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Related articles:
Catching
an Employer's Eye (from the June 11, 2003, Online Job Search
Guide)
If you're one
of the 8 million unemployed Americans today, you know job searching
is not for the faint of heart.
But, do you
know that job search begins with research? Company (or employer)
research.
Human resource
departments are swamped with resumes being submitted the easy way
- via email. Easy for you perhaps, but not so easy if you're on
the receiving end of 400+ resumes daily, many more if you have numerous
open positions.
In fact, since
HR departments and recruiters are swimming upstream against the
tide of incoming resumes, wise job seekers doubt their resumes are
being reviewed or seen and therefore, are considering alternatives
to resume submissions only through the HR channel.
Beyond HR
Another approach
more apt to catch an eye is to submit your resume to the company's
leader for your functional discipline, e.g. to the V. P of Marketing
for marketing folks, to the Chief Technology Officer for IT folks,
to the Chief Financial Officer for finance and accounting folks.
But how do you
identify the names of the senior officer in your area of interest
in a company?
Many companies
today provide profiles of their key management team members on the
company's web site. It may take some searching on each site to find
the list, but poke around; it's likely to be there. But
if that search method does not yield results you require, conduct
your company research online through your public library. Most public
libraries provide access to the Mergent online database, a database
of 10,000 publicly-held corporations. This database includes the
names and titles of key executives in each company as well as annual
reports and financial statements for interview preparation when
that time comes.
Another database
of 12 million publicly and privately held companies available through
your public library is: Reference USA, although key executive data
for some companies may be incomplete. Visiting your local library
on a daily or weekly basis may be inconvenient, but did you know
many libraries provide access to these databases using your library
card and some simple online login instructions? Call or visit your
reference librarian for detailed directions.
Armed with the
key contact name and title, your next step is to verify with the
company receptionist that the individual is still with the company.
Not all directory information is current, and you should make certain
that the data you have is still valid.
Prepare a strong,
well-written letter of introduction, not merely a resume transmittal
letter, including your value proposition to the company (what you
can do for them, not what they can do for you) and send it to the
contact you have identified.
Don't Ignore
HR!
Send a separate
letter or email to the HR department so that when asked, you can
honestly say you did not end run the HR department. With a little
ingenuity, and more research, you can identify the email address
protocol used by many companies, if that's you're preferred method
of communicating.
[See the Online
Job Search Guide's article on Avoiding
the Spam Filters, if you use e-mail extensively]
Use Standard
Mail (Not e-Mail)
However, my
strong recommendation is to use U.S. mail for these submissions
since a hard copy resume is less likely to be tossed without having
been read than an email is to be deleted without having been read.
Happy (re) searching!
-------------------------------------------------
About
the author...
Sandra A. MacKay is an independent recruiter and outplacement counselor in
Massachusetts. When not recruiting for a company in 'staffing up'
mode, Sandy provides job development services for one of the nation's
largest outplacement firms to its individual clients.
-------------------------------------------------
This article originally appeared in the June 11 issue of the Online
Job Search Guide, Job-Hunt's free twice-a-month e-mailed newsletter.
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