My clients frequently share their frustration when they apply for a job they think they’re perfect for on an internet job board and then they don’t hear anything back (“But I have everything they are looking for!” they tell me).  

When applying for jobs online, it may be helpful to know you are essentially dealing with a numbers game.  What I mean is hundreds, if not thousands, of other candidates may have applied for the same job.  With that kind of response rate, there’s a very good chance that despite your interests, qualifications and experience, there may be 10 or 25 other applicants who are even more qualified than you are.  While that may sound discouraging, people do find jobs on internet job boards so don’t give up on them entirely.  

If the employer is identified in the job posting, this is where networking can come in handy.  In addition to submitting your application online, try finding someone inside the organization who will forward your resume directly to the hiring manager.  As this usually prevents your resume from being electronically screened out, you stand a much greater chance of being considered for the job.  Networking sites such as LinkedIn, Facebook and ZoomInfo are great places to search for insiders in virtually any company.  Another approach is to simply call the employer and ask for the department head for the posted position.  While you may get a “gatekeeper” instead (e.g., receptionist, administrative assistant, etc.), ask them for the name and contact information of the hiring manager and try reaching the person directly either before or after regular working hours when there’s less chance someone else will intercept your call.

I’m often asked by my clients when it’s appropriate to discuss their salary expectations in the interview process.  This can be especially tricky if you are out of work and do not have another job offer to use as leverage.  In particular, many job candidates are afraid of leaving too much money on the table by not asking for enough pay or, conversely, being disqualified because they are asking for too much.   

While the best time to discuss your pay requirements is when you have determined the prospective employer is truly serious about preparing an offer, you may not have that option.  For instance, if you are asked early in the interviewing process what you are expecting to earn, you may want to try to reverse the inquiry by asking, “Would you mind giving me an idea of the range for the position?”  Unless the range is significantly below what you would accept, you should let them know it seems fair given what you know about the job so far.  If the attempt to reverse the question is unsuccessful, offer a range spanning from your bare minimum to what you really hope to get and add, “It really depends on the responsibilities and scope of the position.”  You can get a sense for what represents a competitive range for your job and profession by going to websites such as monster.salary.com, cbsalary.com and payscale.com. 

However, never refuse to provide specific details about your current or previous compensation plan!  Doing so risks coming across as arrogant or combative and it could result in the abrupt end of your candidacy.  I have literally ended interviews on the spot when candidates refused to answer this question.  Why?  I simply wasn’t going to risk wasting my time or others in the organization unless I thought we had a good chance of ultimately making an offer the candidate would accept.

While there is no one right way to write a resume, I can tell you that when I was in a corporate job and looking to fill a position, one of the things I always wanted to see in the resume is the Professional Objective & Profile section just below the name and contact information.  I call this the “billboard within the billboard” as it summarizes key information about the applicant in the already abbreviated format of the resume itself.

While I sometimes have clients argue this approach potentially limits their career options, I can only tell them what I typically did when reviewing a resume without it – I tossed it in the reject pile.

When literally hundreds of resumes have been dropped on my desk, I wanted to sort through them as quickly and efficiently as possible.  And if someone didn’t provide a brief overview of their qualifications, I was simply not going to spend the time to determine if the jobs I had open fit their particular interests and skills.  My feelings were, “If they don’t know what they want to do, I’m not going to figure it out for them.”

This may seem harsh, but it is reality.  Your goal is to get the recruiter to review as much of your resume as possible.  To entice them to do this, make it as easy as possible for them by including a Professional Objective & Profile section.  Otherwise, just like I used to do, they may not give your resume more than a cursory glance.