The good people in the personnel or human
resources department are not the buyers - the ultimate hirers.
Unless you are seeking a job in the personnel department, these
people are not making the hiring decision. The hirer are the
managers in marketing, manufacturing, information technology,
sales, and finance. The job seeker will be hired or rejected by the
people for whom and with whom he or she would work. The actual
hirers are your customers - the people to whom you must sell
yourself.
The personnel
department is a screen, a gatekeeper. Part of their job is to keep
unwanted, unexpected, unrequested resumes from cluttering managers'
desks. Unless the personnel people are alerted to a specific hiring
need, they do not carefully review and study resumes and job
applications looking for the next superstar. In fact, the personnel
department views most nonspecific resumes and job applications as
time wasters.
Even when the people
in human resources are looking for a certain type of potential
employee, their selection process starts with rejection.
Particularly when a job opportunity is advertised, personnel people
often face stacks of resumes to review. Their goal is to
dramatically reduce the stack. They scan resumes looking for
reasons to reject candidates. Resumes are tossed because of a
candidate's school, affiliations, geographical location, or job
history. Resumes are rejected because the reviewer is weary or
thinks he has already found the perfect candidate, or because he
misreads the write-up.
People in human
resources, especially early in the hiring process, hire by the
book. The book is the written job description. Good candidates are
routinely rejected because their background doesn't seem to
precisely mirror the job description. The human resources
department wrote the job description, or participated in the
writing, so anything in the resume that is even slightly off the
job description is cause for rejection. The actual hirers are more
flexible, meaning that they commonly hire "talent" and refit the
job to match the talent.
Starting your selling
approach at the personnel department means you don't know who your
customer really is. It means you don't know wy the company should
hire you. It means you don't know who in the company will benefit
from hiring you. Consequently, your cover letter will be general,
and your resume will be non-tailored. You are then dependent on one
person in personnel to properly interpret your resume, translate
your resume into relevant value to the company, and then
voluntarily send your resume to the head of information systems
with a note saying, "Hire this digital video expert immediately."
That doesn't happen.
The human resources
department is important. They are expert interviewers. They give
and interpret tests. They handle all post-hire administration.
Their opinions are valuable and considered. But, almost always, the
hiring decision is made elsewhere.
Start selling
yourself to that person who will recognize and need the value you
will bring to the organization. Start with the CEO or the head of
manufacturing or the vice-president of sales. If the job
opportunity is advertised and the hiring company is named and the
job looks right for you, use the advertisement as a lead. Study the
company. Do your homework. Send the proper hiring person an impact
letter, and get an interview.
The personnel
department is much more helpful to you after you've been
hired.