Elke from Canada asked via Linkedin, “When applying for a
job, how can I stand out from the crowd?”
The best way to stand out from the crowd is to refuse to
join the crowd. You are part of the crowd if you obediently apply for jobs the
way employers (read HR departments) want you to apply. HR departments want you to line up like people taking a
number at the DMV and complete online applications that hiring managers won’t
see, submit resumes online that hiring managers will ignore, wait for
interviews that will rarely lead to more interviews and very seldom result in
job offers.
With the exception of the “cattle call” jobs – 50 Ibex call
center openings, for example – the “hiring process” is a misnamed fraud. It’s
an elimination process and HR departments know very well that hiring managers
hire who they want, not those who survive the HR process of elimination.
Let me ask you something.
In the following vignette, which candidate would you rather be,
candidate A or candidate B?
1.
Candidate
A fills out an online application, waits around for a call and if he is
lucky gets an interview with somebody who doesn’t have the authority to hire him.
2.
Candidate
B skips the line, sends no resume, submits no online application, undergoes
no deceptive, time-wasting interviews - and is introduced to and recommended to
a hiring manager by a mutual friend.
In the following scenario, which candidate would you rather
be, A or B?
1.
Candidate
A paid $100 for a resume overhaul, $500 how- to- interview coaching and is
sweating it out in the employer’s lobby trying to remember all the stuff to do
and not to do in the interview.
2.
Candidate
B is not sitting in the lobby, did not spend money on a resume overhaul or
a “how-to-interview” course. Candidate B
is across the street at a Starbucks where he is casually and comfortable being
introduced to the hiring manager by their mutual friend.
In both scenes, the obvious answer is “B”. Do you know how
to become “B”? If not, let me help. First, don’t double-down on the job search
strategy you’re using now. If it were working, you wouldn’t be reading articles
about how to get a job. Abandon the ineffective strategy now. Stop sending
resumes to strangers. Stop waiting for calls from strangers. Don’t be part of
the crowd. Don’t wait in line. Don’t be a chump. Jump the line. You know I’m right. You’ve seen it all your
career.
I got my first “real job” because my dad knew the General
Manager’s dad, not because I was the best candidate. The General Manager had
resumes from 50 people who were as good as or better than I was.
I got my first management job a few years later because a
guy I barely knew mentioned my name to a hiring manager over a beer at a hotel
bar 150 miles away. The hiring manager had run quarter-page employment ads in
my local paper for weeks before he rejected the entire stack of resumes and
hired the one guy who never joined the crowd.
My friend lined up as if he was at the DMV and applied for a
job for which he was an exact match. The ad said the selected applicant MUST
have 1. Fluency in an Asian language 2. A masters degree or above in political
science and experience as an actual resident of an Asian nation. My friend lived in Japan for years where he
learned to speak fluent Japanese and worked for a prefectural Japanese
government and several Japanese companies.
And, oh yeah, he has a masters in Poli Sci.
The person who got the job had none of the requisite
qualifications. She cut the line; she never had to join the crowd. She “stood
out” and got the job because of a personal connection to the hiring manager.
This happens every day.It can happen to you. But not until you abandon the get-in-line-join-the-crowd strategy.
Here’s how to “stand out” from the crowd by never joining
the crowd:
1.
First, make a list of people you know. They don’t
have to be close friends. People you know from a board you serve on. Neighbors. People whose kids know your kids. Co-workers.
Former co-workers. You get the idea.
Make the list. If you’ve been working for more than a few years, you should
know dozens, maybe hundreds of people who should be on the list. Remember, the
people on the list don’t need to be close friends. The guy whose recommendation
got me my first management job was not a close friend. I didn’t even know he
liked me or respected me well enough to recommend me but he did. Make the list.2. Find phone numbers for everybody on the list.
3. Call each person on the list and tell him or her in clear, declarative terms what you do and ask him or her to introduce you to somebody who might like to meet you. Don’t tell them your job title, tell them what you do. Don’t assume they know what you do. They may know where you work but the former co-worker who hasn’t seen you in 10 years doesn’t know what you do now. A recent survey showed that most parents don’t know what their kids do for a living. Notice I said ask them to introduce you to somebody, not tell you about job “leads.” Unless they introduce you to somebody, you’re still just lining up to join the crowd. If possible, ask them to introduce you to somebody in-person. Over coffee, breakfast or lunch is great. When somebody introduces you to a hiring manager they are risking their relationship with that person. That’s powerful. If the hiring manager hires you and you turn out to be lazy or incompetent or you sexually harass co-workers the person who introduced you loses the trust of the hiring manager. That’s why candidates with a great resume are no match for candidates who know somebody who knows the hiring manager.
If you know where you wish to work, do an advanced LinkedIn search and find out who you know at that employer. LinkedIn shows you how you are connected to people, who you know in common. Start contacting those “connectors” and remind them who you are, what you do and then ask them to introduce you to the specific hiring managers they know at their company. Again, you are about to find out who your real friends are. Some of the people you think you can count on won’t risk any social capitol on you. However, some of the people you least expect to help you will introduce you to hiring managers.
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Other blogs by Joseph Higginbotham:
HigginbothamAtLarge.blogspot.com
HigginbothamHyperlocal.blogspot.com
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