Getting Noticed

In this current market job hunting is not easy. How do you get noticed, get that foot in the door? In this article we give you a few ideas to get you that first step.

Play the Numbers

Most direct marketers will tell you that most direct mail and e-mail response rates are down this year, most large companies budget for a 0.5% response. That means that if you want to get 100 responders - you'll need to send out 20,000 letters or e-mails. If you want 500 responders, your quantity will have to go up to 100,000.

But what if you were interested in getting only one response? That's exactly the position you're in when you're looking for a job - you only need one positive response. Only one company has to hire you, in order for your "campaign" to be effective.

So using the 0.5% projected response rate, you'd need to send out 200 letters and/or e-mails.

But how many of us do that? How many of us treat job hunting as a direct marketing program? And how many send out a few letters...call a few people...and then settle back and then complain "no one is hiring"?

You need to treat job-hunting as a "job". The more time and effort and creativity you put into it, the more likely you are to be successful. And once again - you only need one response.

Creativity in Job Hunting

Get creative to get noticed. Here are four ideas which you may want to try:

Are you a high-energy person? Why not tape a small AAA battery to the top of your resume, or include a high-energy bar? Your envelope will definitely be opened - and your resume will stand out from the pack.
Do people appreciate your work? Instead of waiting to send referee lists to a company, why not include a few testimonials right on your resume? Put them right after your objectives - don't put them at the end, where people might possibly miss them.
Add a yellow Post-it. One woman put a Post-it note right on the top of her resume. She handwrote "Excellent candidate. Please interview." She got the job.
Add another dimension to your resume. Once again, you're looking for just one response - and dimensional mail can be so effective. What can you send people along with your resume? Just about anything..
- A waste paper basket - for them to discard all the other resumes they will receive (other than yours.)
- A calendar - with your name written-in for your interview. Your letter can add "If that date is not convenient, please let me know when I can come in."
- Anything that makes you stand out, and positions you as a clever person and someone they would like to meet.

What's Your USP?

Back in 1961, Rosser Reeves wrote one of the best books ever on advertising, called "Reality in Advertising." Reeves was the Chairman of the Ted Bates advertising agency, and disliked "image advertising." Instead, he believed that every product needed a USP - a Unique Selling Proposition. This must be a specific benefit, either unique in the category, or at least not communicated by it's competitors.

A classic example was for Schaefer Beer (An American beer). What can you say about beer that hasn't been said a million times before? Schaefer came up with a campaign about it's bottles being "steam-cleaned for freshness."

Sounds pretty good but guess what? There's absolutely no other way to clean a beerbottle. But no one else was saying that. So that became the USP.

Now this all may sound like typical advertising malarkey to you - but the principle is important. What makes you unique? Answer the question, that will be asked by someone in HR, "What can you bring to my organization that another person can't?"

So what's your USP? It may help to think of yourself as a brand. Now what makes your brand special, different, or better?

Put these ideas into practice and you might get the job you want.

This article is based on a newsletter by Alan Rosenspan, of Alan Rosenspan & Associates, www.alanrosenspan.com

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