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Why Most Resumes Don't Even Get A Glance

This article is more than 8 years old.

Everyone worries about their blemishes. That's human nature. In social settings, people say "I don't like my hair" or "I'm so self-conscious about my height" or "I have wrinkles."

In a business setting, especially on a job search, people say "I wish I had more Quality Control experience" or "I wish a had a better degree."

When we talk with people about their obstacles and their aspirations, they tell us right away what they think their problems are. They go right there. Everyone is fixated on their weak spots, or what they perceive to be weak spots.

They tell us about their so-called weaknesses:

I have two-short jobs in a row on my resume. Is that going to kill me on my job search?

I changed careers ten years ago and now I'm changing careers again. Does that look like a negative?

I don't have any fancy brand names on my list of past employers. Should I be worried about that?

I worry about my age!

We all worry about our vulnerabilities, and we always know exactly what they are. Then when we pitch resumes and applications into the maw of the automated recruiting sites and we don't hear anything, we panic.

Our worst nightmare has come true! We are certain of it. Yet another employer hates my degree, or my experience or my age. Maybe they hate my name or my street address.

Maybe they hate the school I graduated from twenty years ago!

Of course we panic. We were already nervous about whatever we think our weakness is, and now we apply for jobs and don't hear a peep in return. We think "Am I even employable?"

Of course you are employable, and not only that, you are valuable and marketable! A job-seeker's biggest problem is that the recruiting apparatus is broken.

Job-seekers have the wrong impression about the way resumes and applications are screened. They think that HR screeners and internal recruiters make minute distinctions and careful analysis as they review resumes.

It doesn't work that way very often!

The machine makes the distinctions and they aren't fine or careful. It's all about the keywords in your application -- the same keywords you saw in the job ad.

A keyword search of an application or resume is about the most brainless and blunt-object screening tool you could possibly employ in hiring people, but that doesn't stop employers from sorting resumes using keyword searches.

Most resumes and applications never get a glance from a human being. They didn't hate your training or your experience, or your age! No one ever saw your application. That's your problem!

You can't rely on the Black Hole applicant tracking system to get you a new job. You have to take matters in your own hands. You can circumvent the automated portal and reach your own hiring manager -- the manager of the department you would expect to work for - directly.

It's not hard to reach your hiring manager directly. You have to write a non-traditional letter called a Pain Letter. It's a little bit like a cover letter, but it's written specifically for this one manager and it packs a lot of punch.

You can send your Pain Letter right through the mail.

You can staple it to your Human-Voiced Resume and send both documents together in an envelope. How hard is that?

You cannot entrust your job search to a creaky piece of nineteen-eighties technology that was badly conceived and implemented to begin with, and hasn't improved with age. The Human Workplace is already here. You only need to give yourself permission to step into it!