Recently, one of my blog readers Daniel Afiakurue asked me: “I don't have a problem getting noticed wherever I go, but i want to know how to get hired via applications where the HR manager or employer is not in contact with me. I really dont know if its the cover letters or the CVs. “
First, I hear you Daniel. Recently I was asked to submit a CV for a fellowship I was already accepted to. I haven’t updated my CV since my business school summer internship. I was like..really? I’m in and you still need my CV? I realized how resistant I was to sending it.
Why send them a boring one piece of paper when I can send them my website?—where I carefully show my complete offerings, my creds, my writing? Why make myself look like ‘everyone else’ in that plain one sheet of paper?
Large companies like McKinsey and Goldman have already set up structures for CVs and cover letters to be sent..and then ignored. They use a machine to sift through thousands of CVs and cover letters only to pick candidates out that have ‘skill’ matches with what the company needs.
The truth is –there is a lot more that could be done to show who you are and what you truly care about in order to not get confined by the walls of what others perceive.
When you want to get hired, don’t waste all your time on a CV—that makes you look like everyone else. Find a way to stand out, send them an article you wrote, a website or blog you have, setup a call with someone on their team, just call them directly, go to their networking reception, or find another way for them to get to know a little more about who you REALLY are, rather than what they interpret on a page about you.
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