I’m Perfect For The Position, So Why Did I Get Screened Out?

Great question. Probably an obvious answer.

The easy answer is, you probably aren’t perfect for the job, at least from the recruiter’s or hiring manager’s perspective. Now that doesn’t mean you aren’t perfect. It may mean you didn’t communicate effectively as to demonstrate just how perfect you are. So you get screened out.

It has been my experience in close to 30 years as a recruiter that candidates too often ignore the competition that also claim to be perfect for the job. As a recruiter in today’s economy, we can get 500+ responses to an executive level position, all claiming to be, “perfect.” With this volume of resumes, emails, phone calls and referrals, you have to demonstrate you are more perfect than all of the rest.

The real question is, “Have you demonstrated you are more perfect than all the others?” I realize candidates generally have limited information about the position, so demonstrating this can be difficult. It isn’t possible to give every screening detail. Anyone who has hired people knows this. Most hiring managers experience the same thing. When you are looking to hire some one you too get resume overload. So how do you prioritize all these resumes, calls, emails, and referrals? Most have set up some sort of checklist to reduce the number to a manageable figure. Some things on the checklist include, industry, company size, compatibility with products, systems, organization, title, turnover, etc. This is important information that is missing from many resumes. The result is you may get screen out or put in the infamous “B” pile.

The next step might be to further read the resumes that passed the checklist to reduce the number even further. It is at this stage that you must really demonstrate that you are perfect for the position. From a recruiter’s perspective this is the point where I want to see how your accomplishments align with what the client is looking for in the person they hire to deliver the results. This is the, “So why did I get screened out?” point.

Here are some suggestions that might help you to not get screened out if you really are perfect:

1. Customize your resume as much as possible to directly align with the job. Don’t send the one-size fits all resume.
2. Your bullet points must include quantifiable results, time frame to accomplish, and be believable.
3. If you don’t know the exact expectations, some research on the company might give you some tips. If your research highlights issues, try to extrapolate how your functional area will participate in these issues and then how your accomplishments align.
4. Don’t limit your research to the company’s Web site. Look for press releases, announcements, industry trends, local newspapers, business journals, industry periodicals, and Google the company and its competitors. It will take some work, however, the pay off is not getting screened out.
5. Use a two column cover letter that compares your experience and accomplishments with what their needs are. (You can download a free sample cover letter on our Web site. (CLICK HERE to get yours)
6. Keep your resume to two pages. Don’t have so much detail that the important points get lost.
7. Make sure you have the basic screening information on your resume. Step back and be objective as to exactly how you screen resumes when you were a hiring manager with a stack of 300 resumes on your desk.

There are a lot of reasons you can get screened out, even if you are perfect. I’m convinced doing these few things will at least increase the odds in your favor. I’m sure they will increase the odds if you really are perfect for the position.

Join our Linkedin Job Search Networking Group for many more tips on helping you in your job search. CLICK HERE to join – it is free.

Our job search workbook deals with all of the issues one encounters in a job search. To review the book and have it sent to you for just $5 CLICK HERE. Readers rate this book 4.5 stars out of 5.

How To Shoot Yourself In The Foot While Conducting A Job Search

I think the best way to shoot yourself in the foot while in a job search is not having a structured, formal, repeatable job search methodology or process. In the case of a job search HOPE and LUCK are not a process.

A methodology has a series of steps, that when followed, increase the probability of a desired outcome. This also implies that when a step is skipped the probability of the desired outcome is less. There is only one thing worse than skipping a step in a methodology, and that is not having one at all. Unfortunately, we find that most candidates don’t have a real methodology. Most tend to have a little of this and a little of that and candidates are easily distracted. The results tend to be no methodology.

Our job search workbook, “This Is NOT The Position I Accepted” is a 5 step process for making you a sales person during your job search. After all, when you are in a job search you are in sales. There are 5 basic steps in the sales process that are a good outline for a job search.

1. What is the product or service? Before a sales person can sell a product they must know all about the product. This not only includes the facts about the product, but what makes this product better than the competition, what makes this product unique, how the buyer will benefit from the product, and often a SWOT analysis is performed. Since you are the product in a job search have you addressed all of these issues?
2. Once step one is completed it is time to identify the customers and put together a marketing plan. Not everyone may need or want your product. In fact, your product probably is not right for everyone. So you must identify the high potential customers. Those that have a high probability of not only buying your product, but also can afford your product. Why waste time meeting customers if they don’t fall into one of these categories? In a job search we call this, “networking with a purpose.”
3. Now that high potential customers have been defined and identified, every sales person needs marketing materials. Marketing documents, regardless of the form, strive to get to the customer’s underlying motivation. Often this requires multiple marketing materials and multiple formats. Regardless of formats, most marketing documents are about the customer, not the seller. Is your resume a marketing document? Is it about the buyer or all about you?
4. Sooner or later every sales person has to make a sales presentation to get the sale. Top salespeople have this down pat. They rehearse, they anticipate questions and practice the answers, they know what the buyer’s objections to the product are, and have thought through how to overcome them. Finally they have studied the competition and know exactly why their product will better meet the customer’s needs. Obviously, this is the interview for those in a job search. Would you be considered a top sales person?
5. Finally top salespeople know how to follow-up and close the sale. This is the most difficult part of any sale. It must be done tactfully, in a manner that engages the customer without bugging them and continues to overcome issues as the process continues. For candidates, this is all of the additional interviews that take place as you move through the hiring process.

These five steps are the basic steps in an search process. Just like the sales process, there is a lot more that goes into each step. Top salespeople spend an enormous time training, preparing and practicing each step. Top candidates do the same.

Join our Linkedin Job Search Networking Group for a lot more help with developing and enhancing your job search methodology. CLICK HERE to join the group.

Our job search workbook, “This Is NOT The Position I Accepted” is based on the five steps outlined above and goes into great detail on each step. We will send you the book to review for just the cost of shipping $5. CLICK HERE to read more. Readers have rated this workbook 4.5 stars out of 5.

I encourage your comments and feedback.

Brad Remillard

Traditional Resumes Are Worthless – Video

This short video highlights why most traditional resumes are never noticed. Is your resume about you? About your skills, experiences, and companies you have worked for? If they are then this is probably why your resume is going in the “B” pile.

To get your resume in the “A” pile it can’t be traditional. Standard resumes that worked as little as two years ago will not even get noticed today.

This video will even give you an example of how to change your resume so it isn’t “traditional” and isn’t about you.

Click this link to watch, “Traditional Resumes Are Worthless.” Your resume doesn’t have to be traditional.

Join our LinkedIN Job Search Networking group. Click here to join.

Thousands have downloaded our FREE sample cover letter. If you have not done so, just click here and you can get yours.

Do You Have A Resume Or A Marketing Document?

Does your resume list all of your experiences, all your skills, and even some accomplishments?

Does it outline all of the things you have done in the past that you think are important and can fit on two pages?

Does it clearly indicate all your past duties, tasks and responsibilities for your positions?

All good stuff, but for the most part, missing a lot of the important stuff.

Most resumes are based on, what in selling is referred to as, “features” or “facts.” Every junior sales rep and marketing person knows that people don’t buy on features, they buy on benefits.

Most resumes are simply a list of features the candidate thinks (key word – thinks) are important. In marketing terms it is a, “fact sheet” not a marketing document. If you want to get noticed you have to have a marketing document not a resume. One that markets benefits.

Marketing 101 teaches marketing is all about getting to the customer’s motivation. It is all about what’s in it for them. Few resumes are a true marketing document. Most are some combination of features and benefits, with heavy weighting on features. Few hiring managers will get excited reading a list of features. These are nice to know, but unfortunately, don’t create any emotional reaction. Benefits, on the other hand, do create an emotional reaction. It is this reaction that creates the desire to buy.

For example, you could have the following feature on your resume, “Substantially reduced turnover in first year.” A good fact but no emotional reaction. Instead you could market the benefit to the hiring manager, “Reduced turnover from over 55% to less than 10% in my first year. This resulted in an estimated savings of $150,000 in just hiring costs. It also dramatically increased the quality of work, completely eliminated errors and reduced overtime by 90% resulting in a cost savings from the previous year of $200,000.”

If I am an owner, CEO, or hiring manager struggling with the high cost of turnover, this is motivating and a benefit.

Selling benefits converts your resume into a marketing document. After all, that is what a resume should be.

Join our Linkedin Job Search Networking Group for a lot more on resumes, interviewing, networking and even how to answer the “Tell Me About Yourself?” question.

Is your cover letter stopping  your resume from getting noticed. Try this cover letter. It has increased the responses three fold for many people. Recruiters prefer this. Download it for FREE CLICK HERE.

If  your LinkedIn Profile isn’t powerful and compelling then use our 8 Point Check List to help you build a powerful and compelling profile. CLICK HERE to download.

We encourage your comments and feedback.

Brad Remillard

Three Most Important Words In a Job Search Radio Show

These three simple words have the biggest impact on your job search. They can make the difference between getting a job or not. That is the power they have. If you don’t know what these are then this is a MUST listen to. We not only give you the words but discuss how to ensure you implement them. Make sure you are the one that wins the interview and then the job. We are serious about the power of these on your job search.

Download the audio at http://www.impacthiringsolutions.com/index.php/candidates/free-resources/free-audio-programs

Download a sample cover letter the gets results at http://www.impacthiringsolutions.com/index.php/cover-letters

Join our LinkedIN Job Search Networking Group http://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=1781587&trk=hb_side_g

Traditional Resumes Are Worthless

In almost 30 years as an executive recruiter, I have looked at at over 100,000 resumes and through our candidate university coached/instructed hundreds of candidates with their job search. One consistent theme in all of this is that candidates receive a lot of mixed messages on resumes. Too often candidates lose sight of the real purpose for this document or overemphasis its importance.

In a previous article,”Resumes Have Only One Purpose,” I wrote the only reason for a resume is to get an interview. That is all it is good for. It isn’t to get a job. Candidates forget this. As a result, they want to include a lot of unimportant and sometimes irrelevant information on the resume. You only need enough information on the resume to get an interview. Everything else is over kill.

This is why, “Traditional resumes are worthless.”

With all this extra information the important and relevant information is lost in the clutter. Most people only spend between 10 and 20 seconds on the first screen. If your resume doesn’t catch their eye in that time it is discarded.

We believe for this reason the important and relevant points have to stand out so they don’t get overlooked. There can’t be a lot of useless information cluttering up the resume.

The fact is every resume is simply a marketing document. Its purpose is to catch the reader’s attention, get to the reader’s underlying motivation, have them read it and invite you in for an interview. Sounds similar to any advertisement or marketing brochure.

Marketing whether in print or electronically doesn’t try and attract everyone with one advertisement. Companies well know as “marketing” companies, Nike, Coke, McDonalds, Apple have multiple ads each with a specific purpose to reach a specific customer. They are very targeted with the listener’s or reader’s motivations in mind. They rarely if ever assume one-size-fits-all.

Candidates resumes on the other hand often assume a one-size-fits-all. Most candidates put together a generic resume, all about them, with what they think is important and relevant, then cross their fingers and hope it gets to the reader’s underlying motivations. It rarely if ever does.

Change your paradigm about your resume. Begin thinking of it as a marketing document. Ask yourself, “Is this relevant to the specific needs of this hiring manager or company?” Have you targeted the reader’s motivation rather than yours? Do the bullet points hit the target like a bullet or more like a shotgun? Do the important and relevant points stand out? (Without highlighting or gimmicks). Are you helping them with their pain? Do the bullet points help them solve their problems? Is your resume about you or them?

For all those wondering, yes this means you may have more than one marketing document (resume). Just like companies do. There is no law that says you can’t. There is only one rule regarding resumes, everything on it must be completely honest and verifiable. That is it.

In summary, target your resume. Make it a marketing document instead of a resume. Get away from the generic traditional one-size-fits-all. Build a marketing document with the reader’s motivation in mind.

For help with your resume we offer a complete resume development system. The CDs, templates and examples will ensure you have a marketing document. To review our “Complete Resume System” CLICK HERE. Many charge as much as $500 for the generic one. Our complete system is less than 10% of that.

You can also download for FREE on our website our, “Job Search Self Assessment Scorecard.” Take the assessment and see how effective your search is and what you can do to improve in the areas you aren’t excelling.

Job Search Mistakes – Part Two Radio Show

Are Your Job Search Mistakes preventing you from conducting an effective job search? Is your job search taking too long? Learn how to overcome the Top Ten Job Search Mistakes to reduce the time it takes to find a great job. In a previous radio show, we discussed the first 5 of the Top Ten Job Search Mistakes. In this radio program, we discuss the back half of the Top Ten Job Search Mistakes. Stop falling victim to an ineffective job search, a job hunt that takes too long, and a lack of job leads and referrals. Discover the Top Ten Job Search Mistakes and the steps to overcome each one.

Join us every week Monday 11 AM PDT on http://www.latalkradio.com

For more free resources to help with your job search go to http://www.impacthiringsolutions.com

Top Ten Job Search Mistakes – Radio Show

Are you making one or more of the Top Ten Job Search Mistakes? Are you frustrated that you are not getting many job leads, referrals, interviews, and offers? In this episode of the weekly IMPACT Hiring Solutions Job Search Radio Show, Brad and Barry discuss how to overcome the Top Ten Job Search Mistakes. This list of the Top Ten Job Search Mistakes is based on 25 years of Executive Search Experience, over 1000 search assignments, and interviews with over 200,000 candidates. Don’t be the one making typical mistakes in your job search.

Brad and Barry also discuss the release of their new FREE Job Search Plan Self-Assessment Scorecard. Within the span of a few minutes, the time it takes to complete this Job Search Scorecard, you can understand the steps required to launch an effective job search, re-start a stalled job search, and find your next dream job. You can download the FREE Job Search Plan Self-Assessment Scorecard just CLICK HERE.

To listen to or download this radio show CLICK HERE

Job Search Plan Self-Assessment Scorecard – NOW Available – FREE

Are you ready to start conducting an EFFECTIVE JOB SEARCH?

Are you ready to take time off in the race to finish your job search?

As promised, Brad I committed to release our long-awaited, deeply researched, field-tested, and validated FREE Job Search Plan Self-Assessment Scorecard.

You can download the Job Search Plan Self-Assessment Scorecard and tool by joining our LinkedIn Job Search Discussion Group. We apologize about this two step process. However, Brad I have made the commitment to our job search community to release all new scorecards, self-assessment tools, templates, and other FREE Job Search Resources into our LinkedIn Job Search Discussion Group first.

We’ve worked very hard over the last few months to put together a FREE simple scorecard and tool that can make a dramatic difference in your job search.

If you take this self-assessment and work very hard to improve your scores from “0” or “1” into the “2” and “3” levels, you’ll be able to significantly reduce the time it takes to complete an effective job search.

Not only will this scorecard help you in overcoming the Top Ten Job Search Mistakes, but it will also help you in your job search by reducing the time it takes to find a great opportunity.

Here’s a great example: If you’re an executive and the average time in this poor job market is 9-12 months to find a new executive level position, this Job Search Plan Self-Assessment Scorecard will help you cut in half the time it should take to find a new job. Imagine saving $30,000-$60,000 in reducing your job hunting time by conducting a more effective job search.

Join Brad and I on our Weekly Internet Radio Talk Show this coming Monday – August 31st – 11-noon PST on LATalkRadio. We’ll be talking about how to overcome the Top Ten Job Search Mistakes and Errors by using our new FREE Job Search Plan Self-Assessment Scorecard.

Barry

P.S.: We look forward to your comments, ideas, and thoughts in our LinkedIn Job Search Discussion Group. How might we improve this scorecard in a future revision? What insights about your job search effectiveness did you gain after spending a few minutes taking the assessment? After you take the assessment, what’s your specific plan to improve your job search?

What if Your Job Search takes 2X-3X longer than expected?

Amazing how time keeps marching forward in your job search like the sand through an hour glass. Every day, week, and month not spent conducting an effective job search drains your wallet and puts an unbearable level of pressure on your job hunting activities.

Miriam Salpeter, who writes a blog at Keppie Careers,  recently posted an article titled “What’s the Cost of Being Unemployed?”  Great article.  Miriam gave a few good examples:

If you expect a $20,000 salary, your weekly salary is $384.61 and an 18 week job hunt will cost you $6,992.98.

If you are looking for a job with a $50,000 salary, your weekly salary is $961.54 and an 18 week job hunt costs you $17,307.69.

If you are hoping for a $100,000 salary, your weekly salary is $1,923.08 and an 18 week job hunt costs you $34,615.38.

Many readers of our blog are in the $150K-$200K plus range. What’s the cost of your job search moving from a traditional 6 months out to 12-18 months?

Here’s the comment I wrote to Miriam’s Blog posting:

Excellent point about the cost of an extended job search. Most of the candidates I work with are significantly north of $150,000-$200,000 in annual income. Imagine the cost of a search that has gone from a traditional 6 months and is now approaching 12-18 months.

Here’s the irony: We provide many good products and services, like you and other gurus/experts in this field. Yet, my experience is that the vast majority of managerial and executive candidates would rather flounder around for 12-18 months at the cost of $150K-$200K instead of investing $29, $59, $99 in a proven validated product/service that will take months off their job search.

I realize folks who are out of work don’t want to spend money unnecessarily. However, like most things in life you’ve got to make a few key investments and spend a little money to make money. Most candidates we encounter have no clue what to do in an effective job search – and they’re trying the same strategies which may have worked 8 – 10 -15 years ago. Whether it’s our products/services, yours, another well-known expert – my recommendation would be for job seekers to become masters of the job search process. To do that requires purchasing audio, video, kits, courses, books, and workbooks. On top of all that great content is an extraordinary amount of FREE resources which few people take advantage of.

I just wrote a recent article on my blog about mastering the job search. My partner Brad and I will be discussing this idea in our weekly radio show on Monday.

Barry

P.S.: On Monday in our Radio Show we will release our long awaited Self-Assessment Scorecard to determine if your Job Search Plan is adequate to complete a quick and effective job search.