Targeting the Hiring Manager

Email from a Job Seeker

I keep seeing articles about how to get my resume into the “right hands” and suggesting that I write a compelling cover letter and mail it directly to the hiring manager. According to some, this is the best way to get noticed and communicate clearly that I’m the right fit for the job. I even saw a statistic the other day saying 25% of people who do this get the job they are going after. What do you think?

Regards,
Frustrated Job Seeker

Dear Frustrated Job Seeker,

I believe there is no right or wrong answer here. It “could” work. It “could” also backfire. A 25% success rate sounds like it may have some merit, but what happened to the other 75%?

While I believe you should not only craft a cover letter that targets the position you are applying for, I also believe you should highlight your relevant skills on your resume. Sometimes the letters and the resumes get separated. Sometimes, gasp…no one reads the cover letter you spent all that time writing.

I think pursuing the hiring manager “might” work in your favor, but mostly that seems to help in a very large corporation. If there’s a computer scanning for keywords between you and the hiring manager, you “could” get noticed by trying to go direct…IF the hiring manager actually receives your resume.

For the times I’ve seen it work, I’ve also seen it go completely wrong. Hiring managers have human resource professionals, support staff and a variety of other team members who can still end up with your resume. If it’s your job to screen resumes and someone deliberately bypassed you, how favorably would you be viewing the candidate? What message is it sending to someone who could be your co-worker or your peer? What message is it sending to the hiring manager? For every one who views this as a positive thing (assertiveness), there’s an equal number who see it as desperate, aggressive or sneaky.

If it’s a smaller company, a start-up or a professional recruiter working for a company … somewhere there are actually people reading your resume… bypassing these people may not work in your favor. Some of us can and will help.