Friday, February 20, 2009

send in your resumé twice

I was starting to question my assertion that it's important to send in a hard copy of your resumé and cover letter – email and online applications have quickly become the norm – but this tip from resumé professionals, cited in the New York Times, supports my theory.

[I]f you really want to make an impression, make a hard copy of your cover letter and résumé and send it to the hiring manager by regular mail. Attach a handwritten note that says, “Second submission; I’m very interested,” [Katy] Piotrowski, [author of career books and a career counselor,] said. “I’ve had clients double their rate of interviews simply from doing that,” she said.

[Wendy S.] Enelow, [author of “Cover Letter Magic,”] calls this “double-hitting,” and says she has seen it work remarkably well. She said a senior-level client of hers got an interview and was hired because the hard copy of his cover letter and résumé reached the company president, whereas his electronic application was rejected by someone in human resources because it did not meet certain rigid criteria.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

what a great idea! thanks!

About Moi said...

I've always wondered if this was necessary. Great tip!

www.sunehra.wordpress.com

Anonymous said...

Altho sending resumes and cover letters c/o HR departments is the norm, in almost all cases it's akin to tossing into a black hole. One should always forward resume with cover to the person/s in charge of the appropriate division. And a hard copy or fax is indeed a valuable addition... emails and attachments are so easy to ignore and/or delete.

It's wise to remember that HR departments are there to facilitate firings... not orchestrate hirings (editors and publishers are the go-to's for that).

Corinna vanGerwen said...

Very true. As I have advised, you want to send your resumé to the hiring manager – the editor who is doing the hiring, be it managing editor or editor-in-chief. But I wouldn't say never send your resumé to HR, because you just don't know whose eye you're going to catch.