QUESTION: What's the best way to get your resume in front of the decision-makers at a company? There are a handful of companies at which I'd want to work, but I don't have inside contacts. I'm worried that if I just direct my resume to HR, it will just get lost in the shuffle.
ANSWER: As you suspected, a well-crafted cover letter with some personal information directed toward a specific person will get you closer to an interview than a blind resume to a human resources department.
It all comes back to networking. Find the experts in the fields in which you're interested, and look for names of achievers at particular companies. You should be able to get them through Web research, through a trade press, through industry associations or through networking. This will help you to target your resume to the right person.
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QUESTION: I worked for a Fortune 500 company for 32 years. They do not give references, only employment verification. Management employees are also not allowed to provide references individually, and most of the people I knew at work have left and have become widely dispersed. (I have been retired for three years, and no longer keep in touch with them.) Additionally, the professors I worked with in grad school have passed away.
My friends would gladly recommend me, but I do not believe that is appropriate since they are not in the industry where I will be seeking work, and for the most part they have not worked with me.So, now that I'd like to return to the workforce, how do I handle references, and how are hiring companies dealing with this issue, since so many companies have rules such as my former company? ANSWER: I would track down your former supervisor and coworkers and get them to write a recommendation for you to carry with you. There should be at least one person you can find. Gather as many letters as you can get, and make sure that in the meantime, you reconnect with people you should be networking with anyway. Make sure to always keep on top of your network so you have them when you need them. Companies or the recruiters they work with will go for back-channel references to find out about you. If they can't find someone or you can't provide them with people they can talk to, it doesn't reflect well on you. Your references can be people you worked for, people you supervised and your peers. Get several and keep them fresh.About Sunny BatesExecutive search, career and networking expert Sunny Bates is the CEO of retained executive search firm Sunny Bates Associates. Sunny is the author of "How to Earn What You're Worth," published by McGraw-Hill in February of 2004.
Source: Money & Work
