gimmicks won’t get you a job

bombarding an employer with unsolicited recommendations can backfire

May 11, 2011

Here’s something that happened recently when I was hiring for an open position:

A candidate emailed her resume and cover letter to me. She was borderline-qualified — not a complete stretch but not obviously competitive with some of the other candidates … but that’s the not the interesting part. What’s interesting is that within an hour, I’d also received emails from four different people, all raving about this candidate and telling me that I should hire her.

Impressive, right? Well, not exactly. None of them talked about how they knew her or what made her great. Instead, they were short, vague, and simply assured me that I “couldn’t go wrong” with hiring her. None appeared to be from previous managers, and I’m not even sure if they were from previous colleagues.

One just identified her as a “good friend and confidant.” One called her “a cool person in general.”

Never having seen an coordinated onslaught like this, I emailed a couple of them back and asked for more details about why they thought she’d be such a strong candidate. One never replied. Another replied with more superlatives that didn’t really line up with the job.

Now, I’ve written before that having a manager or former manager email a prospective employer about you can be hugely valuable — but only if they’re going to seriously rave about you, and in a way that speaks to what the employer is likely looking for.

But going for quantity over quality can really backfire. In this case, it made the candidate seem … a little off, more focused on marketing herself than on speaking to the needs of the job, and not quite thoughtful about either.

It’s a good illustration of how you need to be smart and thoughtful when you’re looking for a way to stand out in a job search. Salesmanship on its own doesn’t cut it.

{ 51 comments }

should this job-seeker take out a newspaper ad to promote himself?

August 26, 2010

A reader writes:

I am thinking about trying to find a way to get myself advertised in a local newspaper. It would be either taking out an ad or finding another way within an opinion section or something of that sort. In this ad I would try to sell myself to local businesses with the hope that someone would read it and be impressed with my very broad background and maybe give me a chance.

I know it sounds a little crazy but I was fired 10 months ago for refusing to lie to my customer to speed up the process of implementing changes in their software. I have been asked why I left my last job enough now that I am comfortable discussing it in an interview but I am noticing now that companies seem to be a little concerned with the 10-month and growing gap that is on my resume. I know this was my fault for not finding some type of volunteer work to do to fill the gap on my resume, but I also did not intend on being unemployed for such a long time.

I have created an anonymous email address that would be my only point of contact in the ad, just in case the entire thing backfires on me. Would this make me look too desperate? Is this a crazy idea? Would you send an email to a “hire me” ad that you saw in a local newspaper?

Personally, it’s very unlikely that I’d respond to a “hire me” newspaper ad, but then I don’t like anything that feels salesy or gimmicky. I suppose that if (a) the person had the skill set and track record of achievement that I was looking for and (b) the ad really came across as professional, not like a stunt, I might — but my skepticism is very high because I’ve never seen this done in a way that both (a) and (b) were true.

That said, not every employer would have that reaction. There are certainly stories of people who have made inroads with less-traditional tactics like this, like this billboard guy or this guy. I think to pull it off, though, you’d need to have really impressive skills and experience — otherwise you’re just grabbing attention without the needed substance to take it anywhere.

But I think a bigger point here is that since you’re getting interviews, the problem that you’re having isn’t that you’re not grabbing employers’ attention initially — it’s closing the deal once you’re in the interview. And I suspect the problem isn’t the 10-month gap at all, since that’s not stopping them from wanting to interview you. (Plus, that sort of gap is very common these days.) It might be far more fruitful to figure out if the real problem is something that’s going on in your interviews.

What do others think?

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gimmicks have no place in the hiring process

August 4, 2010

I want to highlight something that I just posted in response to a comment on yesterday’s post, because I think it’s a message worth repeating more widely. This is in response to a question about using nice paper for your resume or sending it by Priority Mail:

The day that I’m giving candidates extra credit for using nice paper or high-quality ink or sending an application by Priority Mail is the day that someone needs to ban me from hiring, because I’m no longer doing my job right.

My job is to discern who the best candidate is. At best, gimmicks don’t matter. At worst, they get in the way or even hurt. At least if you’re dealing with someone who’s good at their job (which, admittedly, you may not be).

And here’s an additional point: If you get a job by using a gimmick to “stand out,” you’ve just self-selected for a manager who responds to gimmicks over merit. Is that the place you want to work?

I think we’re in danger of this gimmick issue becoming my new rant, right after companies that don’t respond to job applicants.

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Posted in gimmicks won't get you a job

let’s ring the death knell for postal mail in the hiring process

August 2, 2010

Several people have asked me recently about whether there’s any advantage to sending your resume — or later follow-up — by postal mail.

I’m sure there are still some hiring managers out there who would disagree, but I hate postal mail in the hiring process for the following reasons:

1. It takes extra time. I keep everything electronically, so getting something by postal mail (or fax, for that matter) requires extra effort to integrate it with the rest of my files.

2. I can’t forward it electronically. I like being able to forward a resume to others to get input, or even to say “hey, this guy applied for position X, but you might like him for position Y that you’re hiring for.”

3. To me, it feels a little old-school, even almost oddly naive. Like you might have read a job-hunting guide from 1987.

If you’re using postal mail to try to stand out, consider that that might not be the way to achieve it.

In fact, if you ever find yourself thinking “I’m going to do ___ to stand out from all the other candidates,” you better be referring to (a) being an incredibly qualified candidate, (b) writing a great cover letter, and/or (c) being friendly, responsive, thoughtful, and enthusiastic. If you’re filling in the blank in that sentence with anything not related to the actual quality of your candidacy, you’re probably getting too gimmicky and losing focus on what really does stand out.

P.S. Totally unrelated: If you haven’t taken my quick survey yet, please take it now … and thanks!

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Posted in gimmicks won't get you a job, job searching

being intentionally late to an interview as a strategy

August 14, 2009

A reader writes:

I’d like to share a job search tip with you (or at least receive your opinion about it).

A resume attempts to showcase past achievements but it doesn’t do much to demonstrate a candidate’s character.

So I deliberately call in late to the interview. About a half hour before the interview time, I will call the company and say I’m in traffic and would be it ok to arrive about 15 minutes late. They, of course, always say no problem and they will let the interviewer know.

So I arrive and sit down with the interviewer and I thank him/her for the reschedule. If that interviewer makes special effort to note that extra effort and that most people don’t do that (which certainly has happened with me) I have both an indicator or the character of that interviewer and an instant segue to ask questions about the personal qualities that management values.

The point is that just because you’re a candidate doesn’t mean you can’t create some trigger event that gives you feedback about the inside. (In the science/tech arena this is called ‘blank box’ testing. I’m saying it applies to human interaction and the job search market as well.)

Uh, I think this is a really bad idea.

You’re deliberately arriving late for an interview? In order to see if the interviewer thanks you for calling to warn her?

First of all, as an interviewer, I often allot a specific amount of time for an interview, and I can’t go over it because I have other meetings scheduled right after it. So if I’ve allotted an hour and you arrive 15 minutes late, you’ve just shortened our time to talk by a quarter. Not only is that not good for you, but it’s also annoying, frankly.

Second, it doesn’t reflect well on you to be 15 minutes late. You should be planning to leave yourself enough of a buffer that you don’t need to worry about getting stuck in traffic, because you’ve planned for the possibility — because you know that arriving on time for an interview is important. Now, if there’s an incredibly unusual traffic jam, that’s different — but as someone pointed out in the comments on another post recently, many cities are small enough that your interviewer is going to know if this is the case or not.

Third, you’re expecting the interviewer to note the “extra effort” that you made to call them and alert them that you’d be late? Since that’s the bare minimum expected from a candidate running late, that’s a little like expecting to be thanked for making the extra effort to brush your teeth that day. You should be apologizing; they shouldn’t be thanking you.

And last, you’re doing this to test the character of your interviewer? There are a lot better ways to do that than to intentionally disrespect someone’s time when they’ve set aside a block of their day to meet with you.

What do others think?

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Posted in gimmicks won't get you a job, interviewing

dropping off your resume in person

June 13, 2009

A reader writes:

What type of cover letter should you write to go with your resume when you are going to drop off your resume at several different companies? I have several years experience in the loan processing field and want to go to companies in this field and ask if it is ok to leave my resume with them. I am not sure if this is a good way to get a job as I have never had to do this before, but I am hoping it will help me in my pursuit of finding a job.

Well, to answer your question before I rant about what I want to rant about, use the exact same sort of cover letter that you’d use if you were applying any other way.

Now that that’s out of the way: I really don’t recommend this tactic at all. Most companies include specific instructions about how they want you to apply, and it’s pretty unlikely that “in person” is included. Plus, many companies only accept resumes electronically because they get put into an electronic screening system. Third, this is unnecessarily gimmicky; save yourself the time, apply online, and if you’re a strong candidate, they’ll contact you.

Yes, yes, everyone has heard a story about someone who went by to drop off their resume in person and got interviewed and hired on the spot. It’s still, in general, not a good use of your time. (Everyone has also heard the story about the guy who sent a shoe in with his application, asking to “get a foot in the door.” That guy is a cheeseball. Don’t be him. Don’t be any of these urban legends.)

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Posted in gimmicks won't get you a job, job searching

should you show up without an appointment?

March 17, 2009

A reader writes:

I know you cannot just send in your resume online and expect to get called. It is those applicants that are willing to try new things that might have a chance. I really want this job that was posted online. I have the experience and it would be such a good fit. Anyway, I applied online and I tried to get someone live just to talk with. I left messages for the H.R. people, but I did not expect them to call back. I want to go in with my resume and just say hello and talk. Is this going to help or hurt? I figure I have nothing to lose and everything to gain.

No! Do not just show up with no appointment.

It absolutely could hurt you. If a candidate did this to me, there is a very good chance that it would ruin the person’s chances. This is because:

1. I’m busy. I set aside specific blocks of time for interviews, and the rest of my day is booked up with other things. There is zero chance that I would make the time to talk with a candidate who showed up unannounced, and a high chance that I would be concerned about a candidate who didn’t realize this.

2. The nature of the hiring process is that the employer decides which candidates they want to call in to interview. It’s their call, not yours, and I would be annoyed that you were trying to circumvent that process.

When I have many good candidates for a job and one of them is being a nuisance, I’m less interested in that person, not more. If you want to stand out, write a great cover letter, have a resume that demonstrates a track record of success in the area they’re hiring for, and follow up once, politely. Good luck!

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Posted in gimmicks won't get you a job, job searching