3 Types Of Applicants In The Job Hunting Market!

As one of the leading hiring managers and resume experts, recruiting a full-time employee for my Los Angeles office has been an eye-opening experience.

Granted, I've hired for hundreds of jobs in my recruitment career and am used to receiving a flood of unqualified candidates. When you own the firm you're recruiting for, though, the applicant selection process is a very different experience.

The best part is that I'm looking for a senior-level resume writing position. This means I'm looking for someone with at least a few years of expertise closely matching the job description's main tasks (writing and HR experience), as well as other key secondary abilities. They must be able to run an office, maintain client connections, and handle many projects at the same time.

During my search, I discovered that there were three main kinds of people that responded to my job posting:

1.     Good Matches With The Ability To Proceed To The Interview Phase

This is both the holy grail and the minority group in the hiring process. This comprises the most qualified individuals who submit a full resume that is customised to the job's needs, as well as an introduction letter or email that explains why they believe they are the best fit for the position.

2.     Persons With Transferable Skill Sets Who Might Be A Match.

The bulk of the applications I got were from people who had not held the precise function or had the hands-on experience that the job description required, but who had transferable skills that may be useful in the post. HR specialists with past recruiting expertise and experience drafting job descriptions, as well as experienced writers with a knack for creating compelling papers, biographies, and engaging tales, were among the candidates. Despite the fact that they lack the direct experience of good resume experts, their skill sets are still highly important, and it's worth having a chat with them.

Unfortunately, only a handful of them included a cover letter or email explaining why their talents were transferrable and how I should be confident – as the employer – that it would be a good fit. Sure, the HR managers have lots of experience recruiting, assessing resumes, and working with applicants or customers – but I have no clue if they've ever written a CV or consider themselves strong enough writers to do so without further information.

Some even went so far as to claim that they were applying for this position because they were "seeking for something new" — a characteristic that has no value to me and might expose me to a lot of risk as an employer. Instead of talking about what you want, focus on what the employer gets.

3.     Candidates With No Relatable Experience Or Skills

I got several submissions from folks who had no prior recruiting or writing experience, let alone direct experience producing and analysing resumes. Many of these folks came from backgrounds where the secondary needs in my job description — such as client management, project management, and sales – were abilities or areas they specialised in to some degree. Marketers, public relations professionals, salespeople, social media managers, and other professionals were among them.

These folks are plainly not a good fit for the job, or even for being called in for an interview, because they lack any of the essential criteria for success in the position, such as writing abilities and recruiting experience.

Perhaps the most shocking aspect of the whole process was how few people in ALL three buckets bothered to compose a proper cover letter or email message introducing themselves, the position they were looking for, and why I should read their application. Many of them wrote a generic letter that made no mention of the talents I was looking for and was plainly taken from a template. Many others provided a generic résumé attachment with a blank message, which was soon discarded.

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