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Catching an Employer's Attention: Inside Contacts
If you're one of the 12 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!
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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.
