I sent you my resume – why didn’t I hear back from you?

Dear applicant:

We receive dozens, if not hundreds, of resumes every month. Really – hundreds of people that want to work for Nortruck Manufacturing! As we mentioned on our home page, we are always looking for good people so we don’t mind getting all these applicants sending us email, mostly.

Now you might imagine that we can’t come close to hiring even a tiny fraction of the people that apply. So, how do I decide who to call for an interview? And why might I not be calling you? Here are some basic tips you might want to think about:

Can you follow instructions? Did you read the words on our home page and on the careers page where it says “Send us a cover letter and resume…”? I really dislike receiving a “naked” resume. It shows that you are unwilling to make any effort at all in applying for a job – and I can’t help but wonder what kind of employee you would be. So, if I get your resume, and there’s no cover letter with it - I assume that a) you can’t follow instructions, or b) you are lazy. Either way, I assume you aren’t able to follow simple instructions and I toss your resume without considering it further. You’re not getting called for an interview.

Can you write? So, if there’s actually a cover letter with the resume, there’s another test that I like to apply before I decide to invest any time in reading it. That test is: can you communicate using basic English? We pride ourselves on customer service and high quality manufacturing. In order to accomplish these goals we need to have people that can think and that can communicate. So, if you can’t take the time to run your resume (and the cover letter) through a spell checker and/or get your spouse/ bff/ mom/ buddy/ confidante/ mentor/ neighbour/ librarian/ barista/ etc to proof-read it before you send it, I can only assume that a) you’re lazy, or b) are clueless. Either way, you’re not going to get called for an interview.

I’m not looking for the next Shakespeare – I’m looking for evidence that you can manage basic, clear communication in English. Will your application get tossed if there’s a minor grammar error or if you missed a tiny spelling mistake? Not necessarily. But, if your first communication to us is really poor – the impression I get is that you can’t and won’t be any better at communicating if we hire you. Next applicant, please.

Do you care? Are you applying to every company out there with the faint hope that someone may call you? Put away the shotgun – finding yourself a job requires you to use a rifle or a laser beam instead. And please, please, have enough class so you’re not sending me a “bulk” email with every company you can think of in the address field. If you want to show you’re different than the rest and really think you can be part of our team, don’t go and act like your specific skills and experiences don’t matter. If I get the impression that you don’t care where you work, I assume you don’t care about your work. And, you guessed it; you’re not going to get called for an interview.

The people that do impress me and may get called in to meet with us are the people that spent a few minutes looking at our website and figuring out what business we’re in. If I see a properly written, formatted and spelt cover letter and resume that also clearly tells me that this person has the skills and experience I may be looking for – for my particular business, I’m likely going to be impressed. This type of person shows that a) they care, b) they are honestly interested, and c) they have a clue. If I have a position open – who am I going to call? You are absolutely right – this person. Which type of candidate are you?

Sincerely,

Human Resources

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