written by Kenny Hanson, CSP |  

Resumes – Many job seekers view them as the primary tool to seek new employment. The average job seeker emails their resume to three companies per day, with the average response being 1 for every 45 resumes sent. The perception becomes that the resume isn’t getting the job done and that the job seeker needs to revamp their resume and start over again. In some cases this is true, but in most, their resume is not the reason they are not getting any response. The method they attack their job search is the problem. Even if you have the best written resume in the world, if you continue to send it blindly through Monster, Careerbuilder, TheLadders or Craigslist you will not see an drastic increase in the amount of responses you get.

That is not to say your resume isn’t an important tool in your job search , it is VERY important, but a resume alone will not get you a job. Below are a few things you need to have or do to go along with a well written resume :

1) Cover letter – A cover letter shows professionalism. Many hiring managers read cover letters to determine if looking at your resume is worth their time. I often meet with clients who are under the impression that hiring managers do not read cover letters, this is not true. Yes, there are some cases where your cover letters are not being read, but this is very rare. If you are not sending a specialized cover letter to every job you apply for, then you are just hundreds of thousands of other unemployed who are not getting responses to their resumes.

2) Network - If you are exclusively using job websites for your job search, it greatly narrows your chance of being noticed by hiring managers. Get out and meet people. There are hundreds of networking events that happen in most cities on a weekly basis. 86% of individuals being hired are through friends of friends. The more people you know, the more ly you are to be one of those 86%. Networking, just everything else takes time, but this is the single most effective tool in finding employment. If you continue to do nothing but send your resume to different job boards…you have a .6% of finding a job.

3) Be Different - In a time where there are very limited opportunities, you need to make sure you do something to separate yourself from everyone else. Do not feel you are bound by rules! Anything you can think of to get noticed is acceptable (As long it is within the scope of t...