I’m in hiring mode right now, so I’ve been reviewing a ton of applications lately. A few observations:
- Any online job posting is likely to have hundreds, even thousands of people applying “cold”. It is very easy to miss good candidates in this situation. Leverage any connection you have at the company to solicit a referral or introduction to hiring manager or recruiter. Without it, your odds of even getting a “thanks but no thanks” emailw are extremely slim.
- On resumes specifically:
- Actually tailor your cover letter and resume to the job at hand. Prioritize relevant experience, and leave out anything that isn’t at least tangentially related to the job at hand. Hiring managers and recruiters are scanning hundreds of these applications quickly, looking for key terms and statements. These systems are also usually flooded with completely irrelevant applications. If you do not highlight your relevance to the job immediately, you’ll get missed.
- If you can’t fit all your relevant accomplishments on one page, it’s a sign you’ve got way too much in your resume.
- Similarly – If you’re listing Microsoft office as your skills, it’s a sign you have more trimming to do.
- Actually describe what you accomplished at each role. A list of just titles and dates is useless.
- For email marketers specifically – No one is impressed by vanity metrics like how many emails you sent monthly. Tell me about long term improvement to conversion rate or revenue driven, and I might care a bit more. Just be prepared to back up any numbers with explanation.