There are certain things in life you just don’t want to experience; e.g.
a.) Coming across your wife and mother-in-law carefully going over your will,
b.) Your son asking you, “Dad, why do I look so much like the Schwan’s ice cream man?”
This week we’ll cover something else you don’t want to experience: a really bad job search experience. To be specific, there are 2 “Silver Bullets” that are anything but. . .and these 2 relate to an old way of thinking, to “rules” of the job search game which are now obsolete.
1.) Expecting recruiters to be Silver Bullets
2.) Expecting resume distribution systems to be Silver Bullets
Expecting recruiters to be Silver Bullets. In the good old days you could send your resume to a recruiter and be expectant of a returned call and some interest in your resume. But everything changes. Look around and you will notice a trend: recruiters are disappearing as quickly as real estate agents. Which is sad because there are some great recruiters out there. But we live in a capitalist market – this is all about supply and demand. And the demand from employers for “outside” aka contingency recruiters is waning. Why? The economy: employers are trying to save money.
Gone are the days when recruiters could charge 30% of your first year’s salary. About 5 years ago, we started to see a trend to slashing recruiter fees – from 30% to 20% to 12%-15%. Ask any medical device/equipment or pharma company what they pay outside/contingency recruiters – and you’ll find this is today’s “fair-market” value. You’ll also find these employers are going elsewhere to get talent. The fastest growing areas? Professional associations, their own corporate website, and LinkedIn. So don’t give up on recruiters just yet – just be aware of this transition. As they say, everything changes but change itself.
Expecting resume distribution systems to be Silver Bullets. These systems work long-term, but they are not the silver bullet everyone is seeking. In reality your resume is usually going into a database of a contingency recruiter – not an employer. Very rarely do resume distribution systems go direct to employers – and employers almost never read resumes sent to them that do not indicate a specific job posting. The reason: HR simply doesn’t have the time. Is this changing? Good news; yes, but slowly. Relating to the recruiter issues above, employers are paying more attention to what is in their database. But, again, HR is a non-profit center, which means they are overworked and understaffed. Go to any SHRM meeting and you will get 100% consensus on that statement.
There is some false logic at work here, and we human beasties tend to not always be so logical. So let’s express this in a story: you go down to the shooting range. You see the target. You pick up a shotgun and fire. Nothing. Didn’t even hit the target. What to do? According to our current logic, we pick up the shotgun and keep trying. Wait – isn’t there an old definition of “insanity”: something about trying the same thing over and over and yet expecting different results?
The wise stop, realize the shotgun isn’t working to achieve their goal, and they select a different weapon. Say a rifle. With a really great scope. . . They fire some shots off. Oh – now we’re close. Let’s adjust a bit. Closer still. Obviously resume distribution systems are not your best “weapon” for your immediate goal: hitting a bull’s eye with your job search. You NEED TO DO WHAT OTHERS ARE NOT DOING. See all those guys still using shotguns – and note all of them are still missing the target? Yes – time to pick another weapon.
An interesting thing about change. It creates opportunities. Our mothers always told us there are “silver linings” in every cloud. So don’t be discouraged. Just realize that everything you knew about job searches has changed. And those that master the “new rules of the game” win the game. Which is what this blog is all about: learning those new rules. Playing the game to win.