五招讓你的求職信有迴音

Kunjan Zaveri reckons he's applied for more than 1,000 jobs onLine since being made redundant earlier this year. But, he said, he heard back from exactly… none.

For some job seekers, hitting the “submit” button on an online job application feels like launching a CV into a black hole, never to be seen or heard from again. For Zaveri, a former human resources analyst for Cisco, it sure feels that way.

“I haven't heard anything from anyone,” said Zaveri in an email.

Zaveri, who grew up in London and now lives in Lithuania, said he wouldn’t mind it so much if the rejection came after an interview. “It at least would give me a sense of satisfaction and present me with the idea of weaknesses and areas to improve.”

The lack of any response at all — even a polite rejection form letter — is jarring and frustrating. So, what should you do if you’re constantly hitting a wall of silence? You won’t likely be able to seek feedback from the black hole of applications, but you can do a few things to improve the odds of your CV being noticed, and getting a call for an interview.

Before You Hit Send

Seven key questions to ask yourself before applying for a job.

1. Can I learn more about the job requirements and the needs of the organisation?

2. Do I meet at least 70% of the selection criteria?

3. What key words and phrases are used in the position description?

4. Can I enhance my resume to make it through the applicant tracking system?

5. Have I made it clear how I differentiate myself from other similar candidates?

6. Does my CV clearly show how I can solve the problem and add value to the organisation?

7. Have I folllowed the application instructions specified in the ad?

Source: Mary Goldsmith

Quality over quantity

For starters — and this might seem counterintuitive when you’re feeling desperate to land a job — be selective.

“No one should be applying for ‘thousands’ of jobs. Or even hundreds,” said Mary Ellen Slayter, a career expert at online job-search website , in an email. “It's simply unlikely that someone would be qualified for that many positions to begin with. You're setting yourself up for disappointment.”

Instead, focus on whether you have the right skills and training for the jobs you actually want.

“If not, it's time to find ways to develop them, even if it's through more education or volunteer activities,” said Slayter. “No (resume) formatting tricks can overcome a lack of provable skill.”

Peppering doesn’t work

Many people make the mistake of simply peppering their CV or resume with keywords, thinking that will be enough to get them through the applicant tracking system (ATS) software that 75% of large companies use to screen applicants.

But keywords alone won’t work, according to Matt Sigelman, CEO of Burning Glass, a Boston-based job market and career analytics company. ATS software has become much more sophisticated over the past few years – and applicants need to adapt their applications to that. Newer search technology offers a more “holistic evaluation” of your resume or CV than in the past, according to Sigelman. Therefore, your resume should not be a list of facts but rather a narrative that tells a story.

"A narrative resume is essentially what every resume should aspire to be, that is, something that tells the story of your professional life in such a way that it’s clear that this new job — the job to which you are applying — is the next chapter in that story," Sigelman said.

Instead of writing a generic job description for each of your work experiences and leaving it unchanged no matter what job you are applying for, a well-written narrative would adapt each job description (and other sections too) so as to emphasize the specific experiences, skills, and vocabulary that the employer is looking for, Sigelman said.

“Really your resume is an elevator pitch: why you are a great for this [particular] job,” he said. If you have been working as the director of sales and marketing, for instance, and you want to apply for a position as vice president of sales, describe the work you have been doing in a way that emphasizes the sales experience that the vice president job demands instead of the experience you have accrued. “Similarly, you may want to reshuffle what you include in any skill lists on your resume based on what you think would be of value to this employer,” Sigelman added.

Do your homework

Mary Goldsmith’s biggest pet peeve when she was an executive recruitment consultant was applicants “who didn’t bother to edit their resume to reflect the needs of the organisation, or role requirements, even when a comprehensive position description was available.”

Not taking the time to customize your resume gives a really bad first impression.

“It looked like sheer laziness, which can appear disrespectful to the person screening your application at the other end,” said Goldsmith, now a Melbourne, Australia-based executive career coach.

Research the company before you complete your application. Check to see if the organization has a company page on business networking site LinkedIn. If it does, look for clues about how to develop your application, suggested Goldsmith. See if you know anyone working there. If you do, ask them about the company and what they look for in people. Check employee profiles to get an understanding of the type of people they recruit and what they value. “Use this information to modify your application and decide if you're a likely fit and if the application is worth pursuing,” said Goldsmith.

Name dropping

If you have experience at a well-known company (in the case of Zaveri: Cisco), take advantage of it, suggested Steven Yeong, a recruiter coach at Hof Consulting in Singapore. "Continue to highlight your experience [there] in your CV,” he said in an email. And send your CV to all of the direct competitors of the company where you worked.

“Most companies have a tendency to want to hire people who have worked for competitors,” he said.

Always a better way

No matter how well you craft your resume or CV, it still can’t beat a personal contact who can recommend you to a hiring manager or recruiter. “As everything changes in job search, some things remain the same,” said Wendy Enelow, founder and director of Virginia-based Resume Writing Academy, in an email. “Networking is still the number one way to find a new position."自從庫簡·扎弗裏（Kunjan Zaveri）今年早些時候被解僱後，他網申了大概有一千多份工作。但，他說，他收到的回覆是……零。

對一些求職者來說，網申時按下“提交”鍵，就像把簡歷發射到了黑洞，再也沒有迴音。對思科（Cisco）前人力資源分析師扎弗裏來說，他太懂其中滋味了。

“我還沒收到任何回覆。”扎弗裏在郵件中說道。成長於倫敦，現居住在立陶宛的扎弗裏說，面試之後如果能給封拒信，他也不會這麼介意。“這至少給我一種滿足感，讓我知道自己不足在哪，哪裏還需要改進。”

一點回應都沒有——就連一封禮貌的模板拒信都沒有——這真是又難受又沮喪。那麼，如果你的申請總是石沉大海，應該做些什麼呢？想從“大黑洞”裏聽點回聲是不太可能了，但你可以下點功夫，讓簡歷通過篩選，並接到面試通知。

在你“發送”之前

求職前，先問問自己下面七個問題。

1.我能否再多瞭解一些工作要求及企業需要？

2.我是否滿足了選拔標準的70%？

3.職位描述都用了哪些關鍵字、關鍵詞？

4.我能否再把簡歷改一改，讓自己順利通過求職者跟蹤系統？

5.我是否明確說明了自己比起條件相近的求職者有何優勢？

6.我的簡歷是否一目瞭然地反映了我是如何解決問題，爲企業增加價值的？

7.我是否按照應聘廣告裏說的申請流程做了？ （來源：瑪麗·戈德史密斯）

“質”大於“量”

首先——這看上去可能和你急着找工作的焦慮情緒南轅北轍——就是，要有所選擇。

“誰都不該申請‘上千份’工作。上百份其實也沒必要，”美國在線人力資源企業巨獸公司（）的職場專家瑪麗·艾倫·斯萊特（Mary Ellen Slayter）在郵件裏說道。“根本不可能有人能勝任那麼多工作。你就是自找苦吃。”

你該做的，是看看自己是否具備了心儀工作的技術和培訓。

“如果沒有，那要花些時間提高自己這方面能力了，即使這意味着提升學歷，或是參加志願者活動，”斯萊特說道。“沒有（簡歷）格式化技巧可以彌補你在技術上的缺乏。”

簡單的美化技巧？過時了！

現在75%的大公司都用求職者追蹤系統（applicant tracking system，簡稱ATS）軟件來篩選人才。因此，很多人想當然地以爲，只要用關鍵詞美化一下簡歷，就可以讓自己通過求職者追蹤系統。

就像波士頓人才市場和職業分析公司Burning Glass的首席執行官馬修·希格曼（Matt Sigelman）所言，光有關鍵詞還不夠。ATS軟件在過去幾年已經得到優化，更加複雜——而求職者也要順應這一改變。希格曼表示，比起以往，進步的搜索技術讓你的簡歷受到“全面評估”。因此，你的簡歷不應該只是陳述一列事實，而是要化身成一個說故事的敘述人。

“每份簡歷都該朝着敘述式簡歷的方向邁進。以這種方式陳述自己的職業生涯，清晰明瞭。而這份新工作——你正申請的這個職位——就是故事的下一章，”希格曼說道。

希格曼說道，不要每個工作經歷的職位介紹都千篇一律，不管申請什麼，都絲毫不改地提交。一份好的敘述式簡歷是能根據不同的職位描述（及其他部分），做出相應的調整，突出自己的特殊經歷、技巧，以及僱主希望看到的“特殊詞彙”。

“你的簡歷其實就是一個電梯遊說：爲什麼你是這份工作的不二人選，”希格曼說道，比如，如果你之前一直都是銷售和市場營銷主管，你現在想應聘一個銷售副董事長，在描述工作經歷時，你應該着重於副董事長這份工作所需要的銷售經歷，而不是自己過去的經驗。“同樣的，你可能要根據公司的價值需求，把簡歷上的技能重新編排一下，”希格曼說道。

工作要做足

當還是行政招聘諮詢師時，瑪麗·戈德史密斯最受不了的，就是有的求職者“連簡歷都懶得編輯，也不費心讓自己的簡歷反映出企業需求，或職位要求，即使詳細的職位描述就擺在那兒。”

不花點時間根據需要修改簡歷給人的印象真的很差。

“看上去就覺得這個人很懶，不尊重篩選你簡歷的人員，”現爲墨爾本行政職業教練的戈德·史密斯說道。

戈德·史密斯建議，在提交申請前，先搜索一下該公司。看看這家公司在商務社交網絡領英(LinkedIn)上有沒有公司網頁。如果有，看看你的申請還有沒有什麼地方可以改進的。看看有沒有自己認識的人在該公司上班。如果有，像他們詢問該公司情況，以及公司的僱傭標準是什麼。看看僱員簡歷，瞭解一下用人類型是怎麼樣的，以及公司看重什麼。“通過這些信息來美化你的簡歷，估計一下自己的勝算多大，以及這個崗位到底值不值得申請，”戈德·史密斯說道。

知名公司從業經歷能加分

如果你有在知名公司的從業經歷（以扎弗裏爲例：思科），要好好利用。新加坡霍夫諮詢公司（Hof Consulting）的招聘教練史蒂文·楊（Steven Yeong）建議道。“在你的簡歷裏重點突出你在知名企業的工作經歷，”他在郵件裏說道。然後把你的簡歷發送到這家企業的直接競爭對手那兒。

“大部分公司都傾向於僱傭曾就職於競爭公司的求職者，”他說。

人脈仍是上上策

無論你怎麼美化你的簡歷，都抵不過內部有熟人能直接向僱傭經理或招聘人員推薦的。“求職方式變來變去，有些東西還是一樣的，”弗吉尼亞州簡歷撰寫學院（Resume Writing Academy）的創始人兼主管溫迪·恩尼洛（Wendy Enelow）在郵件中說道。“人脈仍是求職的首選途徑。”