September 16, 2009

Throw 'Em a Bone, Ok? Last week in my piece about the many self-employed individuals who have seen their businesses slow or dry up completely, I also wrote about the millions excluded from the latest unemployment rate because they have given up the search for work.

And why did they stop? It’s simple. They became discouraged.

Michael Luo in his Sept. 7 NY Times article (http://tinyurl.com/lnuxtx) shares the story of Rick Alexander, a master carpenter who had run his own successful home-restoration business for 28 years. After moving to Florida to take care of his ailing parents, he began applying for jobs. He devoted eight hours a day to the task, sometimes sending out three or four applications a day.

Mr. Alexander began a targeted search for jobs in construction, and then branched out to lumberyards and other wholesalers, Home Depot, Lowe’s and finally for “everything under the sun,” including the overnight shift at convenience stores. Eventually he stopped looking.

As he noted to Luo, “There are thousands of people applying for every job I’m looking at, and potential employers won’t even give me the courtesy of acknowledging I applied.”

There are legitimate reasons why an employer will ignore a particular candidate. A weak resume (poorly crafted with grammatical and spelling mistakes), lack of experience in the discipline being sought, and geographic location (often there’s no economic justification for moving someone across country) are some of these reasons.

But I personally know people who are extremely well qualified, who match a job description perfectly, and expend the effort to tailor their resumes so that they mirror the potential employer’s search criteria. And, still nothing. The resume, application, cover letter, work examples disappear into a black hole. Were the materials received? Who knows?

I have a couple of suggestions. Employers and recruiters, please use an automated email system to thank potential candidates for their application and perhaps provide an application number and a promise to follow up in the future if you are interested. While some companies have a system like this, many do not. It’s a simple piece of programming. But it’s a tremendous reassurance for those who have just pushed “send.”

And, please think about the person behind the resume. Yes, there’s spam. But the majority of inquiries are from legitimate people who want to work. Can you put yourself in their position? What response would you want? Is there anything you can tell them about your hiring and decision process that would help in a future search? Throw ‘em a bone, ok?

For those looking for work, it’s important for your resume to be electronically compatible (despite the black hole). It will likely be scanned whether you send it by email or snail mail. Be sure to include as many appropriate keywords or skill words in it as possible. A very good set of tips on this topic can be found at http://www.careerplaybook.com/guide/resume.asp.

And, job seekers, don’t just rely on a resume. Yes, it’s a tool that must be well honed. But get out there and “meet and greet.”  Remember the adage, “It’s not what you know, it’s who.”

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