Following Directions

Why following directions is vital when applying for a job

I posted a job opening for a Technical Writer on a Friday.  The job posting stated, “Please email a Word version of your resume along with a cover letter including your salary requirement to my email address.”  Yes, I put the basic requirements in BOLD.

By Monday morning I had received close to 200 emails.  Of these emails:

• Better than half of them were NOT a Word document.  Since the majority of my clients request that I only submit resumes as Word documents, what should I do with these?  What I did was respond to more than 100 emails asking for a Word document. It would have taken me longer to convert every resume.  In many cases, in-house recruiters don’t have time for this and just skip the email completely.
• Since this was an opportunity for a Technical Writer to write a compelling cover letter, I was disappointed to find that roughly 60% of the emails did not have a cover letter at all.  In fact, there are many ways in which a cover letter can go wrong.  At the very least, provide what is being asked for.
• Exactly, 197 out of 200 did NOT include even a vague reference to a salary requirement.  I know the general advice out there is that he who states a salary range first, loses.  But desperate times call for desperate measures.  Honesty might just get you noticed.  It’s not all that difficult to discuss Your Salary Requirement

Who Got Contacted First?

The three candidates who actually sent me a cover letter with a salary requirement and a Word version of their resume are the first three I called.  Three people out of two hundred can follow directions!

Yes, I started to work my way through the other 197 resumes.  But, the job was filled before I got through them by one of the people who followed the directions in the job posting.

While one of those 197 candidates might have been better qualified, with a more impressive resume and a higher GPA, they lost out. The main concern would be:  if they could not follow the directions to apply for the job, will they be able to follow work directions.

I hope this helps some job seekers understand why they may not be getting an interview.