| Here's a common scenario (and complaint) for job | | | | This is where social networks come into play. You can |
| seekers: "I spend all day long applying to jobs online | | | | use LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter to identify the |
| through Monster.com, CareerBuilder.com, or niche job | | | | hiring manager for that job and then go directly to him |
| boards-and I never get a response. Have I lost the | | | | because-guess what? It takes a lot of effort to do |
| understanding of how this job search works?" | | | | that. So not all of those 1000 folks who sent in that |
| If this is happening to you, you've got to understand | | | | application will contact the hiring manager. In fact, my |
| that the job search has totally changed from what it | | | | guess would be that out of the 1000 people who |
| was 15 years ago, or even 5 years ago. Today's job | | | | would apply online, less than 10 will seek out the hiring |
| search is different. It's flooded with job seekers in this | | | | manager. Out of those 10, at least 5 will fail with a typo, |
| terrible economy, and jobs are posted online, so that | | | | a misspelled word, bad email syntax, or they just do an |
| everyone and their dogs can apply, with just a click of | | | | overall crummy job with their note, so really, it's 5 out |
| the mouse. So some of these jobs you're seeing on | | | | of 1000-and you could be one of those 5. |
| Monster or Career Builder or some of the bigger niche | | | | Why is it so important to get to the hiring manager? |
| sites are getting a thousand or more applicants-and I | | | | He's the one who's carrying the budget, and who has |
| don't care how good you are, it's hard to shine in a | | | | the problem he's got to solve, so he's super-interested |
| room of 1000 people. | | | | in someone like you. You have to help him find you. |
| What should you do? Step away from sites like those, | | | | So, stop applying online. It just won't work in our current |
| other than looking at the job to find out who it's with. | | | | climate. There are too many applicants, and not |
| Once you find out which company is hiring, find out | | | | enough jobs. Find the job, find the hiring manager, and |
| who the hiring manager for that job is. | | | | go directly to him for the job. |