If I had a dollar for every time someone sent me an email or text message stating someone they know is looking for a job and then sending me their resume with NO background, no detail, no summary of the person or their skills, no salary requirements or years of experience – I would be rich, retired and living in Maui, Hawai’i right about now. The receiver typically expects me to do all the work such as read through the resume, ask follow up questions, etc. and I may not even back in the market to hire additional team members!
Folks, I know we say network but that is not the most effective way to make it happen. Contacting someone cold, not warming them up to who this person is or what they have to offer is doing them an injustice. Did I just say injustice? That may be a bit harsh but you are definitely doing them a disservice. Also, if you are networking a resume please make sure it is clear, concise, free of misspellings and utilizing the proper use of industry terms and acronyms. There is nothing worse than being excited about helping someone out and then you take a look at their resume and it is riddled with errors, incorrect industry terminology and fluffed up with a bunch of superlatives (read my earlier post about that).
When circulating a resume for a friend or yourself here are some key things you need to make sure you do in order to get some real results from your contacts. After all – isn’t the point to get your resume seen by the right people with the ability to make the decisions to get you hired into your dream job? Ok here goes:
- Try to circulate your resume to decision makers vs. order takers. Yes, I said it. Unless the order takers can influence up to the decision makers – it’s like the blind leading the blind. Getting your resume in the hands of the managers/Directors/VPs increases the likelihood it will get seen. Even if the decision maker doesn’t have an available position, their peers might and they can help you out by getting your resume seen by more people who can directly influence the outcome – you being granted an interview so you can sell them on your skills
- List your area of expertise. This is so important I can’t even tell you. Sending random emails to random people expecting them to figure out, on your behalf, what it is you do isn’t the way to go and will get you NO WHERE. I do take the time to ask additional questions if I get a resume like this but trust me it is not optimal and a waste of the other person’s time. And please refrain from saying you/they can do “anything”. No you can’t otherwise you would be doing it. Understand what your skills are and stick to that. Do not let desperation make you say anything because you will not get the results you want. If you have active certifications or training which gives you additional credibility by all means highlight that to the receiver or the messenger to relay to the receiver.
- Detail whether you will travel or relocate for a position. This helps broaden your opportunities if you are willing. If you can travel make sure you let them know what % (i.e. 25%, 50%, 100%). If you are willing to relocate, let them know to which areas of the country or overseas. The more information you can provide in a brief way, the better.
- What are your salary requirements? Everyone acts scared to discuss money but hey , if you know your skills command high 5 figures, are you interested in low 5 figure positions? A closed mouth doesn’t get fed so you need to make it known what type of compensation you require INCLUDING whether the position should be bonus-eligible or commission-eligible.
Now that you know what to do when circulating a resume for yourself or for a friend I look forward to receiving more information off the bat to make sure I further circulate the resume to the right people, in the right industry, in the right town, for the right salary.
Have you networked a resume lately? How did you approach the person? Did you give them information about the candidate up front?
