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Are You Sending Your Resume to All the Right People?

In addition to sending your resume to companies that have advertised positions, you should also be sending it to:

  • Companies who have not advertised but who are a match for your perfect position—let them know you are interested and available.
  • Personal contacts, especially those who are willing to talk to their contacts about your job search. They need the right information to make an impression.
  • Professional contacts, such as insurance agents, lawyers, financial advisors, mortgage broker or anyone else who has multiple contacts with professional clients. These individuals often solve problems; if that includes finding the right candidate for an open position, they will certainly pass along your name.
  • Work contacts, including current and past co-workers and managers, retirees, customers, vendors, and suppliers. Depending on how discrete you need to be (for example, depending on whether a layoff has already been announced), your work contacts are excellent sources of information on open positions.
  • Educational contacts, including people you met at seminars, current and former classmates and teachers, and college career center staff.
  • Community contacts, including the local chamber of commerce and civic leaders.
  • Recruiters. You can find lists of recruiters online by industry, geographic area or keywords. Try to contact recruiters personally to avoid wasting their time and yours if you are not a match for the companies they work with and not likely to be one.

Most advertisements or online job listings specify a physical or email address to send your resume to, as well as a job reference number that must appear in the letter or in the subject line of an email. You should make sure that you follow through on all information provided by the company or recruiter as to where and how to submit your resume—and if the advertisement specifies no phone calls, do not telephone.

As a member of the National Career Development Association and a certified Master Career Director, Electronic Career Coach and Job and Career Transition Coach, I can help make sure that you are sending your resume to the right people in the right way. Contact me today.

Get to the Point: When Less Is More on a Resume

If you visit the Women for Hire website, you can hear me speak about ways to strengthen your resume. One of the people who listened to that speech had this comment:

“The most difficult part of resume writing for me is condensing my experience and accomplishments into a handful of bullets that accurately portray my strengths in a way that grabs the hiring manager’s attention. I am getting better at condensing, but could use some tips on how to make it compelling.”

When you are describing accomplishments, start with a strong verb like “led,” “accelerated,” “increased,” or “improved.” Phrases like “was responsible for” are weak and use a lot of words to say very little.

Trade in vague adjectives (“excellent,” “highly skilled,” “well-respected”) for solid data that shows how and why you are excellent, highly skilled, and well-respected.

Use numbers (“company with 400 employees,” “revenue of $6 million,” “in less than 1 year”) rather than general statements (“large company,” “exceeded revenue expectations,” “timely”).

Read job listings closely (I cannot emphasize this enough!) to make sure you are focusing on the skills, achievements, education, and values that the company wants—then eliminate anything that does not add to your qualifications for that job.

Remember that a 1-page resume is no longer the rule. Companies welcome 2 or 3-page resumes as long as the contents are relevant.

If your resume still rambles or does not attract the responses you hoped for, contact Robin’s Resumes®.

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