Thursday, September 10, 2009

200 Resumes, 300 Resumes, 500 Resumes…

300 resumes sent out with no reply. 500 resumes sent out with no reply. That seems to be how the media measures job search effort. How dumb is that!!! Sending out rafts of resumes is not how to look for a job in a recession. It just doesn’t work.


In the immortal words of John Isaacson of Isaacson Miller, the recruitment firm, hiring strangers is much harder and much riskier than hiring someone you know or has been referred to you. In a recession, when organizations are buried in resumes – both appropriate and inappropriate - hiring managers are even more likely to choose someone who is known to them in some way.

How do you get known by hiring managers? That’s where the strategic thinking comes in. What do you bring to the table? What do you enjoy doing? What organizations are likely to need those abilities? How can you connect with people who work there or in a profession you are targeting? What’s not working in my job search? What should I consider doing differently?

Sure, it’s much harder than just clicking Send on Monster. But thinking is what people are expected to do on the job. It’s time the media started to focus on the people who are getting jobs in spite of the recession, and the strategic thinking they did that made them successful.

2 comments:

  1. YES!! The voice of reason and intelligence has been born! Way to go, Pris!

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