I started to respond to a very good comment on the 2/21/09 posting about following-up after applying for a job, but my comment became so long that I've decided to post it separately. Part of the comment from RNelson noted that some job posting require that your resume be sent to HR or posted in the system and state "no calls."
Yes, many require posting through the organization's online system and some may state "no calls." I wouldn't call the HR department anyway, or at least not ONLY them. The HR manager isn't the person who will make the decision on who gets hired or not. As part of your research (which is actually my upcoming post) you should try to find out who the hiring manager is. You send your resume and cover letter directly to that person (in addition to whatever the posting requirements state). That's who you want to call. If that person blows you off, so be it, but you don't want the opposite. Here again is where your network comes into play. You need to use your network to find out who the hiring manager is or at lease someone in that company. If you can arrange time to talk to anyone in the company about the department or generally about the company, that's always beneficial. I personally don't care if the job is posted through a site like teamworkonline.com, I send my information directly to the organization and follow-up directly with the organization. Also, don't take it for granted that a third party job posting site has exclusive rights to post that job. Often, organizations will also list the job on their site. Sometimes it may point to the third party site, but not always. On the organization's site it may list a person's name or you can find the department manager's name on the About Us or Staff Directory page.
The HR manager isn't going to be the person who will decide who gets the job--it's the hiring manager. The HR manager may decide who gets contacted for interviews, but hopefully not. (I'm not a fan of HR at all when it comes to hiring. There's a great Fast Company cover story that I love from a few years ago called "Why We Hate HR.") Since I'm not a fan of most HR folks, I don't want them trying to select who I want to interview. I want them to post the job information online, collect the resumes for me to review (from the people who don't send theirs directly to me), and then contact the prospective candidates to schedule the interview times. No more than that. I had one HR manager who was screening candidates because of geography. A couple of candidates got through the gate keepers via phone and followed-up with me to ask if I'd received their information. I hadn't. When I asked the HR manager about these candidates, he informed me that he hadn't passed on their resumes because they weren't already living in the city where we were located. I had not put any geographic restrictions on my requirements. If someone is a good candidate and wants to move to take the job, why wouldn't I want them? The fact that this company didn't pay moving costs (the cheap-o's) would come up in the interview or could even be stated when scheduling the interview. The candidates could decide from there whether they wanted to move forward with the interview. The point of this long paragraph is to show that if you go only to HR and talk only with HR, you're more likely to get lost in the shuffle. This is a link to another Fast Company article from around 1997 that I still love. It's called "Interview with a Head Hunter" and I think it's actually been updated. It gives a lot of really good advice and a lot of the things I've been doing for the last twelve years came from this article.
Showing posts with label network. Show all posts
Showing posts with label network. Show all posts
Saturday, March 7, 2009
Tuesday, December 4, 2007
Competition vs. Cooperation
I've been searching on the Internet to find out who first said that youth is wasted on the young. According to thinkexist.com, it was George Bernard Shaw. I guessed Mark Twain. Seemed like something he would have said. It was 100% true with me and I'm seeing that it is still holding true.
I absolutely LOVE being around a college campus again and working with students. I definitely want to get my PhD and teach, even if I only teach part-time and pursue other options full-time. There are certain things about being around students, though, that are really tough for me. I now understand the frustration that my mentors went through with me.
With two or three exceptions, the students I've come across this year don't fully grasp that the people in their class are going to be their network for the rest of their professional lives and not their competitors. They could do themselves a huge favor by eliminating the internal competition and focusing on cooperation. It's not as if they don't like one another or don't get along, because they do. It's just that they're ultra competitive with one another. I've seen it firsthand, this weekend being the most recent example. One of the students was incredibly secretive and evasive when asked what internship she was applying for when another student was giving her an update on some reference information.
They're so worried about other students going head-to-head with them for opportunities. They don't want to tell others who are interested in the same line of work where they're applying. In contrast, if they helped one another through the process and made sure that at least someone in their network gets the internship if they don't, they'd be so much better off. They'd have someone they know in that area who could help them out in the future! It's not the easiest thing for competitive people to do, but by helping one another, by being happy when one person does well, by accepting competition for internships, and by being willing to let their merits go head-to-head against anyone, it would solidify their reputation within their class as someone who's willing to help others reach their goals. Yet, they're secretive and they hide information.
The greatest example I've come across of what people would ideally be like when working with those who are also competing with them was the description of Lincoln in Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln by Doris Kearns Goodwin. Lincoln took the idea of cooperation to levels I can't even fathom. I think it's one of the things that made him such a great leader. He chose four men whom he beat out for the presidency for major positions in his cabinet, any/all of whom were expected to be elected over Lincoln. He was continually back-stabbed by people in his cabinet, yet he knew that they had the best talents for the jobs. And even though they treated him that way, he never reciprocated. He chose these men because although they were competitors, he wanted them around him because they had the best talents for the jobs.
Again, cooperating with people you view as competitors isn't easy. It's really damned hard, because that behavior may not be returned! I can scream about it until I'm blue in the face, but like almost everyone through time, there are life lessons that we only learn through our own experiences, and not from others trying to teach us. Just be open to the idea of cooperation instead of competition.
I absolutely LOVE being around a college campus again and working with students. I definitely want to get my PhD and teach, even if I only teach part-time and pursue other options full-time. There are certain things about being around students, though, that are really tough for me. I now understand the frustration that my mentors went through with me.
With two or three exceptions, the students I've come across this year don't fully grasp that the people in their class are going to be their network for the rest of their professional lives and not their competitors. They could do themselves a huge favor by eliminating the internal competition and focusing on cooperation. It's not as if they don't like one another or don't get along, because they do. It's just that they're ultra competitive with one another. I've seen it firsthand, this weekend being the most recent example. One of the students was incredibly secretive and evasive when asked what internship she was applying for when another student was giving her an update on some reference information.
They're so worried about other students going head-to-head with them for opportunities. They don't want to tell others who are interested in the same line of work where they're applying. In contrast, if they helped one another through the process and made sure that at least someone in their network gets the internship if they don't, they'd be so much better off. They'd have someone they know in that area who could help them out in the future! It's not the easiest thing for competitive people to do, but by helping one another, by being happy when one person does well, by accepting competition for internships, and by being willing to let their merits go head-to-head against anyone, it would solidify their reputation within their class as someone who's willing to help others reach their goals. Yet, they're secretive and they hide information.
The greatest example I've come across of what people would ideally be like when working with those who are also competing with them was the description of Lincoln in Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln by Doris Kearns Goodwin. Lincoln took the idea of cooperation to levels I can't even fathom. I think it's one of the things that made him such a great leader. He chose four men whom he beat out for the presidency for major positions in his cabinet, any/all of whom were expected to be elected over Lincoln. He was continually back-stabbed by people in his cabinet, yet he knew that they had the best talents for the jobs. And even though they treated him that way, he never reciprocated. He chose these men because although they were competitors, he wanted them around him because they had the best talents for the jobs.
Again, cooperating with people you view as competitors isn't easy. It's really damned hard, because that behavior may not be returned! I can scream about it until I'm blue in the face, but like almost everyone through time, there are life lessons that we only learn through our own experiences, and not from others trying to teach us. Just be open to the idea of cooperation instead of competition.
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