I'm not getting any response from recruiters after I contact them with my resume. What does this mean? Should I follow up? If so, how?
Answer:
There could be a number of reasons why the recruiters are not getting back with you regarding your credentials, here are just some of them in this two part series.
• Unlike the days before this current recession when most executive recruiters were snowed under with new search assignments; in the here and now, recruiters are besieged with unsolicited resumes from hopeful job seekers. At the same time owners at many of these firms have cut back on staff due to the significant slow down in hiring by their clients. In many cases, there simply is not enough staff and as a result, time in the day to respond (via mail or by phone) to every job seekers plea for a professional attention.
• As I stated above, the number of active search assignments recruiters have on their desk has by-and-large dropped off significantly in the last year. In fact so much so, it’s driving many firms out of business. In most cases, with what assignments recruiters do have right now, there is a glut of candidates. So, before the recruiter calls you, they are combing through their data base of candidates to see if there is a fit with someone they “already know to be a proven winner.” If that does not pan out, then the recruiter usually starts looking at the unsolicited resumes to hopefully find a candidate that appears to be a potential fit for their client.
• Perhaps the recruiters you are contacting simply do not have any job orders as to where, based on your resume, there is an “exact fit.” "EXACT FIT" are the operative words here and never forget that when working with a recruiter. Therefore, some recruiters will feel there is no reason to call you at this time. Then too, many recruiters may not contact you to acknowledge your resume for that “exact fit” reason. Could one consider that rude ? I suppose so, but with staffs being cut back, there is more to do with less people to do the work so the firm is prioritizing their call back list. That list is comprised only of people who can help the firm earn a fee today !
***************************************************************************************** Due to space limitations herein I have to go for now, but be sure to join me in the next day or so for Part 2 of this answer. I hope Part 1 has been beneficial and has provided you with a little bit of insight.
For information on corporate sponsored outplacement services, career coaching, resume assistance, the Guerrilla Job Seeker10 week boot camp, or if you would prefer personal one-on-one Guerilla job search assistance, contact me at: theguerillajobcoach@comcast.net or contact my office at 724-495-2733.
Mark J. Haluska Founder and Executive Director of Real Time NetWork www.rtnetwork.net
• I’m a Contributing Co-Author of the best selling book, “Guerrilla Marketing for Job Hunters,” 400 Unconventional Tips, Tricks and Tactics for Landing your Dream Job. Released in 2005
• I’m also a Contributing Co-Author of "Guerrilla Marketing for Job Hunters 2.0," 1,001 Unconventional Tips, Tricks and Tactics for Landing your Dream Job. Released in June 2009
• I'm one of only 4 certified "Guerrilla Job Search Boot Camp" Instructors in North America !
• Recommended reading for Corporate Hiring Authorities: “Executive Recruiting for Leaders,” Insider Secrets for Locating, Evaluating and Retaining Top Talent by David Perry and Mark J. Haluska
My agenda is to help people find their next job, especially those who have been recently laid off.I’m not a recruiter or a job coach.I run an SAP and JD Edwards training practice, but this has nothing to do with that.This has to do with my obligation to the broader community.
20 years ago, I read a small book on job-hunting which explained the method I outline here.I can’t remember the title or the author, so if anyone recognizes the book from this write-up, please let me know.I’d like to give credit where credit is due.
Why a different approach is needed:
The typical job hunt goes like this:You find openings on the Internet, and you send your resume in and/or fill out an application form.You wait a few weeks, and after not hearing from the company’s HR department, you call them and ask the status of your application.The HR department says “you’ll be notified by email”, or they say “we don’t have the resources to respond to every applicant, so if we are interested, we’ll contact you.”You continue to hear nothing, and you continue to respond to dozens or even hundreds of job ads.Six months later, you find a stop-gap job that you have to take.Your career is on hold.
Did you know that small companies—those with less than 10 employees—create a lot of unadvertised jobs?According to the New York Times, in 2008, 3.8 million companies had fewer than 10 workers, and they employed 12.4 million people, or roughly 11 percent of the private sector work force.
Regardless of company size, many jobs are not advertised.Someone knows someone else and they get hired—friends of employees, for example.Think about the hundreds (if not thousands) of applicants responding to advertised jobs. Your chances of standing out from the crowd with a resume and getting the job are quite low.
Instead of this process, consider a six-week campaign to identify and contact 100-200 hiring authorities (people that can actually hire you) in your area.That’s what I did 20 years ago, and I am sharing these techniques in hopes that this method saves you pain and wasted time.
In 1989 I needed a new position in the IT industry and I conducted a successful job hunt using these methods.I contacted 100 software companies in the Denver area, and 10 of them interviewed me.Three companies called me back for 2nd and 3rd interviews, and I accepted a job offer from one of those.Total elapsed time:6 weeks.The company that hired me was JD Edwards, and I worked for them for 10 years, before starting my own company that provides JD Edwards training and consulting services.
Here's how I did it, and it's as relevant today as it was 20 years ago.
Step 1: Know what you want to do.
When I conducted my last job hunt, I knew that I wanted to work for a software company in customer support.Based on previous experience, I eliminated related software jobs such as sales and programming.
My last job hunt was in 1989, so if I were doing this today, I would pick a particular niche in the software industry where my background would be a good fit.For example, I might focus exclusively on CRM software, or the Energy and Chemical industry market—areas where I have specialized skills.
If you don’t know what you want to do, it will be pretty obvious to potential employers.If you need help getting focused on a specific type of job, then I recommend that you hit the library or the bookstores.Check out the job-hunting section, for books like What Color is Your Parachute.
Step 2:Do your research.
Research companies and individuals that you want to call.When I did this 20 years ago, the Internet did not exist, so I went to the local library.I found a directory of Denver-based software companies that included information about company size and products, and most importantly, some contact names of top managers.
I also used the Yellow Pages to find the names of other software companies.By the time I stopped gathering company names, I had basic info on 100 software companies.I had contacts for about 35 of those companies.
If I had a company name but no specific hiring authority to contact, I would call the company and try to find out the name and number of the person I needed to talk with.Today, I think many of these hiring authority names could be found on the Internet.
Sometimes it isn’t easy to get past the “gatekeeper” to get to the right person, or to find out who that right person is.Try asking for a salesperson.When you get to them, apologize for taking their time, and then ask for the name of the person you need to speak with.
Step 3:Prepare a 15 second introduction.
When you call the hiring authority, you’ll have about 15 seconds to make a good impression.I was fortunate that my background included 3 years at IBM, so my introduction went something like this:
“Hello (insert name here), my name is Andy Klee, and I have 5 years of IT experience including 3 years at IBM.I’d like to come in and discuss working for your company.”
If I were looking for a job today, I’d be more specific about my current skills, assuming that I was looking for a JD Edwards related job at a JDE client.So my pitch might be:
“Hello (insert name here), my name is Andy Klee, and I have 20 years of JD Edwards experience, specializing in Distribution with an emphasis on Advanced Pricing and Sales Order Management.I’d like to come in and discuss working for your company.”
It’s even better if you can quickly point out how your work has helped previous clients or employers:
“Hello (insert name here), my name is Andy Klee, and my 20 years of JD Edwards experience includes helping many clients maximize their revenue potential through best practice pricing methods. I’d like to come in and discuss working for your company.
Notice that I didn’t ask if they were hiring or if there were any job openings.That just gives people the opportunity to say “no, we aren’t hiring”.What you are really saying is: “I’m available, I can help you succeed—let’s meet and talk.”
Also, notice that you aren’t calling anyone in HR.Their job is to tell you there are no jobs.Instead, you are calling the person who can make the hiring decision—the manager with the authority to hire.
Practice your pitch with friends or professional associates until it sounds right to you.Be authentic.Don’t oversell yourself.
If you are looking outside your driving distance, you’ll need to adjust your closing sentence to indicate that you would like to “schedule a time to talk about working for your company”.
Step 4:Make those phone calls
Visualize success!Make the calls when you are coming from a positive place.If you feel bad about yourself or your situation, it will come through when you make the calls.
The first day I made these calls, I about fell off my chair when the fifth or sixth person I called said, “Sure, come on in.Let’s talk.”So be prepared for some success right away.
Once you are in the door, be ready for either a “get to know you, in case we have an opening soon” type of interview, or an interview for a specific job opening.Brush up on your interview skills.Be ready for the typical questions about your strengths and weaknesses.
Why does this work?
This is speculation on my part, but I think there are several possible reasons why this method works so well:
First, you are talking with the right person—not the HR department.
Second, some companies would like to replace a weak employee, if they have a great replacement lined up.
Third, companies are often looking to hire “the best athlete available”, similar to how NFL teams will sometimes draft a great athlete regardless of the position they play.You might get hired because you exhibit great potential to solve a problem they weren’t even thinking about prior to meeting you.
Fourth, companies want to hire people who can add value to their business quickly.That means someone who can solve problems, increase revenue, or bring down costs.That’s you!Right?
There, you have it.It’s not rocket science, but doesn’t it make sense?Instead of competing with masses of people for a very small number of posted jobs, you are out there competing with almost no one for a larger number of current and future openings.
So, give it a try, and please send me your feedback, sample pitches, and experiences about what works and doesn’t work for you.Email me at Andy.Klee@ERPtips.com.
There are many good job-related websites.One that I like is: http://jobmarket.nytimes.com/pages/jobs/.Scroll down the left side and there are some good articles to read.
Some days it just seems that no matter what you do LIFE SUCKS! I know it's not just me but it's kind of hard to remember that when everything seems to be spiraling in the wrong direction.
What's wrong with my life? Doesn't matter really...
Here's what I'm doing about it:
going for a walk to clear my head [exercise increases my endorphins - which makes me happy without drugs]
reading my top ten accomplishments list [ I often forget what I actually have accomplished - sometimes against incredible odds] and this reminds me I've been down before and roared back!
making a date with my wife [because I love her and any time I get to spend with her is great - with 4 kids an active search business and a new book we don't have much time together]
going to ALL my kid's soccer practices and listening - really listening - to their highs and lows [AND watching the game instead of catching up on work]
reading Success Magazine [and listening to the audio/video DVD enclosed in each issue] because even one good idea will lift me up again AND I've been reading the magazine steadily since 1968
revisiting my mentors - some of them living --- others in their books [Napoleon Hill, W Clement Stone, Churchill, Gandhi] - Lance Armstrong, Richard Branson, Oprah, Brian Tracey and Zig... Zig's seen it all before!
All my life I've treated Failure as a temporary state. It's still very real but it washes over me like a cold rain and then it's gone. I keep moving forward looking at the goals writtn on the whiteboard next to my desk at home. I need to continue moving forward OR risk getting stuck and immobilized.
Moving toward the POSITIVE unsticks me. This is what works for me.
What about you? When you're looking for a job and not having the success you expect [does anyone ever move as fast as they want between opportunities?] what do you? How do you keep yourself UP! and moving forward? I'd really like to know. I'm sure other job hunters would like to know as well. What works for you?
Today I have selected my number one idea for everyone including job hunters. I have listed it as number 5 in my article The Top 10 Priorities For Job Hunters. This article has been one of my best - I have had several requests from the media for interviews on it.
Read Your Goals Every Single Day.
Having clear goals
in life gives you a significant advantage.
In fact most people think
having dreams are goals. Dreams are not goals, goals are measurable,
tangible, and have a date.
Saying “One day I will take the family to
Disneyland” is not a clear goal. Saying “In August 2011, I am taking
the family to Disneyland” is a clear goal.
In my Success Through Balance philosophy I promote having goals in in five different areas,
Health,
Relationships,
Financial
Stability,
Giving Back and
Personal Growth.
Your written goals must be
Personal, Positive, and in the Present.
There are different approaches to creating your goals. If you already have an approach - then use them.
Did you know all successful people have goals written down and they review them on a regular basis?
Here is an effective, but simple way to create goals:
For 30 days, each day, write down (without looking at the day before) at least 10 different goals.
At the end of the 30 days, your list of goals will be set.
Rewrite them once a month. In fact one of your goals should be, "I rewrite these goals at the beginning of every month".
I have actually about 50 goals I read each day. For goals that are far out - say 3 years away - I have some shorter goals.
Here is an example about my marathon running:
I am running the 2009 Toronto Marathon In Under 5 Hours.
I am running the 2011 Boston Marathon.
Here is a business example:
I am helping 10,000 people find jobs in 2009-2010
I am a regular on Oprah helping people find jobs starting in 2010
In both these cases - the first is a step to the second. But you will notice that the goals are Positive, Personal, and in the Present. The three "P"s of goals.
Read your goals out loud.
Reading them out loud does two things in your subconscious that will help
your conscious mind.
Firstly it creates cognitive dissonance between
the reality and the goal, and,
secondly it tells the reticular activating
system to stop ignoring things that you need to help you.
Once you get
hooked on goals, you will see successful people using them all the time.
(FYI - This is not David Perry, but Zale Tabakman providing guest posts for the week - see Monday's post for background on who I am.)
This article on job hunting is obvious especially if you read David's blog or his book or have purchased the Guerrilla Job Search System. I have tried to simplify several concepts down and generate some immediate actions items.
Continuous forward Action is the single thing that is guaranteed to get you a job.
Have multiple approaches to finding your job.
Finding a job is not about a single activity and never ever is it “Click
and Apply”.
When you start your job hunting efforts, you don’t know
where you will get the job, you don’t know how they will hear about
you, and you don’t know what skill is the one the employer needs.
Therefore you need to have many different approaches to job hunting,
and many different tactics for each approach.
Its a simple thought, but practically its a big job and should consume you until you get the job you want.
Here are four different approaches to job hunting - you need to have a plan for each one of them.
Finding job openings - The standard include job
fairs, another is online networking, face-to-face
networking, job clubs, head hunters. The non-standard approaches are e-mail and direct marketing, and reading newspapers to name a few.
Being found. The standards are LinkedIn and Zoominfo. The best non-standard approaches include becoming known as an expert, creating a newsletter, creating a website, answering questions on LinkedIn and Google answers.
Direct contact of hiring authorities. In this approach you are looking to contact people before they actually are hiring. When they are wandering around the office asking - do you know somebody for this job? You want to be their at that time - so you are not competing with others.
Marketing Yourself - This is related to the previous one, but the focus is slightly different. Instead of waiting to be found - you actually go out and contact people for the express purpose of letting them know you exist. With this approach you are putting yourself out. This method takes some guts - you will get rejected and you will get insulted. On the other hand, the rewards are greater. You will be quoted in newspapers and on peoples blogs.
These four methods can all use the same basic content you have created for solving the 12 different problems. (see Monday's post).
For how to implement these four approaches take a look at 77 Guerrilla Job Hunting Tips I have created. They are based on ideas from David and Kevin with a Zale spin on them.
In yesterday's post I introduced myself and I explained I was going to take one thought from my top 10s lists.
Today's article comes from my The Top 10 Ways A Job Hunter Must Think
article and the topic I will write about is that The job hunter focuses on the opportunities.
In every
economic cycle there are winners and their are losers.
Companies grow
and companies fail. Even 100 year old companies fail. On the world stage we have seen GM and Chrysler bite the dust.
In Canada its Nortel.
A couple of years ago it was Eaton's and Simpsons.
Its sad and for the people who work at these companies its horrible.
But all these companies have been replaced.
People continue to buy products and services, they just change suppliers.
Its just like a
forest. Old trees fall and new trees come up.
For years people thought
forest fires were evil (its called the Bambi syndrome), but the latest
forest management techniques allow forest fires to rage, the forest
fire is healthy for the forest and for the environment.
Unemployment
has the same potential, unemployment is traumatic, its painful, and its
massively difficult in the short term, but unemployment has the
potential to be exceedingly healthy in the long term.
Think about your
role in the current economic forest fire, are you going to see it as
opportunity to grow or a situation where you are going down in flames?
Ok, so how does this help you in your job hunt?
With the right mindset you can and will see opportunities everywhere.
Let me show you a few:
Identify companies that are losing market share. These companies are looking for ways to stop their loss of market share. If you have one or two proven ideas that grow market share - don't you think they are willing to listen? Use some of the ideas from yesterday to apply to get the doors open.
Identify companies taking market share. This of course is the opposite of the previous opportunity - these companies are growing, therefore they are expanding, therefore
they need you to help them keep their gains. Again, use some of the
ideas from yesterday to get on track.
Identify the low cost players - This is the easiet solution. These are probably going to be the next leaders in the industry. When times get tough - people want to save money. The low cost providers are the ones that grow. Usually they are smaller companies with less overheads, or they are companies that have figured out how to save money. In any event - the low costs guys are the ones that are going to grow.
Identify Changing Technologies - This is two opportunities for an expert in a field. Take a long hard look at what new technologies are taking a shot at the established old guys. These new companies already understand how the technology is going to wipe out the old guys - but they probably are so excited about their ideas that they don't understand why people keep buying from the old guys. The second is the old guys - you can help them fight the new technology. Not but down playing it - but by absorbing it, creating it, or buying it. In any event - you can be the savior of the old guy. This is all about using your knowledge about the early and late majority. If "early majority" and "late majority" was babbly-gook check out the technlogy adoption curve. I highly recommend Geoffrey Moore'sCrossing the Chasm for more on it.
Consider Alternatives To Job Hunting. Maybe its time for you to consider starting your own business. Maybe you can take advantage of some of these opportunities.
I hope this was helpful and gives you some things to think about.
I am so pleased to be asked to guest Blog on David's site.
This is an honour and a pleasure.
Since, you probably don't know me - I thought I would be best to introduce myself and explain why you should keep reading, and then I will give you a couple of great ideas about how to help you can get a job.
The short and sweet is I am Speaker, Writer, and Entreprenour. I provide practical help for people wanting to acheive their goals.
My passions (that are relevant to job hunters) include the following:
Teach a 12 week course of YMCA for young entrepreneurs called The Magic Profit Formula where I go through all the core thinking skills entrepreneurs need.
I am big on LinkedIn, connecting to me adds 2,700,000 to your network, I run 12 different Groups - you can find me at http://www.LinkedIn.com/in/ZaleTabakman
I write my articles in themes - all the articles are related to one another through constant. I have been writing for a couple of years, so I have lots of themes.
My most popular article themes for job hunters is My Top 10's - each article lists the top 10 things a job Hunter needs to do. For this week, I am going to choose, the Top 1 Thing from each of the top 10 items to discuss.
Its tactic #2 and is Know 12 problems that you can solve in your 20 companies that increases sales or saves the company money.
This tactic integrates several concepts and will provide you with material and content you can use over and over again in multiple ways.
First we will break down the tactics into its components, secondly we will give you some ideas about how to use the results of the tactic.
12 Problems - Remember no matter what you do - you are being hired to solve a problem, unless you are a model, you are not hired for your good looks. A job is about solving problems such as low sales, bad customer service. the list is endless.
If you are a CEO of a public company the twelve topics could include (1) Raising the stock price, (2) Introducing new products, (3) Improving manufacturing processes, (4) Hiring the best and the brightest, (4) Acquiring new companies
If you are a sales person, some of the twelve include (1) Identifying prospects (2) Contacting prospects, (3) Presenting to prospects, (4) Overcoming objections, (5) Closing the sale, (6) Getting payment, (7) Up selling to new products, and the list goes on.
What ever you do, you know that when you do the job - you are expected to solve problems. But the problems need to be specific for your industry and the kind of companies you work for. Identifying prospects for a hovercraft manufacturer is quiet different than for a Mary Kay consultant. Understand the difference.
20 Companies - David and Kevin over and over again talk about the 20 companies. You must have that list. The list will help you focus. Its not the only companies you will accept a job from, but it makes you an expert on these companies and their problems. Actually having 20 companies is the first on the list.
Now you know what you need to do. Let's talk about just some of the things you can use these 12 problems.
You can create 12 resumes and cover letter that focus on the problem. This gives you a template to select when looking at a particular job. (Using a Guerrilla Job Resume of course.)
You can create pages on your blog dealing with the problem. (Creating a blog is whole other way of marketing yourself)
You can list the problems on your LinkedIn profile.
You can write a white paper for each of the problems - going into depth about it. (Using white papers as a marketing approach is a whole other topic)
You can create a seminar on each of the topics - and give it for free (This is about becoming known as an expert on a topic)
You can create a little booklet - different than the white paper that just includes all the solutions - to give away at networking events.
You can self publish the 12 white papers a book and leave it during the interview process - Big Thud Value.
This is just a short sample of some of the ways to use the 12 problems to get you a job.
Recent Comments