A survey by outplacement firm, Drake, Beam & Morin found that 88% of HR managers rely on Internet job boards and online applications to fill positions. Another recent statistic in the Wall Street Journal reported that humans reviewed only 2 – 25% of the resumes today’s extremely competitive job market hundreds of job candidates apply for a single advertised position.
Many employers and recruiters report that they view only the first 50 or so resumes received. Still, other companies employ sophisticated selection software featuring artificial intelligence that analyzes resumes for top performers. So tweaking resumes to include the advertised job phrases does not prove as effective as it once was.
Another interesting statistic reports that 90% of hiring managers select a job candidate through some form of their own contact. Over 50% of the attendees raised their hands at the beginning of PeopleHirePeople seminars, when asked if they hired people in their past employment. These former hiring managers are asked to keep their hands raised if the answer to the next question is yes. The second question asks “How many of you hired from the stack of resumes presented from HR”? Almost all hands go down. Attendees are asked a third question: “How many of you hired new employees from some form of a direct referral”? Almost all the hands go back up!
PeopleHirePeople’s last question to attendees asked “So why do you search on the Internet for a job which was never the method you used when you hired”? They tell PeopleHirePeople that they attended the seminar to learn about alternatives to job boards and online applications!
In reality, hiring managers select who they want to work for them. HR has little impact into those decisions. Do not forget that employers never advertise for 85% of jobs!
In fact, sometimes HR never knows an opening exists. For example, a hiring manager directly contacted PeopleHirePeople about an opening he was anticipating. PeopleHirePeople discussed the new opening with the HR manager. The HR manager didn’t know of the opening. PeopleHirePeople explained to HR that the current employee would be moving out of state to take care of elderly parents according to the hiring manager. The hiring manager wanted to have a new employee trained before the current employee left so he started looking for a replacement.
It is imperative that job candidates find managers and potential managers who actually do the hiring. Job candidates can do creative investigation to discover hiring managers.
PeopleHirePeople suggests one method that job candidates can fulfill. First find one or more company current employees to assist. Many companies offer employee incentives for referrals they hire. Job candidates start by asking an employee for help to get their resume directly into the hands of the hiring manager. Next job candidates can follow up by asking the name of the hiring manager and his/her contact information in order to make direct contact with the hiring manager.
Investigating the company website further for employees can be as simple as looking at photos on the company website. Pictures of company employees can also feature a specialized team within the company. Other pictures show employees in volunteer efforts or company outing. These often contain the names of each employee in the picture. Experts within the company pen articles that can be featured on the company website. This research results in potential contacts for job candidates to call and ask for assistance.
Odds of employment in this difficult job market greatly increase when job candidates directly interface with hiring managers. PeopleHirePeople advocates: Get outside the box and find the hiring manager!
Guest Expert:
Kathleen Conners specializes in people connections for job search. She developed PeopleHirePeople “where to hunt”, “who to contact” & “what to ask” strategies. Kathleen is a full time recruiter and a guest lecturer to MBA programs at major universities. Her book, The Thrill of the Hunt: Get Real in Your Job Search can be directly purchased from www.authorhouse.com. Additional information and articles: www.peoplehirepeople.com and blog: http://www.peoplehirepeople.com/PHPBlog/ Copyright 5/09
