If a want ad is vague, mail out your standard resume and hope for the best. If the ad is fairly explicit concerning the desired qualifications and experience, you must decide whether to mail your standard resume with a custom cover letter, or whether you will take the additional time to tailor your resume to the position. If you feel strongly enough about a position, and your standard resume does not adequately cover some key points, it is worth modifying the resume. It may double your chances of getting an interview.
Blind Ads
Blind ads are rarely productive, but may be worth trying. A blind ad is a help-wanted ad in which the name of the employer has been omitted, and all you are given is a box number in care of the newspaper. Most are legitimate, placed by companies that for one reason or another want to maintain anonymity. Unfortunately companies sometimes use these want ads to gather salary information and in fact have no position. No one knows how frequently it occurs. The problem is, there is no way to tell which are legitimate and which are not. Since blind ads usually draw fewer responses than ads that include the name of the employer, you'll have an excellent shot at an interview if your background is ideal.
To respond to a blind ad follow the instructions that each paper prints in the want ad section. If you are concerned about the blind ad being placed by your own company, or merely one that you don't want to receive your resume, follow the instructions for that situation. If you were responding to an ad placed in the Seattle Times you would address your envelope to the Seattle Times and include the box number for that ad. You would also write on the envelope - "Confidential Desk."
That alerts those sorting the mail that there are certain companies which should not receive your resume. Inside the outer envelope you would enclose a second envelope which would contain your resume. That envelope would also have the box number for that ad written on the outside. Along with your resume your inner envelope would also contain a separate sheet of paper which would indicate those companies you would not want your resumes to go to.
Responding to blind ads rarely gets results because the companies placing them are highly particular and may interview only three people instead of the more typical six to eight. Unless your background is almost a perfect fit for the job, blind ads are rarely worth responding to.
Sources of Want Ads
In addition to your local paper, other good sources of want ads are the Wall Street Journal and the National Business Employment Weekly, which carries most of the ads from all four regional editions of the Wall Street Journal. Both are found in most libraries. The National Business Employment Weekly can be found at some newsstands and you can also subscribe. The National Ad Search contains want ads from all major newspapers from around the country. According to a Department of Labor study, about 20% of all managers, sales workers, professionals, and clerical workers who answer ads, get their jobs through a help-wanted ad.
Unsolicited Resumes
Unsolicited resumes are frequently sent to employers in hopes that a position may be available at the time the resume is received. Resume campaigns typically result in less than one interview for every hundred resumes sent out. If you use the strategy discussed in this article, you should get eight to ten interviews for every hundred resumes you mail.
You must start this type of campaign with an absolutely top-notch resume. Then develop a list of 50-200 employers of the right size, in the right industry, and in the right geographical area. Determine the department in which you would most likely work. Next, making about 20 calls an hour, call each organization and ask the receptionist for the name of the appropriate executive or department head. Be sure to get the correct spelling and title. Then and only then are you ready to send out resumes. Address each cover letter and resume to the specific person who has power to hire you. Addressing your letters to those with the power to hire should double your interviews compared to merely addressing it "Dear Mr. President," "Dear Marketing Manager," or "Dear Personnel Manager."
Usually you will know the typical title of the person with the power to hire you. In those cases simply ask the receptionist for the name of the person with that title. Sometimes you will be told, "We don't have anyone here with that title." Your response would then be, "Can you give me the name and title of the person who would typically hire (your job title)?" If that does not work, ask using a different job title or ask for the personnel department.
If you simply cannot identify who your resume should go to, address it to the president by name. The resume may still wind up in personnel, but it is just as likely to be delivered to the most appropriate person.
Decide whether you will follow up with a phone call to each per son or simply wait for interview offers. Calling and asking for an appointment will usually result in appointments 30-60% of the time, while waiting for interview offers (assuming you have a top-quality resume and sent it to a specific person) should result in an 8-12% success rate. Of course your actual percentage will be determined by the quality of your resume, the amount of experience you have in the field you are seeking, the impressiveness of your accomplishments and reults, the job market, and the care with which you select potential employers.
The decision to call or wait is important because it will affect the wording in your cover letter. If you will be calling for an appointment, you simply state in the letter, "I will call you next week to set up a brief appointment." This statement will cause the reader to pay more attention to the resume, to be prepared for your call, and it likely will be kept close at hand rather than filed or discarded. With the waiting approach, you can end your letter with something like, "I look forward to hearing from you soon."
It's wise to send your chosen batch of employers a second mailing of your resume. A surprising finding, first described by Carl Boll in Executive Jobs Unlimited, is that resumes sent to the same organizations, six or more weeks after the first batch, will usually obtain results equal to the first mailing. In other words, if one hundred resumes net ted you eight interviews, the second batch of one hundred should provide another eight. Give serious consideration to a second mailing.
Receiving Calls
Employers generally arrange interviews by phone. If they fail to reach you after two or three tries, they may simply give up. With a top-quality resume, you'll make employers want to meet you, but don't press your luck-make it easy for them to reach you. If you're rarely home and there will be no one else to answer your phone, consider a telephone answering machine or an answering service. An answering service will take messages for you just as a secretary would. Setting up your own personal voice mail through your telephone company is another option. It will cost around $8 per month and many find it more convenient than using an answering machine.
Faxing
Do not fax a resume unless an employer has specifically asked you to do so. The quality at the other end looks like a poor quality dot matrix printed resume, and the paper will be typical fax paper. If you do fax a resume, also send one through the mail so the person will see its quality. If you want it there fast, but have not been asked to fax it, use an overnight express service. This approach will have more impact.
