Dave Perry is the Guerrilla Marketing for Job Hunters expert (see his third edition book here). Tomorrow (Tuesday) we will chat on our monthly Ask The Experts call at 9am Mountain, 11at Eastern. Dave is awesome… register right now here.
Here are past ATE recordings…. lots of awesome stuff there!
Hi Dave,
I am a 60 yr. old Human Resources Mgr (who does not look 60 by design) and have had multiple positions since 1999, due to various recessions, re-orgs etc.
I know my age is working against me, (there is no reference on my resume to the date I graduated university) and the number of moves I’ve made (many not of my choosing). How do I write an email or cover letter to send with my resume to say, “hire me for the price of a 35 yr. old, I’m healthy, have 30+ yrs of experience and mistakes I won’t repeat and I won’t get pregnant !”.
Obviously I can’t say that but I can’t get past these young recruiters.
Signed
“getting jaded and I have bought Jason’s book”.
Dear Getting Jaded,
When I read, “How do I write an email or cover letter to send with my resume to say, “hire me for the price of a 35 yr. old” I cringed. Not because that can’t be done BUT because it shouldn’t. Allow me to explain.
If I’m correct you are either:
a.] responding to posted jobs ;
b.] trying to deal with through the HR Department; or
c.] both
In all cases the ‘cost’ argument will fail as it’ll be trumped by the ‘age’ card.
Instead, try focusing on value – this is not a play on words. to focus on value you need to;
a.] stop focusing on job ads and start focusing on companies;
b.] target the CEO or CFO directly and skip HR [you will lose that fight every time – but for luck @ engaging and HR professional with an advance degree and/or someone who’s made a lateral transfer from another area of the business in to HR]
Consider your resume as a sales brochure for you and load it up with meaningful figures around:
a.} money generated – by the hires you made over the years. surely you’ve had a hand in picking winners and those winners generated profits for the firm. Would the firms you worked with have done as well with out the people you hired? Not likely. HR people always underestimate their impact.
b.] what about the money saved through the programs you ran? those are tangible benefits to the employer as well. And I mean programs beyond payroll& benefits. I’m referring to retention or recruiting programs for example which have real associated cost savings to them. You just have to sit down and figure out what the value translates in to in terms of $$$.
By recasting your contribution in light of money earned for the company or saved, you portray yourself as a “blue chip” stock one that guarantees the CEO a 20% return on their investment or more. Most HR people ar not used to speaking the language of the boardroom: ROI, profit, risk etc. Show potential employers you get his and you’v elevated yourself out of the ‘pool’ of ordinary HR folk.
Oh and BTW, don;t send that resume to HR because they wont understand it. Go Google “Starbucks coffee cup caper” for a few ideas on how to approach your targeted list of employers instead.
David Perry
My wife is in a quandry.
While working in a full-time job, she began the application process for a new job on December 15th. The new firm has an extensive process with a number of tests, interviews, etc.
On January 10, her company let her go.
The new company looks ready to make an offer, but the firm’s recruiter announced that they’ll be doing background and employment checks.
Should she inform the recruiter that she was let go two weeks ago?
It is now January 31.
What to do????
Bruce here are the only three things she needs to do right now:
a. tell the recruiter the truth – that she was let go and why,
b. hand the recruiter a list of references – whom she’s already spoken to and can talk to her on job success — at the same time she tells the recruiter (yes get in the car Monday and drive over to the company and talk to the recruiter in person)
c. make a list of all the other companies she wants to work for and get resumes out to them because she wants to create competition for her skills sets in-case the company’s process ‘drags’ a while.
Why?
a. the recruiter is going to find out — unless their stupid AND they’d have to really be dumb to not pick up on it during a reference call. Preempting their discovery takes the sting out of it – if indeed there is any sting in it! AND most importantly shows your honest AND may light a fire under the recruiters posterior to grab you before you start looking elsewhere,
b. giving them the reference check saves the recruiter hours of work trying to find the info themselves and you somewhat guide them to the people they should be talking to.
c. a little competition is good for the ego and keeps employers honest!
The future is in your hands.
David Perry