The One Thing You Can Do to Make Your Resume Stand Out

The Wall Street Journal tells us how the hiring process really works. But the part I really noticed were their comments on the one thing you can do to get your resume out of the slush pile. The summary:

What's more, recruiters will only review applications that show a person meets a job's basic qualifications, based on screening questions, she says.

One common exception many firms make: A job hunter who is referred by an employee or other trusted source. A referred candidate may be given immediate attention, potentially speeding them to the interview stage. Michelle Vasquez, 43, says she landed a phone interview for a senior marketing job last month thanks to a referral from a friend of the hiring manager. Ms. Vasquez, who has been out of work for the past year and a half, was later invited to interview with several of the company's senior managers, though she later found out she didn't get the job. "I didn't have out to fill an online application," she says. "I went straight into the interview pool."

Yes, yes, yes! Networking again leads to job success!

Let's face it, when most companies have an open position, they receive a TON of resumes. Even if you're the perfect candidate, it's often hard to get noticed simply because of the sheer quantity of applicants. But if you've networked properly, your resume circumvents the slush pile and goes straight to the hiring manager. How does this happen? Because you give it to someone you know in the company (or someone you know that knows someone in the company) who hand delivers it to the right person.

I know you can't do this for every resume you send (after all, it's hard to know someone in every company you may want to work for), but the bigger your network is, the better chance you have of finding someone who knows someone who knows someone (and on and on) that can help you out. That's why you need to develop and work a networking plan and regularly evaluate your progress. It's something you do now that can pay off in the future in case you find yourself wanting to make a job change or are fired/laid off for some reason. I can speak from experience -- networking works!!!!

Comments

[Terry]

This is an excellent idea for the average person who has a reasonably well-defined career path with matching experience and commensurate education.

My job experience, education, and (in an ideal world) targets are woefully mismatched. I don't even have a good idea of whom I'm supposed to network with.

[vga]

It's easy to network if you've got a straight predictable career path, if you are a super schmoozer or if you never leave your town.

But if your career path is a bit jagged, it's hard to know who to talk to or where to find them. And even if you find out the person's name how do you network with them without seeming like some kind of crazy stalker? And things get even worse when you are looking nationwide.

And someone really needs to make a networking for introverts guide. Explicitly lay out the steps for people who have the talent and the education but lack the social skills to network successfully.

[Keith Morris]

I agreea with vga. A networking for introverts guide would be awesome.

[Old Limey]

I hiked with a young and personable guy today that is within about 7 weeks of running out of unemployment benefits, which in California is now about 96 weeks I believe.
He told me that he has sent out 793 resumes - no job offers and very few acknowledgements or e-mails indicating that they even received his resume.

I think the reason is unfortunately pretty obvious. He has a lot of experience as a computer programmer using the "C" and "Java" languages. The problem is that his only degree is a BS in Psychology. He just made a very poor choice of degree for a career in computer science. Most companies today would have lots of resumes from job seekers with an appropriate degree so guess where his resume ends up!
Fortunately he's living with his girlfriend who has a really good job and her company even allows a "significant other" to be a healthcare dependent.

[MasterPo]

Reality check!

Most people you meet casually simply will NOT stick their neck out for someone they don't know. And that means even just passing on a resume.

Consider this: Someone meets someone else at a party, conference, whatever. They chit chat for a little bit then one thing leads to another (not that! ;-) ) and a resume is exchanged. Fast forward - that person comes in for an interview and is a total shmuck!

Now it looks very bad on the employee who brought the candidate to the attention of the interviewer.

If you have ever been to a "networking party" you would know it's usually a hand full of 'inside people' being swarmed by wanna-be's.

In MasterPo's opinion networking *can* work. But is VASTLY over rated. :-(

[DCS]

Where I work being recommended by a (good) employee or even former employee not only gets you to the interview pool faster, it also makes the job requirements more flexible. When you're looking at a huge pile of resumes from people you don't know, the only way to sort them is by setting mandatory qualifications that you can pull from those resumes. However, most managers here would much rather hire a quality employee than a list of qualifications and certifications. It's easy to train a good employee. It's impossible to fix a bad (but qualified) one.

Unfortunately, you generally can't determine things like personality, fit with the group, self-determination, and confidence from resumes. But if a colleague with proven judgement says someone is a good fit, perhaps that might trump lack of a particular certification, or certain number of years experience, the lack of which would get unsponsored resumes tossed in the "keep it on file" pile.

[J in FL]

Yea... um, I just signed up for Twitter. I keep reading about people getting jobs like this. I am quite skeptical though. I'll let you guys know how it goes later on. For anyone who doesn't know.. I just graduated in December, still haven't found a job.

[J in FL]

Well well... I found a job. Or shall I say, a job found me. Regardless, I am working person now. Twitter did not help btw. It was not very useful for someone in my situation..something I suspected from the start. It seems to work well for certain people/industries (e.g. early to mid-career, IT professionals), but I would say it's not for everyone.