DON’T TAKE IT PERSONALLY
Even if you tried to make the process more personal, you couldn’t. The days when you approached an establishment, dropped in and handed over your resume are gone. Long gone. The first thing you will be told is that everything is now done online. Most companies no longer accept resumes. Some may appear to politely take a copy, but nothing will happen with it. Your preciously reproduced version may end up in the file cabinet number 13, aka the trash.
Beyond what you already know in the don’t-take-it-personally aspect of job hunting is the fact that:
THEY MAY NOT EVEN READ YOUR APPLICATION
This is the worst part. Among the hundreds or even thousands of applications, chances are they won’t even look at your resume. According to Recruiter Cassie Senneff from HR at Robert Half Staffing Agency “the truth is, in the day to day life of a recruiter with so many daily deadlines, there may be times that a candidate’s resume will be overlooked for no other reason than being in the wrong place at the wrong time. It’s not ideal, but is has happened.”
Bigger corporations will analyze your credentials via software seeking specific keywords to score you with an instant matching system. Nothing like having your personally written letter broken down by a machine!
DON’T EXPECT A REPLY
Employers receive hundreds, and then more hundreds of applications for every position they create. They really do get inundated with applications! The days when every applicant received an acknowledgement of receipt are as outdated as getting up to change the channel on the TV. Worst yet, even those who filter through to the interview process may still not hear about declines, or about the hiring process being placed on hold. Don’t assume that having an interview will produce a follow-up call.
SOCIAL MEDIA IS YOUR NEW FRENEMY
Use it, but use it wisely. Create a LinkedIn account knowing it’s mainly a surface place for your portfolio. LinkedIn (as if you didn’t already know is like a Facebook for professional interaction). The limits of LinkedIn are that it’s really geared for executives. Everybody on LinkedIn is just seeking his or her own piece of the pie. Learn how to make the most of your LinkedIn profile.
my cyber house rules 
It’s also a good idea to contact headhunters. They may have jobs for the seekers skill set, and will work harder to place their candidate.
Just make sure the employer is paying their fees first.
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True that my friend!
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Hey, thanks so much for the heads up about Vizibility Marie! With the book so close to being available, I’m starting to worry about potential backlash as certain people will be able to figure who I am.
I actually Googled myself the other day and was surprised to see what comes up so this is a most useful tool.
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Yeah it’s pretty cool… I think the first time I googled myself it brought me to an imdb.com page. I didn’t even know I had one – I was in a Gen X documentary, and that was a cool discovery. Now when I Google my name most times it brings up a very famous writer. A very famous MALE writer who shares my name with a slight variation… Ugh. Have fun playing around with that tool!
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Ha. Mine results are nowhere near as interesting. But they do mention where I used to work. I can’t believe how many sites there are out there that collate info about you?!
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It’s frightening isn’t it…
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My! Not mine.
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I’ve Googled my name (my real name, of course) several times and was always a little bummed to never find myself coming up in the search. Well, except for LinkedIn and that was only recently. I guess my Facebook activity (again, under my real name) is too boring for the internet to notice.
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Right? I have a few friends than when I Google their names they come right up. The buggers.
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We often have people try to drop resumes into work and have to turn them away. I can imagine how frustrating it must be to have to job hunt via internet.
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This is all too familiar territory for me, since I’ve had so many job searches over the past 20 years. I actually worked for a small company that was on the cutting edge of the automation of résumé reading, back in the mid-late 90s. It’s gotten kind of ridiculous. I don’t envy you, having to deal with this.
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