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.
Missy Caulk
November 12, 2008 at 9:13 pm
Matt, the link for Activerain isn’t working but I read your profile on RERockstar, very open and honest, I like it.
Matt Stigliano
November 12, 2008 at 9:19 pm
Missy – a) thanks for always taking time to comment on my posts and b) d’oh! I missed a bit of code, my apologies…I fixed it.
I’m glad you used “open and honest” since that’s what I wanted. I want people to read my writing and know that it came straight from my brain/gut to the words they see on screen without a lot of filtering to make it “perfect.”
Chris Shouse
November 12, 2008 at 10:07 pm
The profile on RERockstar was great very open and communicated well.
Jim Whatley
November 12, 2008 at 10:13 pm
good job I think you wrote it like you where talking to someone not at them. I liked it.
Paula Henry
November 12, 2008 at 10:56 pm
Matt – Excellent – you made me think I should change up mine a bit. I have the same values and opinions about client care.
Rock On!
Vicky Henry
November 13, 2008 at 6:20 am
I am not sure many people read your profile. I think we would like to all think they would but most people who are on the internet don’t read but scan for information. Just a thought….
Missy Caulk
November 13, 2008 at 7:02 am
Vicky, I agree the “about” section is not read at first but it will be read before they take the next step to work with someone. Like video’s for listings, if they are interested in that house, they will watch it over and over again, but if not they will not watch at all.
Matt Stigliano
November 13, 2008 at 7:39 am
Chris – Thanks!
Jim – Exactly. I want people to see my site and feel like I’m just having a conversation with them. I want them to not feel like I’m telling them “pick me,” but rather giving them the information so they can feel confident to pick me out of all the other agents they could choose.
Paula – Thanks! I’m glad its made you think about yours, that’s the biggest compliment I could receive.
Vicky and Missy – Vicky, I do agree with you on that (although I am the guy who reads everything, I’m not much of a scanner, although I have noticed I’m getting better at that), but think Missy’s point is valid too. They may not read it first, but I do think they will read it if their interest levels increase enough that they’re thinking about making a decision. I could be wrong, but no matter what, I think its important to have it there for those that will read it.
Brad Nix
November 13, 2008 at 4:28 pm
this is why Matt’s hot. I’m rewriting all of my profiles asap.
Matt Stigliano
November 13, 2008 at 6:01 pm
Brad – Please report back when you do, I’d love to see what you wrote. You did after all help create this monster (me) with our first email exchange. I still owe you or that one.
PS So everyone knows, my keyboard seems to have something stuck under the keys, so if you find any missing letters in anything I write, its not my fault (so far “G” and now “W” seem to be the culprits).
Bob Wilson
November 13, 2008 at 11:29 pm
Matt, one issue with the profile on both AR and your rockstar blog is that its duplicate content.