After weeks (actually more like months and months and months) of applying for countless positions that were posted on Monster.com, CareerBuilder.com, USAjobs.com, Indeed.com...(the list goes on and on) and hearing absolutely nothing back I was getting frustrated and discouraged. Every time I sat down in front of the computer to send out my resume my stomach would be tied up in knots. Then I had a conversation with an attorney who was once on a hiring committee at a law firm. There was a small group of us standing around talking about getting a job in the legal field and he said, "Almost everyone looks the same on paper so some times having a face-to-face conversation with someone can make a big difference." This made a little light bulb go off in my head. When I was applying for these jobs I was qualified and I had experience--I just had to make myself stand out from all the other applicants so that my resume didn't end up at the bottom of the pile. I decided I needed to make sure that the people doing the hiring at least knew my name and I had to do this by being more proactive. So here's what I started doing--when I responded to a job posting I would print out the job description. On the paper with the job description I would jot down the date I submitted the resume and jot down any information about the office I thought would be useful, like the name and e-mail address of the office manager. Then I wrote down the date (in about a week) when I would plan a follow up phone call to make sure that my cover letter/resume had been received and see if there was any other information they might like me to submit. I hope a personal phone call would help me stand out (in a positive way) from a stack of other applicants and resumes.
Now I have to be honest--this approach certainly doesn't always work (because if it did I would have a full time, legal job right now). And sometimes a job posting specifically says, "No phone calls please." And then of course, I wouldn't call and I just had to assume that someone had gotten and read the resume I sent. And sometimes I would call and just get put straight though to voice mail, I would leave a message and never hear back from anyone in the office ever again. I know--it's disappointing (and I think sort of rude)! But most of the time when I called the people I spoke to were actually really helpful. Most often I would start by talking to the receptionist and I would ask to speak to the hiring attorney in the firm, someone in the human resource department or the office manager.
This follow up process has led to a few promising leads. There was one job I applied for where I submitted a cover letter and resume online to the companies human resources department. I waited a week and called the office and explained to the receptionist that I had responded to a job posting and would like to speak with someone to follow up on my application. The receptionist was really helpful and she transferred me to the office manager. When I spoke to the office manager she told me she had started reviewing job resumes but that my name didn't sound familiar. She asked me how I had applied for the job and when I told her I applied on the company web site she suggested that it would be better if I just sent my resume to her directly. Now I had an actual personal contact in the office and I sent her my resume directly. The next day she sent me an e-mail that she had reviewed my resume and had forwarded it to the hiring attorneys at the law firm. A few days later she contacted me to schedule a telephone interview. Without that follow up it is very likely that my resume would have gotten lost in cyberspace forever and I never would have gotten an interview scheduled.
In another case I applied for a posted job and again made a follow up phone call to the office. I spoke to Rhonda, the office manager of the law firm and she told me she had been out of the office when I submitted my resume but that she had gotten what I sent and she would make sure to forward it onto the attorney. When I signed onto LinkedIn a few days later I noticed that one of the attorneys in Rhonda's office had viewed my LinkedIn profile. So, it seemed like at least Rhonda had made sure that she passed on my resume to one of the attorneys in the office.
I really believe taking the extra step of personally contacting the office and speaking with someone after submitting a resume is important because it can keep your name fresh in the minds of the people who are looking at a whole bunch of applicants and might get them to take a second look at your resume or at least make sure it gets directed to the right person in the office...so far I haven't gotten a job but I have had a few interviews.
No comments:
Post a Comment