Yesterday, my office wife, Terry, was speaking with someone who had replied to an ad she had run on the web for a client, an airline targeting an upscale market. The ad was clear that airline industry experience was required.
So she calls up the person, whose resume does not mention airline experience and asks, "So what's your experience with airlines."
And then he answered those words that instntly became legendary in my office:
" My wife works for an airline."
HUH?
I understand. A wife replies for a surgeon position at a hospital with the explanation, "My husband is a surgeon and we sometimes talk about his day and operations over dinner."
How about this response to a teaching position:
"My daughter is in 4th grade!"
Please only reply for positions for which you meet minimum qualifications or are extremely close to meeting minimum qualifications.
If you do this you will have a chance of being interviewed and eventually hired . . . depending upon your interview and competition, of course.
If you don't do this, you are stealing time that the potential employer or recruiter can never regain with no purpose other than to hope against hope and reason that they interview you.
Outplacement firms often encourage people to blanket every ad with resumes . . . but they don't have to open and read all the emails or mailed resumes. They just have to talk and offer advice that may or may not be good.
Trust me, you don't like to get spam and neither do recruiters, managers and business owners. Make sure your resume demonstrates a fit before you send it and only send it if it meets or is extremely close to meeting minimum job requirements.
Jeff Altman
The Big Game Hunter
Concepts in Staffing
jeffaltman@cisny.com
© 2007 all rights reserved.
Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter, is Managing Director with Concepts in Staffing, a New York search firm, He has successfully assisted many corporations identify management leaders and staff in technology, accounting, finance, sales, marketing and other disciplines since 1971. He is a certified leader of the ManKind Project, a not for profit organization that assists men with life issues, and a practicing psychotherapist.
To receive a daily digest of positions emailed to you, search job openings, use his free job lead search engine, Job Search Universe. to subscribe Jeff’s free job search ezine, Head Hunt Your Next Job, or to learn more and sign up for his VIP Personal Search Agent service, go to, http://www.jeffaltman.com. To subscribe to Jeff’s free recruiting ezine, Natural Selection Ezine, subscribe at www.naturalselectionezine.com
If you would like Jeff and his firm to assist you with hiring staff, or if you would like help with a strategic job change, send an email to him at jeffaltman@cisny.com (If you’re looking for a new position, include your resume).
