How To Use A Resume

WANT ADS

I recommend reading the want ads. In cities with two or more newspapers, one paper usually predominates and gets 95% of all jobs advertised. Of course, some employers will advertise in more than one paper, but typically only about 5% of the jobs will be advertised in the secondary paper and not in the primary one. In addition, about 95% of all jobs advertised will appear in the Sunday paper. For the sake of time, read only the primary paper, and read only the Sunday edition. Scan it from A to Z. Some very interesting jobs can be listed with job titles you would never expect.

If a want ad is vague, mail out your standard resume and hope for the best. If the ad is fairly explicit concerning the desired qualifications and experience, you must decide whether to mail your standard resume with a custom cover letter, or whether you will take the additional time to tailor your resume to the position. If you feel strongly enough about a position, and your standard resume does not adequately cover some key points, it is worth modifying the resume. It can double your chances of getting an interview.

To quickly access want ads from hundreds of newspapers in the U.S. and Canada, visit Career Resource Center at www.careers.org. Then click on Jobs on the Web Now!

Competition can be fierce when good jobs are advertised. An ad for a good position can draw up to 500 applicants (50-150 is most typical) and rarely will more than eight people be interviewed. Your results will depend on how closely the job matches your qualifications and how much time you spend tailoring your cover letter. If you emphasize accomplishments and potential, you will certainly get a better response than average. According to a Department of Labor study, about 20% of all managers, sales workers, professionals, and clerical workers who answer ads, get their jobs through a help‑wanted ad.

Blind Ads

Blind ads are rarely productive, but may be worth trying. A blind ad is a help‑wanted ad in which the name of the employer has been omitted, and all you are given is a box number in care of the newspaper. Most are legitimate, placed by companies that for one reason or another want to maintain anonymity. Unfortunately companies sometimes use these want ads to gather salary information and in fact have no position. No one knows how frequently it occurs. The problem is, there is no way to tell which are legitimate and which are not.

Since blind ads usually draw fewer responses than ads that include the name of the employer, you’ll have an excellent shot at an interview if your background is ideal.

To respond to a blind ad follow the instructions that each paper prints in the want ad section. If you are concerned about the blind ad being placed by your own company, or merely one that you don’t want to receive your resume, follow the instructions for that situation. If you were responding to an ad placed in the Seattle Times you would address your envelope to the Seattle Times and include the box number for that ad. You would also write on the envelope, Confidential Desk. That alerts those sorting the mail that there are certain companies which should not receive your resume. Inside the outer envelope you would enclose a second envelope which would contain your resume. That envelope would also have the box number for that ad written on the outside. Also inside the outer envelope would be a separate sheet of paper which would indicate those companies you would not want your resume to go to.

Responding to blind ads rarely gets results because the companies placing them are highly particular and may interview only three people instead of the more typical six to eight. Unless your background is almost a perfect fit for the job, blind ads are rarely worth responding to.

UNSOLICITED RESUMES

Unsolicited resumes are frequently sent to employers in hopes that a position may be available at the time the resume is received. Resume campaigns typically result in less than one interview for every hundred resumes sent out. If you use the strategy I’m about to discuss, you should get eight to ten interviews for every hundred resumes you mail.

You must start this type of campaign with an absolutely top‑notch resume. Then develop a list of 50–200 employers of the right size, in the right industry, and in the right geographical area. Determine the department in which you would most likely work. Next, making about 20 calls an hour, call each organization and ask the receptionist for the name of the appropriate executive or department head. Be sure to get the correct spelling and title. Then and only then are you ready to send out resumes. Address each cover letter and resume to the specific person who has power to hire you. Addressing your letters to those with the power to hire should double your interviews compared to merely addressing it “Dear Mr. President,” “Dear Marketing Manager,” or “Dear Personnel Manager.”

Usually you will know the typical title of the person with the power to hire you. In those cases simply ask the receptionist for the name of the person with that title. Sometimes you will be told, “We don’t have anyone here with that title.” Your response would then be, “Can you give me the name and title of the person who would typically hire engineers?” (or, whatever your job title is). If that does not work, ask using a different job title or ask for the personnel department.

If you simply cannot identify who your resume should go to, address it to the president by name. The resume may still wind up in personnel, but it is just as likely to be delivered to the most appropriate person.

Decide whether you will follow up with a phone call to each person or simply wait for interview offers. Calling and asking for an appointment will usually result in appointments 30–60% of the time, while waiting for interview offers (assuming you have a top‑quality resume and sent it to a specific person) should result in an 8–12% success rate. Of course your actual percentage will be determined by the quality of your resume, the amount of experience you have in the field you are seeking, the impressiveness of your accomplishments and results, the job market, and the care with which you select potential employers.

The decision to call or wait is important because it will affect the wording in your cover letter. If you will be calling for an appointment, you simply state in the letter, “I will call you next week to set up a brief appointment.” This statement will cause the reader to pay more attention to the resume, to be prepared for your call, and it likely will be kept close at hand rather than filed or discarded. With the waiting approach, you can end your letter with something like, “I look forward to hearing from you soon.”

It’s wise to send your chosen batch of employers a second mailing of your resume. A surprising finding, first described by Carl Boll in Executive Jobs Unlimited, is that resumes sent to the same organizations, six or more weeks after the first batch, will usually obtain results equal to the first mailing. In other words, if one hundred resumes netted you eight interviews, the second batch (consisting of 92 resumes) will usually yield 7-9 interviews. Give serious consideration to a second mailing.

FAXING

Do not fax a resume unless an employer has specifically asked you to do so. The quality at the other end looks like a poor quality dot matrix printed resume, and the paper will be typical fax paper. If you do fax a resume, also send one through the mail so the person will see its quality. If you want it there fast, but have not been asked to fax it, use an overnight express service. This approach will have more impact.