We are continually faced with a series of great opportunities brilliantly disguised as insoluble problems. (Gardner)
Hiroshima, WWII: “I sure wish I could find rice for my family. Hey, what is that lone airplane doing above the city? Oh well, I’ve got more important things to worry about.”
Sometimes timing is everything and you are worrying about the wrong problems. For your resume there is a timing pattern you must understand. You have to break through the following pattern to get hired:
- Your resume arrives along with 100 others. The secretary trashes 80 after a 10 second review apiece.
- The secretary trashes 10 more after giving them 45 seconds apiece.
- Her boss gets the 10 remaining resumes and trashes 2 after a 10 second review.
- The boss throws away 3 more viable resumes. He just doesn=t have the time to deal with more than 5. For the 3 trashed, something is not quite right.
- He calls the 5 remaining candidates, starting with the best one.
Can you see why knowing when your resume is thrown out is critical?
Every time you send out a resume and fail to get an interview you should ask, “Who threw away my resume?”
Ask the question of yourself. Also ask your recruiter and the HR person at the company. Beg, if you have to. You need to find out when and why your resume is not being considered. Also be sensitive to the recruiter and HR. They may lie to you. They don’t want to argue. They want to be powerful and all-knowing. Play on that and ask for advice as you try to find out when your resume was trashed.
Next time we’ll talk about how to get past the screenings and into an interview. For now, try to figure out when your resume is being thrown away.
Something To Do Today
Make some calls. Find out where your resume is being trashed.
Ask some friends, they may be able to give you some ideas too.