I am currently reading Brenda Greene's "Get the Interview Every Time". Brenda has written this book based on surveys conducted with hiring managers and recruiters from 50 Fortune 500 companies. I was expecting the same-old same-old. But I was pleasantly surprised. I found valuable nuggets of information in the first few chapters itself. After finishing this post, I plan to get back to Brenda's book for more insights, but here are the first four tips I picked up on:
1. Fortune 500 Company Tip No 1: "Don't wait for a job opening" to apply
You are probably cynical every time you receive one of those auto-notifications which say "We will keep your resume on file for a year". Don't be. Most of the Fortune 500 companies Brenda surveyed say you should apply for jobs with them, whether they have current job openings or not. When a job opening arises, the first thing the HR department does is access the resumes on file. So you should expand your job search to include companies that don't have any current openings, if you would like to work for them.
Brenda does advise to check the career section of the company's website for their preferred application process. And she also suggests a call to the HR department of the company to find out if they accept unsolicited resumes and to get an idea of how long they keep them on file. Once you get the green signal, you can go ahead and submit your resume and cover letter.
By the way, if you want to see resumes and cover letters that Fortune 500 companies like, Brenda's book is full of them.
2. Fortune 500 Company Tip No 2: "Don't Focus on Your Education"
What!!!!!! Yes, Hiring Managers look for related experience. Related experience trumps education and accomplishments every time. In fact, Hiring Managers say they often skim the education and accomplishments area of resumes and hone in on just the related experience. So whether you came to your job after a boatload of courses, diplomas and degrees, or purely by accident, if you have the skills and the experience, remember that's what counts. Focus on that.
3. Fortune 500 Company Tip No 3: The Top 2 reasons resumes go in the "junk pile" rather than the "for consideration pile" are ........
Do you want to hazard a guess? If you said spelling and grammatical errors, score one point for you - yes that's the number one reason resumes are rejected. How about the No 2. reason? Can you think what that might be? Lack of relevant computer skills. Companies expect all their employees to have basic computer skills. You should know how to use a computer and be comfortable using common computer applications such as Microsoft Word & Microsoft Excel. Over and above that, you should have the computer skills specifically required in your line of work. If you lack basic computer skills or desired computer skills, you should enroll in classes to plug these gaps -you don't want your lack of computer skills to become an obstacle for you. I did teach someone the basics of Microsoft Excel recently. If you live close to me, I would be glad to help you.
4. And finally, Fortune 500 Company Tip No 4: "What you do for fun counts rarely or never"
By habit, we include our extra-curricular activities in our resumes. But the hiring managers and recruiters tell Brenda that such information is regarded as sheer noise. In fact, some of them indicated that resumes with a heavy dose of "extra-curricular stuff" were usually light on experience and skills. So if you do wonderful and daring things in your leisure time -- Race cars, Slalom off ski slopes, Run, Bike and Swim at Iron Man or play Jazz Guitar at Burning Man, you are not going to score any job points for including that in your resume. So skip it.
Hope you enjoyed these tips from Brenda's book. Be sure to check out the rest of her book - there's a link in the opening paragraph. Happy Job Hunting!!!!
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