Why Can’t I Get Any Interviews When I Post My Resume and Resume Cover Letter?
You know your job is on the line. You’ve either been told directly or you see the obvious signs. There have been cutbacks on expenses over the previous budget cycle: closer scrutiny of expense reports, no raises or bonuses this year, senior management approval required to use contractors, top managers are spending more and more time in strategy sessions. Now your manager isn’t talking to you as openly. And, when he does, it seems more formal. Maybe there’s just not much to be said now, and nobody is interested in chatting about the weekend when things in this state. You don’t want to be seen as not having their nose to the grindstone.
Time to look for another job. No sense in delaying the inevitable. If your peers are laid off, you will just be competing with them in the job market. The early bird gets the worm! Besides, why stay? The best case scenario is that you won’t lose your job. Other companies are making profit, growing, even expanding. Why should you just sit on the sidelines?
Now, two weeks later… you are spending every non-working waking moment at the PC, surfing the net, perusing the job boards, and applying to open positions. You threw yourself at this task with a passion. You have applied to a gazillion positions and have received… nothing from a human being. You’ve received the obligatory, “Thanks for your application” emails and even a snail mail from one firm. But, not a single HR manager or recruiter has gotten back to you in response to your job applications. You even called a some of the organizations and got nowhere or talked to someone that told you the company has received a lot of responses to its ad, and that someone will contact you once they’ve reviewed your credentials.
Okay, this sucks. You’re tired. No, not tired; completely and utterly exhausted. You are not getting enough sleep. You’re no fun to be around, certainly not at your best. If it shows at work (and how could it not?) you are just making yourself an easy target. Maybe your expectations are too high. There would certainly be more opportunities if you just lowered your sites a little. Maybe you could relocate. Or take one of those out of state Monday through Friday assignments.
So, within a few days, that’s what you are doing. You are a machine, applying to almost any position that sounds like something you’ve either done previously or thought about doing in the future. You’re willing to sell your soul at this point. You have no self esteem left. You are avoiding your friends (your happily employed friends). You start looking at everyone you see in public differently, wondering if you could do what they do better. Wondering if you could successfully hold down an additional job in order to make ends meet. You would be working fewer hours than you are working now between your regular job and your job search. And you wouldn’t have the anxiety.
Stop! What’s wrong here? Why can’t you get a reply to your applications? This doesn’t really make sense. You might have overestimated your own value on the market a few weeks ago, but not to this extent. Just a few months ago you felt safe and confident in your abilities. You were making a significant contribution to your department, to the company as a whole. Customers sent you notes thanking you and your team. You got an excellent performance review last year; you’ve always received great reviews. You’re still the same person, aren’t you? So, what’s different? Why do you feel like you are just putting your resume in the shredder?
Well, here’s the bottom line. The market has changed dramatically since your last job search, so you must change your job search. The Internet has made positions so much easier to identify than ever before. Just look at how many places you’ve sent your resume. A job ad that might have received several dozen applicants five years ago now receives 500 or 1,000, depending on the position, the location, and how widely they advertise. Every HR department has software now that manages resume submissions. Applications are presented electronically to a screener or the hiring manager before even being printed, and only the best (or most interesting) ever get more than a few seconds of anyone’s attention.
It really doesn’t if you have a great resume with all the right stuff. Well, it eventually matters, but if your resume doesn’t get read you won’t get a response. And if you don’t get a response, you won’t get an interview. And if you don’t get an interview… you won’t get the job.
What matters is your cover letter! If you have a very few seconds to catch someone’s attention, it’s going to be with your cover letter. You probably have a standard cover letter that you’ve tweaked here and there for specific opportunities, but for the most part, you’ve probably been sending out the same boring (sorry), average, don’t-pay-any-attention-to-me cover letter for weeks.
An effective cover letter has a specific structure and each piece has a purpose. If you’re missing one of the key components, your cover letter and resume will miss the mark, and you are not going to move to the next step. All you want is a chance to talk to someone, to explain the value you can bring. You may still not be the most qualified candidate for every position you apply to (there is a lot of good talent out there), but you can improve your odds to 1 out of 2 or 3, instead of 1 out of 100 (or more).
The choice is yours… stay the course, or do something different. Do you know the definition of insanity?
Check out our website for assistance on writing an effective cover letter.
MyExecutiveCompass is an employment portal dedicated to helping candidates differentiate themselves in today’s crowded market. Job seekers can find advice on how to deal with many job search challenges as well as cover letter templates and resume software to make the job search process more effective.
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