Open Letter to a Job Seeker (To move him/her closer to the desired JOB)
Dear Job Seeker,
Why do you not have results you wish you should have?
The main reason is you are not approaching the companies the right way. You mostly guided by standard methods for job hunting.
Let us do a reality check. How serious you are for job applications.
You made first college admission application and wrote its essay.
You proudly tell you played for a county or country. It could be a typo but doesn’t matter you achieved something so tell it. It is not only showing your wins you put an extra effort to write a good essay. You search university for how to write an excellent essay. Talk to friends, dad and visit relative also to get a good idea for your essay.
Did you put such effort for the job you applied last?
Your honest answer, please.
Let me start with your goals or objective for job hunting.
I give here few of the goals job seekers write for their resumes. Think where you stand?
Resume Goals/Objectives
1. “I’m not sure how to best highlight all my experience instead of beginning with my most recent job. Since I am capable of holding various positions, I need a high-level generic resume that doesn’t have to be modified for each organization or job.”
2. “Improve my resume to call out my strengths and abilities. Worded effectively while covering a wide scope of audience.”
3. “I want to catch viewer’s eye on my resume and make it interesting. I see there are a lots of views on my profile lately.”
4. “I am in my second semester of the third year of communication systems engineering. I am looking for a student job that will allow me to me work while studying (probably means 20 hours in a week job). I have an average grade of 80, and having a hard time of finding a job like that.. I am looking to improve my resume to stand out as much as possible from my colleagues.”
5. “I am retired from the US Army and have had a few small jobs, but not what I needed. Need help landing a good job that meets my needs for family.”
6. “I been laid off in the oil and gas industry. Trying to make a fresh start. I am sober and drug free and changed my whole life around with the Help of Boot Campaign, veteran non profit. I am now an ambassador for the group. Volunteering my time to raise awareness of our program and fundraising for the Houston area.”
7. “My existing resume is very basic and does not include many details — needs fluff. The resume writer should be familiar with the property management industry, so they will be helpful in adding to the resume I’m looking to transition from consulting to industry. I’m targeting mid-sized companies but open to others with the right role.”
8. “Looking to transition from Operational/Architectural Engineering role into Supervisory/Management role.”
9. “Like to get a position at NASA.”
10. “I believe my resume is in fair shape. However, I’ve had quite a few job changes and I’m 58 years old which I realize is not the ideal age for a new hire.”
The Goal
The only purpose of a resume is to get an INTERVIEW period.
What do we get from above Goals/Objectives?
1. Some gave facts but didn’t tell what they want.
2. Most are not focus enough.
3. Very rare they are clear for what job they want to apply.
Have Clear Goal
Unless you have a clear job in mind to apply, you will hardly succeed in your effort.
Let us see your search journey.
You start your job search.
College/university placement service, Job sites, Craigslist, LinkedIn, company sites, friends, etc. are options you explore.
And Applications — applications and more applications but results are hard to come.
One view is
• 72% jobs are not advertised
• Networking is the way
The most common advice to job hunter is to have
• Professional profile
• Excellent resume
• Social media presence
Does any of it work in getting you a job?
Resume
The truth is you need a resume whatever way you go Advertisement or Network reference.
A common way of working on a resume goes a bit like this:
1. State all your facts in sections Education, Experience, Award — Prize, Writing, Co-Curricular Activity, etc.
2. Adjust font sizes, layout adjustment fixes grammar errors, and make sure it has the bullet points.
3. Give a title to the resume
4. Check for accuracy of contact info.
5. Submit
Job Process
Application goes through three stages
• ATS
• Recruiter
• Hiring manager
ATS application tracking system matches applications with company’s requirements and selects relevant resumes. It uses keywords to short out suitable candidates.
The recruiter is first human interaction for you. He/she will short what hiring manager asked them to find. They go for suitable candidates and mainly title or first experience they scan to shortlist candidates.
The hiring manager is the final authority to decide whom to hire. He/she looks for your suitability to the job. You have to sell yourself that you are the right fit for the job.
Resume Industry
There is a big industry shouting for various designs, templates and formats for resumes. You shell out $50+ to get a resume in minutes as they claim.
Though outside of this letter’s subject I strongly say you never go for templates because recruiters and hiring managers give zero marks to it. In fact, they hate it.
You spend a dime or time on it only if you believe
“The best-dressed man/woman gets a job.”
The Job Scene
You must understand the job Scene.
Total jobs are among industry segments big and small businesses. Half of the jobs are from the small sector. Here if we consider small business who has less than 50 employees their share comes to one-third business.
You should know where you are trying to get a job.
Hiring Basic
Every Hiring Is Different
The procedures for hiring are different for every company. You hardly pay attention to it. The company has a specific requirement, and you must meet it. If you met, you have a chance to get a job. They each have different ways to evaluate and select the candidates.
The size of the company you are applying is the primary factor for the difference. But one universal truth is you have to convince hiring managers irrespective of the size of the firm.
It is important for you job seeker because for one-third businesses are of less than 50 employees, and they never have an ATS and a recruiter. And it is safe to assume for almost half of the jobs from the small scale is not having regular HR practice as big businesses.
The effective way is you do two things
1. Tell upfront to HR Managers what you contribute to them? The headline will do it.
2. Tell your experience with success stories because HR managers look for achievements and action takers.
In the above scenario, you should have a good resume. Here is my take on Job Getting Resume.
To have success you
1. Define the job/post/company you want to apply
2. Decide your positioning
3. Match job functions and your skill set
The job you will choose. Let me talk
Positioning
HR Manager wants to know
Who are you and why you are fit for the job?
There may be hundreds of applicants, but you can shine out when you position yourself. You should not only position yourself but also define and tell how you are different.
Let us put your resume to work for you.
Think you are meeting HR manager of the company you are applying. A virtual resume is you in person.
What do you do when you meet someone? OR what you say when someone asks you what you do?
Most of us say something like, ‘I am a lawyer,’ ‘I am an engineer.’
Examples of Conversation with an HR Manager
Example One
Q: Hi Mukesh, what do you do?
Mukesh: I do exciting online advertising and bring $2 for every $1 spends.
Q: How do you do that?
Mukesh: I use compelling headlines to help businesses get their message across. I am a trained headline writer.
(This is you explain a process. Now the manager is interested. He is nodding and wants to know more. So, keep talking.
Headlines are 80% responsible for reading your message. It is Your Positioning Statement. Because headlines are, a visual and people tend to relate to them. Finally, give them a result.)
At Ecomleads.com, an affiliate network how we solved high click costs by getting 10%+ CTR for Adwords campaigns. (A success from your experience)
Example Two
Now let us look at an average conversation
Q: Hi Mukesh, what do you do?
Mukesh: I do advertising.
Q: That’s cool. Which newspapers and magazines do you do?
It’s now too late to steer the discussion because it’s already taken a different track.
In the first conversation, I could control the line of questioning. It ensured that my message got through undiluted.
You know now why this positioning is so vital.
Now you match your goal, desire, skill, experience with the company’s requirements.
Match
Make sure you match job description and your actual performance of skills from various experiences. It tells that there is a story to be heard about something. You use words to describe yourself.
Accomplish, tells you achieved something. Challenge, says you are open to admitting you challenged by something. Resourceful, says, you know where to go if you don’t know the answer. Determined, tells you are driven to be successful at what you do.
Job Description
The company you are applying to can give you a lot of the keywords they value most. Spend some time evaluating their website and the job description.
For resume my recipe
Here is how you put a headline
Headline
I am sure you have heard how you only have a few seconds to get a hiring manager’s attention with your resume. Let us not debate it is 12 seconds or 8 seconds.
I tell you how to get 100% attention.
Put a Headline, Period.
In the headline, you communicate key accomplishments, your branding statement, and critical information you do not want the employer to miss. It is not just what you say but how you say it.
Keep in mind that whoever reviews your resume first will typically scan it for critical information. The first thing people read is your first line.
First 50 words are crucial, and they must be your branding statement.
This exact reason is why newspapers and news articles start with a great headline, give the most critical facts first. Start with your branding statement and make it answer the HR Manager’s questions.
“Why should I care?” or “What’s in it for me?”
Answering these questions first gives the HR Managers exactly what they need to know up front; then they can choose to keep on reading.
Headlines I used.
1. What By Not Hiring (Name) (Company Name) will Loose — New Customers
2. Do (Company Name) want to be in Ink 500? — Hire (Name) founder (Company Name) 2015 Ink 500 company.
3. 30% cost reduction is Routine for (Name) Production Pro Par Excellence.
See how headline looks
And write a story.
Stories
Share situation or problem and the action you took to address it, and the result. Write the result by sharing how it positively affected your employer.
Tell a story, and give the manager context. When writing your experiences, it is best to lead with the result to the employer because this is usually quantifiable.
My Example
It is for my Media Buyer experience.
Allow me to say my boss _________ our President called me Hawk. It is because I changed his mind for scheduling and bidding ads with data from analytics he never used to have and make every campaign profitable.
I prepared clicks figures for our search campaign for a month, and that gave real insight to when we get traffic.
Date 9AM 11AM 1PM 3PM 5PM 7PM 9PM 11PM
• Personally convinced President with data for the change in budget and spending practices.
• Campaigns turned profitable.
Once you have your situation, action, and a result you can write a story and add Situation, action, and results as bullets. Put them together to create bullet points.
Dear job seeker I gave you enough to work. Hope this helps. You reading still mean you are serious. So I suggest my book “Job Getting Resume Outline Autobiography of a resume writer” you will love. It will be an excellent resource to keep. It is a guide for an irresistible resume which you will need many times in your career. Have your copy at Amazon.
Thanks for reading this letter and please write your comments. We learn from comments.
Mukesh Shah.
