You Guerrilla doubters out there are going to appreciate this article because it is added proof that a Guerrilla Resume simply is not everyone’s favorite flavor; and that our methods are especially disliked by many so-called, process oriented job experts out there.
One of our current students (Mark G.) who is enrolled in the 10 week Guerrilla Job Seekers Boot Camp shared an interesting in the trenches story during last Friday’ job seekers conference call.
Per one of his weekly assignments, Mark applied to a particular department, and to a specific person within a company that piqued his interest. He used his Guerrilla cover letter and one page Guerrilla Resume in the “precise manner” that he learned in our boot camp. (The former is where I believe the overwhelming majority of “maybe want-to-be” Guerrilla job seekers fail. That is because they don’t follow our EXACT Guerrilla instructions and/or the job seeker puts together what they “think” is a Guerrilla cover letter and resume when in reality, it simply isn’t.)
To continue Mark’s story, the hiring authority routed Mark’s resume to Human Resources (HR) and “directed” them (HR) to call Mark in for an interview. Therefore, HR had no choice but to call Mark because HR does not have the authority to tell the boss –“no !”
Here is where the story gets interesting…
Upon arrival for the interview and following company protocol, Mark first sat with the HR Manager before meeting with members of the actual hiring team. According to Mark, after the HR person looks over his resume, that individual sits back and says, “You truly do yourself a disservice using a one page resume such as this.”
Mark asks, “How so ?” The HR professional responded by saying, “Well this is really nothing more than a dressed up functional resume that lacks sufficient detail. It’s not the way things are done.”
Mark responded by saying, “The cover letter and the 1 page resume method I used was only intended for the sole purpose of an employer to sit-up, pay attention and want to talk with me.”
The HR person then said, “But this resume leaves out particulars that we would like know before an interview takes place.” Mark then said, “Well, my one page resume and the information I provided got me in the door for an interview, didn’t it ?”
Purportedly the silence in the HR persons office was deafening regarding the matter and Mark was sent on his way to interview with the real decision makers !
Did I say, “Do yourself a favor, dump that Guerrilla resume ? “ Sorry, I didn’t really mean that, but it got your attention didn’t it ?
Mark J. Haluska, Senior Certified Guerrilla Job Search Coach for North America
