Why You Do Not Get Responses to Your Applications

There are numerous factors that affect whether or not you get a response to your application/resume.

The most likely affecting factors, by far, are which filter keywords the screener uses and the number of applications/resumes submitted.

When dealing with large numbers of applications/resumes, savvy screeners will load the filters with numerous distinguishing and unique keywords to limit the results.

At the very least, applicants must have core keywords in their resumes or they will surely be passed over and get no responses to their applications.

On average, even with the right keywords and in the best of circumstances, you have less than a 20% chance of getting a response.

That means, if you do nothing other than submit an application/resume to a posted job opening, the very best response rate you can expect is one response out of five applications.

Usually, the response rate is more like 1% or 2%, one or two out of a hundred!

And response means nothing more than an overture, a request, for next contact or more information, not necessarily an offer for an interview.

Considering the odds, it is in your best interest to include as many of the right keywords as possible in your application/resume.

The first indication of which keywords are the right keywords is in the wording of the posting.

Identify words in the ad that are descriptors like job titles, equipment, specialized knowledge like software, credentials such as college degree or certifications, and particular industry or product or service experience. Try to include as many of those exact words in your application/resume.

So if they are asking for a Special Events Coordinator and you performed those duties under the title of Operations and Registration Manager, you do not have to change your previous job title. However, do make certain you put the words “special events” and “coordinator” somewhere in your application/resume, such as an objective or summary at the beginning of your information.

Secondly, you can discover keywords by browsing www.Indeed.com for the job titles and keywords of postings which you have already found to uncover additional like openings. Try putting those keywords into the Indeed search field without specifying a job location. That will open up the possibilities and give you many more keyword choices.

Also, you can visit www.careerinfonet.org, click on Occupation Information, then select Occupation Profile, and using your job title create a profile which includes knowledge, skills, abilities, job tasks, equipment used and more. Again, more keyword possibilities.

A list of 25 keywords usually is sufficient to penetrate the screen and get a response.

All this relates to the “automated” process of screening applications/resumes. And “automated” does mean a computer scan, but can also mean human eyes very quickly scanning for keywords.

Those responses you receive from a one step application process mean you got through the screen and usually little else.

Once you get a response, you should have feedback and more information about your chances for the interview, but before that it is nothing more than keywords.

If you are being told that you are over-qualified for the job, in their minds, you are. And over-qualified means you feel entitled to lots of money. And if you do not get lots of money, you will leave the first chance you get. And it does not matter if you argue this, their minds are made up. By the way, they are right most of the time.

Regarding openings for which you might be perceived as over-qualified, one tactic might be to state your qualifications and experience in terms that are more in line, a better fit, with the requirements of the job. If they require three to five years of experience, report just five years of those ten years of experience you have and nothing more. If they require a coordinator, do not present that you were an Operations and Registration Manager, but simply Operations and Registration without the Manager.

But, above all, make certain you are including the keywords that they are presenting in the posting.

Again, this is all about getting to the interview. Once you are in the interview, you may be directed, or elect, to open up more about specific experiences that would work to your advantage. But that’s a discussion for another time.

Let us help you find your keywords. Visit us at www.ParnossahWorksDetroit.org, click on Seminars/Events and sign up for one of our weekly meetings.

As always, you can reach me at wtarrow@jvsdet.org or 248.233.4231.

The Lonely Resume

Is your resume without any friends?

Do you send out or post resume after resume and get no responses?

When employers are having their hiring party, is your resume, your application, standing all alone in the corner? Or maybe you could not even get in the door...

Take a closer look at your resume.

Better yet, take a really close look at the people at the hiring party.

What did they ask for on the invitation? What types of people did they invite to the party?

What type of person did they describe in the job posting?

Does your RSVP to the party, your response to the posting, your resume, your application, read like, sound like, look like the kind of person they described in the invitation, the posting?

Or are you just anybody, just anybody looking for a party, any party, to crash?

If you do not present, communicate, that you are one of the invitees, one of the persons who meets their basic qualifications for a welcome party goer, why would they let you in, let alone want to party with you, or even talk to you?

Anyone who is looking for anything, any type of job, is a party crasher. Even if you have the potential to be a productive, successful and valuable employee, without making that clear up front, you are likely to be ignored. Employers will not spend the time with a stranger outside the door trying to figure out if it is okay to let you in.

If you think you would spend the time with that stranger, keep that in mind the next time a door to door salesman visits your home. At least that salesman has a pitch that might be of interest. Do you have anything of interest to say to anyone at the employer's hiring party?

At the least, match your resume as much as possible with the same keywords and related experience and education as stated in the job posting. If you don't show even that much interest in, that much consideration for, the employer, your resume will always be kept outside and never allowed into the party.

A resume in search of anything, any job, is a lonely resume.

Don't let your resume be that resume.

Get in touch and stay in touch with us at JVS and let us help you join the party.

Our main website is www.jvsdet.org.

Our job posting site is www.parnossahworksdetroit.org.

And you can reach me by email at wtarrow@jvsdet.org

Get Real and Get Noticed!

The Four Basic Steps to a Successful Job Search - Step 1

A job search is really very simple.
No secrets, no magic, no special skills or hidden markets...just four simple steps.
BUT you do need to take action. You do need to make the effort. And you do need to keep at it, to stay the course. If you stop, you are the one who quit.
Advisors and experts and coaches are creeping out of the woodwork promising you amazing results by sharing their secrets of how to get your dream job.
But the answer, the way, the method is very simple, very basic and really no mystery at all. And this truth does not get attention, does not sell books, does not fill seminars, does not put money in their pockets.
By the way, what kind of secret, magical method, is it if you tell anyone who is willing to pay the fee?
Step 1 is Make Contacts.
"The secret to getting ahead is getting started." Mark Twain
You get started by making contact.
Start with a website like www.indeed.com and search for jobs of interest. Use the titles and keywords of jobs which you have done, or believe you can do, and in which you have an interest. You can also search using the names of companies for which you would like to work.
Then apply according to the instructions -- online, submit a resume and a cover letter, email, fax, mail, in person, and/or phone.
Just make the contact! Don't delay by continuously reworking your resume, your cover letter. Capture the keywords from the posting, incorporate them into your application, resume, letter and send them on their way.
"If you keep thinking about what you want to do or what you hope will happen, you don't do it, and it won't happen." Joe Dimaggio
Then expand your contacts to any and all companies that are similar to the companies to which you have applied. Even if they are not hiring currently. Especially if they are not hiring currently.
Most jobs are filled before they are ever advertised. Get in before the flood of resumes.
The objective, your goal, in Step 1 of your job search is to make contact with, become known by, and, hopefully, impress, every employer who might sometime have a job for you.
How's that going for you? Are you working toward that goal? If not, then it's time to get to work.

If you need help in making those contacts, make contact with us at JVS.
Visit us at www.jvsdet.org
Let us help.

Walt

Walt Tarrow, wtarrow@jvsdet.org, www.LinkedIn.com/in/walttarrow