Overview

So, you have a great résumé and you’re fully equipped now to embark on your job search. Your résumé is the single most important tool to finding a new job, now you have to be sure that you are using it in a way that will optimize the results.   The job search process is one that requires careful analysis, planning and dedication if you hope to succeed. For this, you will need a plan of attack. The concepts and practices for executing your job search campaign are outlined in the following section.

Remember that your résumé is in every essence, a marketing tool. This marketing tool should be used as a door opener and a topic of future discussion that you initiate when delivering it. Aside from mass mailings and Internet site posting, there are new jobs advertised and assigned to recruiters every day. With the notion of the résumé being a “contact initiator”, we want you to envision the aspect of your search campaign that targets individual job listings as an ongoing contact. Sending the résumé to a company without later investigating to see if it was received is a common mistake that can kill an otherwise successful job search.

This guide should be used as an outline of the practices to be employed during the course of the job search. This guide is meant to help ensure success in your search and should be utilized before coming back to us for a re-write if you have been unsuccessful. The results of your job search and the feedback you received are not only an integral part of re-writing (if necessary), but we cannot make an educated decision about what needs to be changed without this information. If you employ the methodologies herein, you will not only be more successful but you will earn a better understanding of what companies are looking for and how your skills are compared to these needs.

We have done our very best work in producing your résumé, and we expect you to give these documents the best chance for success by following the methodologies in this guide. If, during the course of your job search your objectives change or you use the résumé for positions unlike those we targeted the document for – we cannot re-write the document for you. In addition, if you butchered the résumé prior to sending it out we also cannot be accountable for the results it provides.

Keep in mind throughout the search process that there are a few often overlooked truths about looking for a job. These are:

1. It’s no mystery what companies are looking for. In fact, most of those responsible for writing a job advertisement are also the same people that will be evaluating incoming résumés for the position. You can read almost exactly what that person wants to see right from the ad.
2. You can expect that the intended hiring manager or final decision-making authority for the position will actually read less than half of the résumés sent.
3. Many Human Resource personnel and hiring managers are very passive or totally uninterested in reviewing unsolicited résumés due to the increasing numbers of people sending them. Only when it is expressed in so many words or actions that you’re actually interested in finding a position at their company do they provide at least some level of attention to your materials.
4. The vast majority of job seekers never follow up with the potential employer to make sure the résumé was received, reviewed and considered for a position.
5. All hiring managers want to fill every open position in spite of their occasional and apparent lack of interest in doing so. It helps when a job seeker steps up to the plate and makes their job easier by providing the information they need without having to prospect for it.