Your resume bores me. Nothing personal, its just resumes in general are boring.
When have you ever said, “S*&#, I can’t wait to write up my CV”? Right, you haven’t, because they are boring. Do you think recruiter’s get excited to read 78 resumes for an open accounting position? Of course not, at least I never have in my recruiting adventures.
Do not panic. Do not throw out your resume.
Still critical to the hiring process, resumes will always be a formality (thank HR for that). But, times are tough, competition for work is astronomical, and recruiter inboxes are s*&# on by resumes literally all day – so good luck being noticed.
My suggestion – It’s time to think beyond the resume.
Social Networking Sites – Linkedin
Anyone and everyone can network online. That includes extroverts, introverts, Gen Y, Baby Boomers, and the freaks at table 9. There are many sites to choose from, but as it concerns your job search, one stands out as the most important in developing business connections – Linkedin.
Linkedin is by far the most professional and most popular networking site used in hiring practices (~80% of companies already utilize it). What should you know?
- Add as many TRUSTED connections as you can
- Search a company of interest and find out if you’re connected to anyone from that organization. If so, you may have found your golden ticket
- Boost your credibility by asking your connections to write Linkedin recommendations
- Join groups that interest you or relate to your desired profession
Live Networking Events
Without face-to-face interaction, most people don’t feel safe laying their neck on the line for you. No matter how perfect you seem on the computer, their credibility is at risk when referring you, so before doing that they’ll need to check you out in person. This is where live networking events become absolutely critical.
You can locate events in your town by breezing through your local paper (if you still read it), or by running a quick Google search. Find an event that targets your industry or skill set. This will be most beneficial to your career.
Do you consider yourself shy? No worries. Focus on making just ONE connection before calling it a night. I also suggest reading these helpful networking tips for introverts.
Start a Blog
My advice is to blog about what you know, and what your passionate about. If you’re enthusiastic about something, others will start getting excited as well. A blog centered on your skill set and industry is ideal, but you can still gain valuable exposure if your focus is more personal.
If you aren’t a great writer, maybe you’ll present yourself better as a video blogger? How about a blog full of pictures of your travels, your passion, and your life in general? Here’s an idea – create a blog that runs off of the ideas and content of other writers. The important thing is that you’ll receive exposure, and people will start to recognize your name.
Talk to any blogger about what they’ve accomplished after starting their blog and they’ll never shut up, myself included. The connections and opportunities are endless, and it all starts with passion.
Side Walk Job Searching
On two separate occasions in 2009, recent college graduates set up shop during rush hour on the busy streets of Philadelphia. Wearing a suit and a smile, they handed their resumes through car windows and to people walking by. Many folks bashed my opinion on this ballsy job search method when I raved about their brilliance and innovation. I hate to say I told you so, but in the end both students found a job, and yet again, innovation wins (for those keeping score that’s 1 point for me, zero for you).
Look, I’m not necessarily suggesting you pack your shit and camp out on the streets, but I do urge you to try out an innovative job search method. What do you have to lose? Not a job, that’s for sure.
What are some non-traditional job search methods you’ve used?
Oh and by the way, after reading that I randomly posted my resume on craigslist saying I will work for free and got an unpaid internship with an exciting startup in my field. Working for them, I got to work on some of my skills which had got rusty and met some great people. Ultimately that unpaid internship led me to my first real world job after school 🙂 Working for free is a great option. Much better than sitting at home and sending a thousand resumes!
Shishir – Working for free can be great, if someone is financially capable of doing so. I agree, the experience is much more rewarding than sending a thousand resumes and seeing no response.
Yeah. I didn’t have that much saved up. Just hunkered down and crashed at a cousin’s place to bring down my costs. Had to only work for 3 months unpaid before I landed a full time. When people see that you are eager to gain some experience and have the drive to work (especially for new college grads), they are more willing to listen to you I guess. Anyway thanks for the great post and encouraging comments Rich!
For recent grads, I have found Charlie Hoehn’s ebook- “Recession Proof Graduate” to be an excellent read: http://www.slideshare.net/choehn/recessionproof-graduate-1722966
He has some great stuff on his blog too: http://charliehoehn.com/
Thanks for sharing this Shishir!
Rich,
Your post is brimming with insight and practicality. I have written and tweaked my CV countless times, and I find the process draining. What do I include? What do I omit? What language do I use, for example, to make my credentials “fit” the job or school to which I am applying? These questions need answers. Your post has pointed me in the right direction.
Hi Andy – thanks for your comment.
Each job or school is different and I believe a resume should be tweaked around when needed, but I don’t push people do go nuts doing this. Create a resume that is a wonderful summary of you and all that you are. When you apply to a job or school that pushes one requirement more than the others, then maybe some tweaking is in order, but if you don’t have that skill, maybe it is a sign to not apply.
Thanks for the comment and hope to see you around again soon.
Resumes SHOULD dead in my opinion, but they’re not. Can’t see them going away anytime soon unfortunately. They seem so stale and old today, considering all the new tools and technologies at our fingertips. I think the trend should move away from resumes and more towards profiles, charts or videos. How about “reputation” vs. “resume.” Not sure what the right answer is yet. I’ve seen great video resumes before, as well as resumes put into one page charts with great eye candy. Bottom line is, as a someone in the recruiting field for 10 years who has looked at countless word documents…get my attention!
Hey Geoff – I feel that resumes will NEVER be dead. HR sees them as a formality and will always hold value to them. I love your idea about charts, profiles, and videos. Student career placement offices should work on using technology into the strategy to hep themm
Yeh resumes are annoying. Its much easier to lie on a resume than a public profile… Even for internal promotions in some institutions require a resume. My flatmate got offered a job but still had to submit a resume after he accepted the offer out of formality… talk about anti 80/20!
I recently got a taste of a product called iprofile. A web app combination of a resume and an online profile. Still has some teething problems but the potential is great.
A big benefit is the user can control permissions on who sees it. This allows lots more detail over sites such as LinkedIn where NDAs and other security issues arise.
Vinay that iprofile product seems interesting. How far do you think they are away from creating a bang up product?
Controlling who sees it will help candidates keep the annoying volume away and just speak to the quality they want to view.
Thanks for bringing this up, I’ll need to check that out!
Love the points here.
For me blogging is a great thing for recognition and soemthing one can point to as a sign of productivity (among other things). I have been told in a few interviews/meetings that people have seen my blog and been impressed with it. And I’m not self hosted or anything. Imagine what you can do with a really good design and up to date content
Hey Cameron – glad you enjoyed this post and I’m excited you left your thoughts. Self hosting is nice, but so much can be accomplished without it. Keep up with your blog and one day you can move to self hosted if you want to increase your name/brand rapidly!
Nail on head mate.
Back when I used to do hiring I remember wondering whether anyone ever made a decision based on a resume. Unless the person was spot on in line with a specific skill I was in the market for, it was much, much better to wait until the interview.
Also, having a blog or Twitter account where I can see how clever you are in the wild is really helpful as well. It’s a lot easier to get a feeling for who you are dealing with when you can see how they communicate with other people.
Great post.
Hey Steven – appreciate the comments and your thoughts. When and for whom where you hiring for? Would love to chat about that…
I personally wouldn’t make a decision off of a resume, but if a phone call went really well I’d definitely get excited and push that person directly to the hiring manager.
It really is easier to get a feeling when you can use social media/blogs to read into someone. The resume is just a piece of paper – an introduction. And….it is boring!
You bring up great points, Rich. I think starting my blog was the best career move I’ve ever made. It’s responsible for my current job and I have built more contacts (worldwide) solely through the blog and my writing, which I know is paving the path for future opportunities.
I would also add to your list: Brazen Careerist and leveraging your Career Services and Alumni offices. This is particularly true if you’re relocating or want to head into a large corporation, chances are there might be an Alum sitting in a corner office or at least knows someone, who knows someone. It gives you a network, fast and is a free resource post-grad resource.
Brazen is fantastic because your peers and employers are present on the network. I sent out a tweet regarding a blog post (http://www.creativeclass.com/creative_class/2009/11/17/the-grey-flannel-suit-and-the-hawaiian-shirt/) that was something like, “LinkedIn is the suit, Facebook is the Hawaiian shirt and Brazen is the blazer, jeans and cute heels.” They combine personality with professional networking and I think it’s a great tool to build your online brand.
If someone has passion in anything they should start a blog. Talk to anyone that considers themselves a blogger and they will tell you that they have met incredible people, learned a lot, and have opened up new opportunities through their blog.
Good points with Brazen and Career Services. Brazen has helped me meet Gen Y professionals in my area and others, and I strongly suggest it to anyone looking to build themselves.
Thanks for your thoughts!
Hey, this is good news for those of us who can’t ever seem to write a resume any two people can agree upon, right? 😉
I’d love for my blog to help me get a job… Haha! Especially if it has anything to do with what my blog is about. 🙂 I’d really like to eventually break into PR for professional racing organizations, so writing about cars, sharing my passion about them and making friends who have the same interest may help me do that. I’ve heard of a few people breaking into various industries without having degrees in that industry. (So I hope I don’t need a PR degree, and that my HR degree will suffice…. And contacts/willingness to work & learn would count more.)
Also, I love the sidewalk idea…. Genius!
Blogs can be great for getting the attention of whoever’s hiring. I got an internship (I’m a college student) not because of my blog, but I sent the director a link to a particular post so she could see the kind of content I’m capable of. I’ve been doing development for and co-leading trainings on conflict resolution/communication and I don’t think she would have let me into it so quickly if she hadn’t seen the quality of content I can produce. Plus, if you have a sweet design for your site it shows that you care about user experience.
Hey Nathan – Everything you say is true. The contest you’ve produced won them over, so they already know the quality you bring. That’s a big kudos to you.
Definitely. I’m still on free hosting and will be looking into hiring someone to help me switch over to paid hosting, and then a redesign is definitely on the calendar. Also something I plan on hiring someone to do, because I just do not have the skills right now to do it myself, nor the free time to learn right now. I want to eventually, though! But I don’t want to make my blog wait until I do that.
Hey Meg – I know someone who can help with switching over if you are serious about it. E-mail me at CornOnTheJob AT gmail.com
He is awesome and did a great job
Meg, it certainly is good news, but a resume is still needed at some point. Check out my blog for resume/cover letter tips and feel free to email me if you ever need advice.
Your blog could certainly help you break into PR/Marketing into the racing industry, but you’ll need to work on connections. Try to find out who in those organizations uses social media, and see if they leave comments on blogs, or have blogs of their own. Try to reach out to them. MAKE THIS YOURS. Go out and take this.
To beat a dead horse, university career center websites can also be really good resources. For example, here’s a guide with templates from University of Oregon:
http://uocareer.uoregon.edu/media/3809/resume-cover-letter-guide-revised-6-09.pdf
I’m not at all affiliated with their career center but it’s a really good guide.
Thanks for passing on that guide, Nathan. I don’t have much experience in checking out career center guides, but that one was pretty good for a new grad to follow.
If you say so, I will. 🙂 I’ve been told mine isn’t a bad one, actually. For some reason I guess I can write decent ones. (At least compared to others with about my experience level with writing them.)
Connecting well and networking is an area I’m certainly working on improving, I struggle with it a bit. I’ve been having some success connecting with fellow bloggers, which is a step in the right direction at least! I’ve also established some contact with automotive photographers, also something I want to do. (And draw inspiration from what they get to do for a living, it is possible!)
I’m hoping to do even better with it after we move and end up in the PNW, which has a huge car culture and multiple organizations and tracks close by.
Hey Meg – keep up the networking with photographers and bloggers and eventually look to meet those people in person. Follow people on Twitter that hold value in your field as well!
Rich,
This is without a doubt a very smart article. Per our many conversations you know that I went through a fairly challenging job search. In the end it was my blog, not my resume that got me hired at the job that I”m at now. Regarding the sidewalk guys, love that. I was really close to standing on the side of the 10 Freeway with a sign that said Pepperdine MBA for hire, will work for 90k/yr. I still think people who are graduating should consider such an approach.
Hey Srini – yes, we’ve talked about the awfully painful search you went through. In the end, the blog got you the job, and the resume was there to just assist in the process. It is “ballsy” in my opinion, but it works, in regards to side walk job search!
Rich, this is a great article. And I have to mention it, but you look like Vin Diesel on the header of your Corn On the Job blog which is a brilliant name btw. I’m an entrepreneur and not worried about ever having to write a resume, but my wife (for some reason) is finishing her Masters and going into the intelligence sector either private or government. And I’ve been trying to convince her to leverage Linkedin for awhile. I myself am still trying to learn how to use it.
And your second point is great, live social events. I’ve had a blog and been online doing freelance for 5 years now. I started networking and going to tweetups, not really to promote myself, but just to make contacts and get to know people. A couple people I have found ways to help out, and now business is just pouring in. I meet one guy at a tweetup who I never heard of again who refereed me to a guy in New York who has refereed me at least 8 other people all over the country.
Anyways, awesome article, I plan on telling my readers to check this out.
Hey Mike, glad to have your comment here and I will take the Vin Diesel reference any day! :o)
If you’d like, feel free to take me up on my offer and reach out to me on e-mail – CornOnTheJob AT Gmail.com Linkedin isn’t hard, it is purely going through contacts and adding in whoever you know/trust. Join groups that are relevant to you and you’ll find brilliant people add discussions often and the commentary is wonderful.
One connection can honestly = 100 connections. Never turn down a hand shake is what I say.
Hope you stick around for more here on Untemplater and stop over to COTJ!
Great work, Rich. When I first started reading your article, I actually thought Untemplater had gotten Nick Armstrong to guest blog! Nick talked about much the same thing when he spoke to my Beginning Professionals networking group last month (I shared his talk on my blog). He also runs a valuable Gen Y resource called Psychotic Resumes (http://wwww.psychoticresumes.com)
I’ve personally had some problems with LinkedIn. It turns out that I have exactly ONE co-worker on LinkedIn. Or at least only one I’ve been able to find. And… he’s my brother. Well, there is one other, but I haven’t been able to talk him into adding his past work experience or giving me a recommendation.
My tip is to volunteer. Especially if it’s in your industry, but any volunteering helps. First of all, it looks impressive on the resume/interview when you can say that you give back to the community without compensation. It shows that you aren’t just some self-centered jerk who’s only in it for themselves, and that you are a multi-dimensional person. Second, it’s great networking. Maybe the guy you work with at Habitat for Humanity works at HP, or is looking to start his own business. Maybe the person donating materials to the thrift store is a builder. Or maybe they just know somebody who can help you.
It’s even better if you can volunteer within your industry. I’m currently looking for a job related to hydrology or watershed management; with grad school possibly in the future starting in 2-5 years.
Over the summer, I volunteered at a city program called ClimateWise which is a b2b initiative for reducing companies carbon footprint. I registered people at the door and handed out name tags.
Now I have this list of companies and people in the area that care about the environment, including those who provide natural resource management (water is a natural resource!)
Also, I have just started volunteering for a group called Save the Poudre, which is fighting the building of a reservoir that will divert flow from our local watershed, the Cache la Poudre River. This isn’t just a NIMBY response, but there is ecological and economical evidence that the project will be damaging to the environment and not a cost-effective solution to the area’s water needs. So this is going to be a great experience for me getting my hands “wet” with watershed management issues, and making lots of industry contacts.
Edward, I absolutely am thrilled to see your volunteer work. I think this will take you far, incredibly and rapidly building up your contacts. I’m going to check out Nick Armstrong and psychoticresumes.com.
You are definitely seeking out a niche area, and to do that, networking is really the one true way in. Working at the door of networking events (or any event) is a great way to meet people and ask, “What do you do?”, before letting them in. This gives you a chance to exchange cards or ask them if you can reach out to them on Linkedin. No one will turn that down, we all want more meaningful contacts.
I wish you the best of luck with Save the Poudre. Keep a paper and pen near by so you can write down the names of others like you. Be proud of what you are doing, and make the absolute most of it!
Edward – thank you very much for your awesome praise.
Rich – nice to meet you! I’m definitely going to have to peruse your blog! We have a lot in common, from the looks of it.
-Nick
Hey Nick, I’m definitely interested in connecting. Looking forward to checking some great stuff from you.
Nick,
No problem. I believe I mentioned you in a comment to another post, too. I think you will be a good fit with this site.
Nice post Edward,
Tim Ferris actually got some of his early breaks volunteering for a Silicone Valley start-up NFP. He also teaches it as a method to ‘contact impossible to reach people’ in his Princeton lectures. Find out what charity the person you’re trying to contact supports, then go volunteer for them.
Id actually be interested in getting involved with some tech / entrepreneurial NFPs in Europe if anyone knows any?
Hey Vinay, I never knew that about Tim. I have his book and another sitting on my desk waiting to be read, I think I need to dig in, eh?
We’re seeing a lot of innovation and creativity winning on all levels these days, Rich. I’m glad you come from a recruiting perspective and get it straight. Creativity is not only a great quality in employees, it shows effort and dedication to being the best at your craft.
I like that you make a point about live meetings. It’s incredibly difficult to trust a person you have never actually seen. We have so many opportunities open to us these days that we need to take advantage of. People like to help. People really like to help people that they know they can trust and that can obviously do great work.
Scott, great point at the end — “People like to help. People really like to help people that they know they can trust and that can obviously do great work.” I can’t agree more.
The online relationships are a great start, but they won’t finish the job for you in your career. Use them to build a bond and as a means for early communication. Meeting offline will catapult things much faster and provide a life long connection.
Great Article, Rich! I especially liked the last section on thinking outside the box of traditional methods of job search, a la “Side Walk Job Searching”. It goes to show that a little creativity and panache can land you a job in these difficult times.
Thanks, Eric! The side walk job searching is incredibly genius, although others told me I was wrong when praising them. It worked out for those new grads and a bit of innovation can go a long way.
Oh yeh and I do agree. We want to fill our jobs. Thats how we get paid. So call, leave your message or make your point but dont get all pissy if things aren’t going your way. There is a reason, even if your not told.
Focus on things that you can control like the other points Rich mentioned in the post as opposed to getting attached to a single opportunity.
Getting pissy will hurt your brand, you will come off as high maintenance and it will do you harm in the long run.
I agree on Facebook, Vinay. Definitely don’t need them seeing us down a beer bong before the interview.
“dont get all pissy if things aren’t going your way” PERFECT! Love that.
Be respectable and take bad news with a grain of salt. If the job wasn’t yours, it is probably for good reason.
Yes, but after you finish your call and check your voicemail from John Smith saying he submitted his CV with a quick profile on his background “3 years investment banking experience in Java” – chances are you will open his CV next. Bringing him to the top of the pile. Only if he is relevant of course. If not you will continue with your thing, and he will be in the same position as if he didnt call.
In my opinion, it can never hurt you to pick up the phone, only benefit. (unless as mentioned above – your an idiot on the phone).
Big NO to facebook. facebook is for friends only.
Do you really want your recruiter or boss seeing those photos of you downing a beer bong on the weekend before your final interview? Remember they see your photo tags from friends.
Heh – as a recruiter you dont want to hear from all the annoying candidate who think they can do the job but are not right for whatever reason.
But you cant deny its awesome when you have 50 resumes sitting in your inbox and someone calls asking you to look at his CV and looking over it you realise they are perfect. You get all excited, book him in for an interview etc… he is essentially helping you with your work.
Think about it from the job seeker perspective – if they do this for 30 submissions – chances are they will be right for one of the jobs. And will make 1 recruiter happy while pissing off 29. Good for the seeker and 1 recruiter, bad for 29 other recruiters – but who cares?
Not being an idiot on the phone also helps.
Regarding the working for free thing, only do it if its a job you REALLY want. If its an industry you want to get into working for a valuable contact and it turns out you dont have the skills for the job, chances are it will help you down the line anyways. Pending you put in a solid effort and built a relationship with your temp manager over the 2 weeks.
You can add your manager and others to LinkedIn and hit them up later 😉
Great stuff Vinay – love the insight here.
My problem is when I have 50 candidates calling and leaving voicemail after voicemail it i a huge time suck. In fact, many times I would be so busy that I’d let all calls go to voicemail unless it was internal and I knew who was calling. Each recruiter is different, and I think you are on to something. What candidates don’t realize is that we as recruiters WANT to find the ONE. We WANT to find you, and we WANT to hire you. When we hire you, that is one more job we can cross off of our openings list. Agree?
Yes, true, please don’t be an idiot on the phone. Make your point, then leave. How do you feel about job seekers trying to reach you on Facebook? Creepy? If they find me on Linkedin then I am OK with that, but when they start poking me on Facebook or asking me to grow plants with them on Farmville I cross the line.
Thanks for more thoughts on working without pay. Making those contacts can turn out to be a life savor in the end.
Ahh a man of my own heart. It is soo refreshing to see something different to the standard word-template resume.
I once received a CV with 15 LinkedIn recommendations on the last page – instantly differentiated. Called him straight away.
Depending on your industry, I think its almost manditory to have at least one of the following:
– LinkedIn account with recommendations
– Blog
– Portfolio
I think a big point you missed is the phone. The phone is KING – never forget it you online junkies 😛 Call before you send your CV, call after you send it, then call again two days later. If you cant speak, learn. Seriously… Its kinda important.
One method I used to get my first job in IT when I was 16 was offer to work for free for 2 weeks. I was up against uni grads but knew I had more hands on experience, if only I could show them. Combined with a cheaper wage and promises of loyalty this can be a great way to get a job out of your league.
Couldn’t agree with you more Vinay! – The old ways of communication are still just as relevant as the new ways. The Telephone still is one of the best ways to get connect with someone probably right after face to face communication. Could you imagine dating someone who you only tweeted with or sent messages back and forth with on Facebook? It would be simply absurd.
I also like the idea of offering to work for free, although it may be hard for some people who are struggling with student loans its short term pain for long term gain. (Just call me the king of cliches) This free work immediately shows the employer how your a go-getter and also provides them with some insight on your work ethic.
Great post and good luck to everyone chasing an untemplated life!
Ross – definitely agree with you on the employer feeling “you are a go getter” when offering free work. Thanks for the comment!
Thanks for the feedback Ross!
Sadly I think there are plenty of relationships that have moved to conversations of 140 characters or less. Kids these day 😛 what ever happened to walking up to a girl in a bar?
Have you ever seen a Linked In account with a negative endorsement?
As a executive, I do not place much stock in the solicited recommendations. They all pretty much say the same thing. I do however see who I know at their previous company, and solicit feedback from them or people who link us on linked in. There you get genuine feedback, instead of the boiler plate recommendations the interviewee solicits. Linked In with recommendations is over rated these days and often over exploited.
You want to get your foot in the door with me, show me metrics in your resume, show me your value with experience. If your a new grad, show me why I am going to invest in your potential vs. someone else experience.
In the end, until you get an offer, it is all about not showing them what sets you apart from the rest of the pool.
Hey Alex – thanks for your thoughts and comments.
I agree with you on metrics, but i disagree on recommendations. While some people toss on boiler plate rec’s, it’s important to see who those rec’s are coming from and how they are written.
There are many I find on Linkedin that go beyond the boiler plate and show worth and value to an organization. Just like behavioral interviewing focuses on bringing out an exact situation that highlights desirable skills, an event focused recommendation with strong detail and a specific project or deliverable can prove invaluable. Of course you’ll want to check up on those rec’s, but I’ld take a candidate that has 12 rec’s over someone that only has 1.
It comes down to performance on the interview and their qualifications, but I certainly believe that rec’s bring value to candidates.
Thanks for your thoughts. Always interested in opposing views.
Awesome article. I’m a college student, about a year and a half away from graduation, so this is very helpful. I started social media consulting for a huge NPO a few months ago–they’re trying to get plugged in to what’s going on and where everything’s going…and I just so happen to be pretty good with social media, so it works out. I love doing it, it’s great side money, and I even got a free hd flip cam.
Obviously I’m not in a position to offer advice since I know nothing, but my work with them is already helping me as I may be starting to consult for a completely unrelated business. It seems that if you can align your skills/knowledge with the trends and take advantage of them while they’re still developing, things start happening.
Ramit Sethi published an AWESOME post on this today. I side jobs are an awesome way to get experience and increase your knowledge base/portfolio.
http://www.iwillteachyoutoberich.com/blog/earn-more-money-turn-skills-into-income/
Hey Nathan – it makes me happy to see you gaining so much from a job before graduation. You are certainly ahead of the game and are going to make a huge splash in social media in your career.
I agree, if you watch trends closely and intertwine them into your skills you can easily get ahead. I will be checking out Sethi’s piece today!
Great Post! Refreshingly unabashed words of advice. Certainly it is the candidates who are able to tact-fully self-promote themselves who will find themselves better positioned in the job market. Job-hunting is a business in itself and needs a clear plan of action, defined goals, fabulous marketing and a solid dose of PR.
I actually love the sidewalk resume. I would absolutely hire (or recommend) anyone that showed that kind of intiative and creativity in their job search.
Fabulous 1st article, Rich.
Hey Melissa, thanks for posting your thoughts on this. Appreciate your insight in that you would hire someone that takes the initiative and creativity to jump to the sidewalk. I was amazed that the college graduates thought of it, and was happy to hear they found employment shortly after.
Always appreciate your support! Thanks!
What? I never stress about resume writing (<—lies).
Unconventional methods? I've found people on Linked In whose positions or backgrounds corresponded with what I was interested in or what I wanted to do and then contacted them. Sometimes I heard back, sometimes I didn't, but it allowed me to find out who was in the field I wanted to be in and what their path was to getting to their position.
Otherwise, I talk to friends. I network like mad and it paid off because I'm working for a start-up e-boutique founded by my friend's childhood best friend. So, somehow, whether the CV is involved or not, it comes down to networking.
Great first post on here Rich!
Hey Lindsey, the networking like mad will always pay off. I feel that is always the best way, but sometimes finding creative ways to network is what needs to happen to break in.
Thanks for leaving your thoughts!
Couldn’t agree with you more Rich – Networking has helped me spark my career in so many ways. It’s not about “who you know” – its about “who the people you know, know” – If that makes any sense at all…
Hey Ross, what is up man? That definitely does make sense. Networking is great if you know someone, but when you make real connections you can get to know the people they know, and that is the purpose of networking.
Perfectly understand your point.
Hey Vinay – glad to have your valuable comment here! Such awesome suggestions you’ve provided.
Having Linkedin recommendations is such a big deal, and most 20 somethings still haven’t tapped into the power of Linkedin yet, which saddens me.
I think you are right about the phone, but a lot of recruiters don’t like to hear from candidates before they review their resume. It sounds like you disagree, so I’m interested to hear more about this from you.
Also – that was pretty ballsy of you to work with no pay, but it worked out. You realized you needed to show them what you could do to win them over, and that took working without pay. I don’t suggest it to everyone, but each situation is different.
Awesome comments. Anything else to suggest?