Let me speak from both my experience as a manager doing the recruiting and as an applicant. First, its not the applicant who pays the head-hunter. Keep that in mind at all times. Second, there are a variety of managers. I'll expound on that in a moment in more detail. Thirdly, in most organisations, the manager submits a request to HR and HR deals with the Head-hunter. You may not get to the manager until and unless you have satisfied the HR department. OK, lets get HR out of the way first. There is one of these 'conspiracies that isn't a conspiracy' with HR. Its back, as people earlier in this thread said, to accountability. The HR contact isn't the manager, and the HR contact probably believes that they are trying to relieve the manager of the hassle involved in finding a suitable candidate. But remember, the HR contact is not the manager, and has interpreted and translated the manager's request and requirements, adding the legalese and boilerplate. Now I've been told by many managers, both at interviews and at bull-sessions, that this output that the Head-hunter then gets is pretty far removed from the original. Just last month a manager at a local bank showed me the side-by-side and only a couple of phrases made it though without mangling. But there is a very obvious aspect to the pseudo- conspiracy that gives the game away. You know how so many adverts have the boilerplate about 'good command of written and spoken English' or something to that effect. Well why do they demand bullet-list format with the awkward and poor English that entails? I've tried submitting resumes with excellent prose and they just get handed back with instructions to 'add bullets'. I suspect many managers have been brainwashed into this as well. YMMV. Some know the system is screwed up, others believe in it. And one page resumes? That's another con-job on the HR/HH side. As a manager I'm interested in one and only one resume, that of the right candidate. The job that HR and the HH are supposed to be doing is relieving me of the 'filtering'. So why do I get a stack of 40 resumes over a period of the month? If I have to wade though this I may as well wade though a single 40-page resume from the right candidate that makes it quite clear that he is the right candidate. Why should I, as a manager, waste my time wading though that stack of resumes and interviewing people who aren't suitable - but I didn't know that because their resumes were so brief as to be uninformative. Speaking as a manager, all this that HR and the HH are doing is adding up to make me pretty pissed off with this process. This could be why I hire predominantly on personal recommendation and people I meet at conferences, trade shows and professional presentations. If I hear someone ask biting questions at a presentation I usually find out a bit more about them. Again, speaking as a manager, I have pretty short shrift with people that call or write to me directly, usually because it happens at the wrong time. I don't normally keep those letters; I've found when I do need those people they have some other job. But that being said, I've had some great successes with this technique. The thing is that its completely different from the HR/HH approach. If you're going to do it, don't send a resume. Why not? Well, the HR/HH cycle at least has some form of job description and your resume should match that. Sending in an unsolicited application you don't have that. What you are doing is a sales solicitation. You should think of it as such, since you need to do something the head-hunters don't seem to, and that is come in to do a 'needs analysis' and hence present me with a proposal. In this mode you are answering my implicit question "What can you do for me today?" A resume only tells me what you did for someone else years ago. It is asking me to speculate on whether any of that is relevant to what I'm doing today. Now in a more static environment, with more traditional jobs, a resume that is implying you can do something for me that is essentially what you did for someone else makes sense. If I'm looking for an architect or interior designer, their portfolio tells me a lot. But I personally, as a manager hiring people in an innovative and fast moving business, am not looking for someone to replicate what they've already done, never mind the possible legal issues. Resumes are backward looking documents. I'm trying to hire forward looking people. If you're going to try the direct route, then there are two books you absolutely MUST read, no question about it. 1. "Throw away your resume" http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0812093348/qid=994981171/sr=1-2/re f=sc_b_2/102-4723666-6217742 2. "Spin selling" http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0070511136/qid=994981258/sr=1-1/re f=sc_b_1/102-4723666-6217742 Now I know a lot of people are going to argue with me. But think about some of this. You're being asked to describe yourself in a one page bullet list with a WOW-factor because the manager doesn't have time to wade though the resumes, but the HR/HH people are going to send him many, many of these one-page things... What's wrong with this picture? This is a fast forward profession but your resume is backward looking? What's wrong with this picture? I don't know about you, but I rate writing resumes somewhat lower than having a root canal. I've had them professionally written and I've had HHs write the resume for me, knowing the firm and the HR person. Neither seem to make things any better. What's wrong with this picture? So if you get screwed around by the people involved in recruiting, don't have a cow. Its the way the system works, its what it has evolved into. No wonder so many of us set up on our own or prefer working for small start-ups that don't have all the HR/HH interaction. Anton J Aylward -- -- "Life is a tragedy for those who feel, and a comedy for those who think." - Jean de La Bruyère PS: Don't ask me now, like so many other firms in this peculiar economy, we're not hiring. Try this time next year, but I'll probably have moved by then ;-)
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : Thu Jul 12 2001 - 18:05:00 PDT