking and working the phone.
As everyone has said. The gimmick is to get them to know you, not to show off stupid pet tricks on DVD. Of course, it does depend on the field you’re in, but most professional jobs are not going to require or want a DVD.
Speaking from the experience of both being previously unemployed (many years ago thankfully!), an employer to some extent, and having a spouse that taught job hunting skills to others, the key is to personalize yourself to potential employers. That means getting on the phone and talking to the people who are going to be your employer, letting them know you exist, giving them a brief background on your history, pursuading them to allow you to send in your resume for review, and following up (with their permission) every month to check on things.
There’s a huge unadvertised job market out there to tap into, so don’t limit yourself to the want ads. It’s so much easier for an employer to hire on someone they are at least somewhat familiar with, rather than having to advertise and wade through huge numbers of resumes. Honestly, when I receive resumes, I don’t even read them over, I just pass them on to our HR for filing. I’ve never hired on anyone that I didn’t talk to in a previous conversation, or know either personally or through other co-workers. There’s always a cost and risk for the employer to hire on someone new, and minimizing that risk by having the employer know you a bit better is always the best route.
Good luck!
Chris
When a company formally advertises for a job, that’s typically a last resort. They will put the ad in the paper and then they or the outsourced search firm will get hundreds of resumes. The resumes are put through a basic and very rudimentry screening process to get the numbers down to a managable size. I have been told by HR people at good companies that often the best people for a job never make it past this screening process. It’s frustrating, but it’s the reality.
Better to make your own destiny by getting on the phone, networking and making things happen. However, people don’t realize that this is and should be a full time job in and of itself. You can’t just make a few phone calls - you may need to make hundreds!
Fleck
IMO the best “gimmic” for getting noticed is a damn good cover letter…
Spot on advice.
Lots of good advice above:
If a job makes it to an ad, it may be a last resort, but much of the time they already know who they are going to hire. HR has to show Due Dilligence, so the easiest thing to do is post an ad, collect a few resumes and then hire the guy that already has the inside track. The guy with the inside track is either an internal employee or the guy like Fleck that networked his way in and convinced the manager that they should hire him before they were even looking.
I’m not a big fan of the Gimmick resume. I got a PowerPoint resume one time that had video and audio embedded in it. I certainly remember it, but never seriously considered calling the person back.
I agree with what has been said before. I don’t know your situation but our company does hire people on an “inside” track meaning the “I know a guy we should hire” but we do also hire from an outside track, but all of those jobs go through a recruiter. I would say none or few of our high level jobs are posted in some place like Monster. So, I would say in addition to what has been suggested you make appointments to go meet with some recruiters who deal with your field and really mine them for info and leads. Afterall, they spend all day talking to people looking to hire.
Some of these “gimmick” resumes may work in the right environment - the entertainment business, the creative end of the interactive media business and so on. However, the fact of the matter is that many of the managers in many companies are baby- boomers who are typically old-school in the way they do business - they like to meet people face to face and conduct business personally, over lunch, over coffee, with a hand-shake - not with some funky Power-Point resume or presentation. Like many things, my sense is the younger generation try and make things more complicated than they really are - just get on the phone and keep plugging away. The smart business manager will see your initiative and if he/she does not have an immediate opportunity, will either file your name and contact information for future reference or send you along within his network of contacts( even to a competitor!) if he thinks you are good enough.
I got my current job with 3 cold calls( among hundreds that I was making at the time) into my current boss. He did not return my calls until I got an internal reference from, ironically a triathlon contact that I had at the same company that I had dug up through other networking. Then on a 4th call, he asked me in for a meeting. We then went out for lunch. Had another meeting, then another lunch and then they made me an offer.
Fleck
Jim,
I am in the process of hiring 3 people for a new business I started this year. I am only going with recommendations of friends and associates. I haven’t asked to see a single resume, only phone and face to face interviews after somebody I trust has said I should talk to that person. Anybody can put anything they want on a resume and I have found them to be 10% to 90% bullshit. Hell my friends and I have joked about what BS we had on our resumes at some point in our past.
At my last company we had an open position posted in the local paper. We got all kinds of odd things intended to make their resume stand out. One had a video of the guy answering mock interview questions. While it provided some entertainment he never got a call. Resumes on really odd colored or sized paper all got tossed because we couldn’t scan them into the computer. One lady sent in a resume on pink paper with perfume sprayed on. Not only did that one get tossed but the ones touching it got tossed because they smelled bad as well. Somebody had their resume delivered with a dozen chocolate chip cookies. We ate the cookies but figured we had enough kiss asses in the company and tossed his as well. In the end after 200+ applicants, the position was filled by a friend of a current employee.
As Big Duke said, “network, network, network”. Talk to anybody and everybody because you never know whose brother’s, sisters, uncle’s friend may be the CEO of your dream company.
Good Luck
Dave
I think it is safe to say that in hiring people, especially when faced with a mass of resumes, we often look for reasons to eliminate people. And gimmicks, colored resume paper, etc. are a quick, easy way to eliminate.
(Jim is going to return to this thread to see that his gimmick idea has been savaged – but constructively, I think.)