3 Tips to Skip the Resume Bots
“98% of job seekers are eliminated at the initial resume screening and only the “Top 2%” of candidates make it to the interview,” says Robert Meier, President of Job Market Experts. So...what if you could skip the resume screening altogether?
There are some people or services who will tell you all of their “tricks” to beat the resume screening bots. That’s not what I’m here for. I fully understand that applicant tracking systems have these amazing screening tools for recruiters and hiring managers. But do you want to know an even better tool for the hiring team…
Referrals!
If you look up employee referrals, you’ll see nearly unlimited articles giving tips to hiring managers and recruiters on how to leverage their employees to help them find additional talent. Even when there is a surplus of applicants, even a surplus of outstanding applicants, hiring teams are still looking for ways to expedite their search and improve the likelihood of guaranteeing their results.
Think of it this way, when you’re looking for a contractor or a hair stylist, you may search online, but you’ll probably search their reviews to see what other people think. Better yet, you may ask friends or colleagues if they know someone. Same thing applies to candidates. If the hiring team gets a referral from someone they trust, that brings the candidate to their attention before they've even seen the resume. And, when they review the resume, they’re already starting with a positive impression.
There are only so many hours in the day. Rather than spending hours or days over-engineering your resume, invest your time in reaching out to your networking and building new connections.
A few suggestions on how to get “in” as a referral:
Informational Interviewing is a great way to grow your network and increase your opportunities to be a referral. Friendly reminder, don’t ask for a job, but if the person offers be ready to share your resume!
Let your contacts know you’re interested. If you know someone who works at the company (actually know them, not looked them up online but otherwise have never had contact with them) reach out and let them know you saw a position that looks interesting. Ask them what they know about the department, the role, even the hiring process. Many companies offer incentives to their employees to encourage referrals, so you’re helping your contact as well.
Ask your contacts for an introduction. Maybe you don’t have a contact at the company, but you know someone who knows someone in your dream department – ask for an introduction. The most important thing to remember about this…you must follow through. If you’ve asked Rebecca for an introduction and you drop the ball or don’t show up in a professional way, you’ve not only lost this opportunity but it’s also likely that Rebecca will not be helping you to make introductions in the future. Rebecca may even mention to others about how you burned her and now they may not be willing to do this for you either. Bottom line, this is an amazing resource, but if you don’t use it wisely you may lose it entirely.
