blueskyresumesblog

Please Don't Do This!

On Career Hub, I wrote about an email I received from a job seeker who was mass-mailing resumes to anyone and everyone. She said she wanted a job in Manhattan, and yet she emailed her resume to our office, which isn't in Manhattan. She said she wanted an HR leadership role, but this is a small business where no such role exists. She addressed her email generically (no name) and she bcc'd the recipients (presumably because there were so many of us.) Her letter was two lines long. All she said was:

"I am very interested in seeking a position with a Manhattan based organisation (Leadership and People Development) and enclose my Curriculum Vitae for your consideration. I look forward to hearing from you..."

Does this candidate really think this is the way to find a new position? Do you?

Is MySpace Hurting Your Job Search

<a href="http://www.nydailynews.com/front/story/401069p-339405c.html" target="_blank">The New York Daily News</a> reports that the popular social networking site, <a href="http://www.myspace.com/"target="_blank">My Space</a> may have cost a freelance TV producer two jobs. Why? A silly picture and caption posted by a friend.

<blockquote>"A friend of mine posted a picture of me on My Space with my eyes half closed and a caption that suggests I've smoked something illegal," says Kluttz.

While the caption was a joke, Kluttz now wonders whether the past two employers she interviewed with thought it was so funny. Both expressed interest in hiring Kluttz, but at the 11th hour went with someone else. </blockquote>

I talk about this all the time, and I've blogged about it on many occasions. Online research is now a fact of job search life and you can't just worry about your online profile when you're ready to start looking for a job. By then it may be too late.

One Way to Stand Out

Australian blogger Edwin of Entreplist sent me his innovative approach to getting the attention of one of his target companies.

Edwin is holding the company's Art Director hostage. Well, actually he isn't, but he's created a fake ransom letter designed to grab attention. He says he doesn't know if it's a good idea and frankly, I don't know if it will get him this position. But I do know that this kind of creativity will get attention, and for that reason alone it has to be better than filling in an online form.