According to research by employment search website Simply Hired, hiring managers get an average of 34 applications per job listing, but they spend time genuinely considering an average of only 12.6% of them – that’s less than 1/3. Some applicants may feel the need to go above and beyond the average application and do something unusual or unexpected to grab the hiring manager’s attention.
Simply Hired conducted a survey to find out whether or not “nontraditional” strategies to stand out are worth the risk, or whether it makes sense to stick to a traditional resume and cover letter. They surveyed over 500 hiring managers and over 500 job applicants to find out what sort of outside-of-the-box approaches applicants are willing to take, and which ones do and don’t pay off.
Most notably, the survey found that over 63% of hiring managers find attention-grabbing gimmicks totally unacceptable, with only 20.2% saying they were acceptable. Hiring managers were also given a list of unusual strategies to rank from most to least acceptable. Unsurprisingly, the least acceptable strategy was offering to sleep with the hiring manager – which should really go without saying.
Interestingly, hiring managers also really disliked when applicants persistently emailed their resumes over and over until they got a response. One or two follow-up emails after your initial application aren’t such a bad idea – but if you don’t get a response after that, continuing to pester the hiring manager isn’t going to help.
While sending baked goods to the office was considered a somewhat acceptable strategy, sending those same cookies to the manager’s home address was a big no-no. Desserts might sweeten your application, but not if you cross a professional boundary by bringing them to someone’s home – that’s just creepy.
Another tactic that hiring managers received fairly positively was “enduring extreme weather to hand-deliver a resume” – but waiting around for inclement weather to apply for a job doesn’t seem very efficient. However, hiring managers did respond well to applicants who went out of their way to demonstrate a skill, for example, by creating a mock product or presentation or completing their interview in a second language. A librarian who was surveyed said she landed her job by making her resume into a book and creating QR codes with links to her portfolio, while a woman applying to work at the hotel hopped behind the counter and started checking customers in.
It’s worth noting that while most hiring managers aren’t into your gimmicks and games, of the 12.9% of applicants who said they have risked an unusual strategy, 67.7% of those actually landed the job.
Still, it’s probably a safer bet to stick to the protocol and not try any theatrics. So then, what can you actually do to improve your chances of landing the job?
Applicants surveyed tended to focus most of their time on their resumes, but according to hiring managers, the interview and cover letter are “the top ways to stand out among the rest.” Sure, brush up your resume, but make sure to give equal time to writing a strong cover letter and practicing potential interview questions.
In the survey, applicants also tended to overestimate the importance of knowing people within the company and having a “unique” cover letter and interview question answers; meanwhile, they underestimated the importance of asking smart questions at the interview and personality. In fact, hiring managers reported that personality was the most impactful factor in their hiring decisions.
It appears that the best way to stand out in a job interview is to wow them with your personality and nail the interview. Weird outfits, stunts, and baked goods will only get you so far – and in fact, may backfire.
Chris Johnson
November 20, 2007 at 7:47 pm
An eleven dollar an hour employee lectured me regarding this in 2003. I didn’t pay then because I was flat broke. I got a lecture, “We need to pass laws that help us all…”
Gah.
Benn Rosales
November 20, 2007 at 7:54 pm
are you talking about the repac fee?
Chris Johnson
November 20, 2007 at 8:08 pm
yeah–this was when I was an agent.
Benn Rosales
November 20, 2007 at 8:17 pm
They would not dare lecture me, 11 buck an hour or $300k per year. This is not about my wallet, it’s about if I was the CEO of NAR, the last thing I would be doing is authorizing a mandatory fee for an image campaign, nor would I advise the local boards to do it. A qualified CEO would be out on the public airwaves making the case 8 months ago, not damage control on the backs of agents- it’s utter bs.
Chris Johnson
November 20, 2007 at 8:29 pm
Ah, but they would. Our board–Columbus Ohio–had such an astonishing sense of entitlement back then; they gave it a shot. The results, to her, were unpleasant.
But then again, we all need to shake off the self importance.
Carson Coots
November 21, 2007 at 3:09 pm
When asked what the realtor of the future looks like… all Dale Stinton could come up with was “flash-gordon”. This is the realtor of the future… iphones and such? Get real and say something about the value they will bring and how NAR will support it.
https://www.inmantv.com/?p=99
Agent for Movoto
December 3, 2010 at 1:48 pm
horrible. keep holding out.