The Résumé Rider: Increase Your Résumé Return

Almost everyone that asks my career advice comes to me with the comment, ” I send out lots of résumés but I never hear anything. It’s frustrating. What am I doing wrong?” Never hearing back from employers can be frustrating and it’s a common complaint for job seekers who are relying solely on job boards. Here’s how online job hunting ranks among other job search strategies:

The Internet (job boards): works just 4% of the time, on average.

Posting, or mailing out, your resumé to employers: only 7% of the time

Answering local newspaper ads: for low-level salary jobs 24% of the time and for a high salary job 5% of the time.

Going to private employment agencies or search firms for help: works between 5%and 28% of the time, depending on the job type.

Answering ads in professional or trade journals: 7% of the time.

“Job Clubs:” 10% of the time.

Going to the state or federal employment office: 14% of the time.

Going to places where employers pick up workers (construction and labor jobs): 22% of the time but the job may last just a few days.

Asking for job leads from people you know in the community or on LinkedIn: 33% of the time.

Knocking on the door of any employer, office or manufacturing plant: 47% of the time and works best with small employers.

Clearly, the statistics should be a career compass for prioritizing where to put your search efforts. That said, for those taking the low return effort of sending résumés for jobs posted online, there are ways to better leverage yourself to those potential employers as to why you are an ideal fit for the position they’re hiring for:

Be very selective about the jobs you apply for, even though it may mean applying for fewer open positions. The wider the net you cast the more you diffuse your transferable skills. Read the job descriptions carefully and evaluate your fit. Those submitting the most résumés are far less likely to receive a positive response from employers…by a whopping 39% less!

Stay organized. Set enough time aside to dedicate to your search efforts and stick to a plan.

Tailor your résumé and transferable skills to the job posting and maximize your keyword return potential. The more relevant your résumé, the more likely you are to get a response from employers.