In previous videos I've talked about the spray-and-pray approach to sending
out resumes. This is where you sit in front of the computer day in and day out
and just scan the job boards, send out hundreds of resumes, and pray something's
going to happen. Normally that doesn't work. I mean, they say that 85% of
positions out there are filled through networking and referrals. But, every now
and then it does work and in today's video I'm going to share with you a
success story.
So, I receive this email from one of the students that attended a career
readiness workshop couple of weeks ago, and this is how the email reads: "Hey Bill,
I got a job! I didn't think it was possible without your career coaching
and guidance on the resumes and I'm so appreciative about it. Let's stay in
touch." I was really happy to receive this
email. I mean, this is fulfilling for me to know that one of the individuals that
I've worked with, they've landed a position. I mean. I could not be more
excited about this, and I wrote this individual back and I asked him some
more questions about this. How did he land? You know, who referred him? How did
he find out about the job? And, this was the email that he wrote back. And I think
it's interesting, something I want to share with you all. He said that he had
applied during these two weeks to 240 positions. He said that he
kept an Excel spreadsheet so it's about a hundred and twenty positions every
week. He sat in front of the computer and he took a spray-and-pray approach - that's
essentially what he did. Of the 240 resumes that he sent out, he received ten
phone screens. Of the ten phone screens, he received four on-site interviews and
those four on-site interviews resulted in two job offers. So, I want to stress
again, I was really excited for this individual. I mean, anytime any of my
clients land, it's an exciting time for me too. I want to celebrate their win just
as much as they do, but I want to dig a little bit deeper into these numbers for
a moment, because there's something I want you to understand. And that is, the
240 resumes this individual sent out and he received ten phone screens that's
only a 4.1 percent return on investment for the time and energy he
spent. And of those ten phone screens, he gets four on-site interviews which is
just over 1.5 percent. And of the four interviews, he
landed two job offers, which i think is great - it tells you that he does really
good with his interviewing skills. But, that's still less than 1%. So let me ask
you something. If you sat in front of your computer for eight hours a day for
two weeks, and you send out 120 resumes a week, or 240 resumes altogether, and you
did not land. In fact, you did not even receive on-site interviews, how would you
feel? I mean, would that take a hit to your self-esteem? Maybe your self-worth?
Definitely your positivity? Well that's exactly what happened to his friend who
was also doing the same thing. You see, this individual and another person both
worked together, and they both did the spray-and-pray approach. This one
individual, he got lucky. And I call it luck because it would be like me going down
to the local 7-eleven store, spending 240 dollars in buying 240 lottery ticket
scratch-offs. I would be lucky if I was to get even a small portion of my money
back. Probably wouldn't win much more than five maybe ten dollars out of that.
Well, that's what happened with his friend. He didn't receive anything and it
took a really big hit to his self-esteem, and his self-worth, and his positivity.
There is a reason why coaches, career advisors, career counselors all say that
your best bet of spending time finding that next job is through networking and
referrals. Because they work. 85 percent of positions filled are through networking
and referrals. And when I talked about networking, again I'm not talking about
collecting people. I'm talking about connecting with people. Letting them know
that you're out there looking. Maybe inviting them to coffee and sharing your
resume with them and saying, "Hey, I just worked on my resume I think it looks
good, but can you take, you know, can you take a look at it? I'd love to get a
second opinion." Putting it out there that you're actually looking for a position.
Talking with people. Going through your LinkedIn connections. Reaching back out
to them. You know, talking on Facebook. This is what works the best.
85% of positions are filled through networking referrals. That doesn't mean
that the spray-and-pray approach is not going to work. Here, I've just shown you
an example of it working. But the odds are against you. So please, you know don't
take a hit to your self-esteem or your self-worth. Start networking out there.
The odds are a lot better, a lot more in your favor. I hope you find this video
informative and useful, and if you are in career transition, I have a link to an
online course that I'd offer: "Finding Work that Fuels your Passion" and in this
course, I cover writing the resume, designing your LinkedIn profile so it
works for you 24 by 7, making sure that you're up to speed, on not only the
interview but the psychology of the interview, and finally and most
importantly, how to create a job search strategy so you're not having to do that
spray-and-pray approach. Thank you for stopping by and I really look forward to
seeing you in the next video. Bye bye.