Friday, February 29, 2008

You Hate Spam, Don't You?

So Why Are You Spamming Me?

One of the reasons I like Gmail as much as I do is because its spam filter is extremely good. The spam filter or local ISP provides is horrible and requires that every time I open it, I have to manually create rules that direct future spammer emails to go directly to my delete files. It is too time consuming, so I've switched to Gmail and abandoned the ISP's email account for me to the spammers.

At work, every day, I arrive to at least 100 and, more often, 150+ emails from individuals whose resumes in no way shape or form reflect the specifics of the requirements of the job description they are applying for.

I wonder why they sent the resume.

Many people are brought up with the idea that if your resume fits 20% of the requirement, you send it because maybe . . .

Or that if a recruiter does work in a specific field, but the ad doesn't fit your experience, you send them your resume because they might have something else. This strategy may work with junior recruiters but is frustrating to people like me who have high demanding and extremely demanding clients.

So let me explain why this is so troublesome.

On Monday, if I walk in to 100 new resumes, call and speak to each person for 5 minutes, I will take 5 hours qualifying every person. I will have done nothing to help the people who contacted me on Friday who may or may not fit the requirements. I probably won't actually speak to everyone; I'll need to leave messages that may or may not be responded to that day. I will need to keep everyone's resume organized and easily locatable so that when they decide they have the time to call back, I can easily retrieve it which delays my contacting someone from that day's group of 100 resumes.

And then I will have discovered that the resume was sent speculatively.

I know I am not unique in having this problem. Recruiters I connect with all over the country lament that they spend all day reading one useless resume after another.

So, here's a piece of simple and EXTREMELY USEFUL ADVICE. If you have the experience that is required of the job, make sure it is in your resume, even if that means adding it to your basic resume.

Do not just include it in a cover letter or cover email; PUT IT IN THE RESUME. Pretend that someone even busier than I will be reviewing it so MAKE YOUR RELEVANT EXPERIENCE OBVIOUS.

By doing that, you will get many more interviews and your resumes won't look like spam.


Jeff Altman
The Big Game Hunter
 Concepts in Staffing
thebiggamehunter@cisny.com

© 2008 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 many disciplines since 1971. He is a retired certified leader of the ManKind Project, a not for profit organization that assists men with life issues, and a practicing psychotherapist.

He is the author of “Get Yourself Hired NOW! The Big Game Hunter’s Guide to Head Hunting Your Next Job and Every Job After That” (in ebook and audio formats) and “Get Your Job Search Organized NOW!” (ebook) Both are available at www.getyourselfhiredNOW.com Register at the site and you will receive free copies of The International Job Board List and a Guied to Resume Writing.

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