This is a quick nod to one of my favorite blogs (okay, so it’s the ZoomInfo blog, but I still like it – and, no, I don’t write it. Which is a good thing for our company – I tend to “ahem” write cheeky).
In any event: good post on why sales execs need to get more scientific in their approach to hiring. Ironically, there’s a tendency among sales hiring authorities to hire “on gut” – this despite how measured every sales person is once they start with an organization. Gut doesn’t equal measure.
…if the job requirements include: Semantic Java, Hibernate, etc. And the company is: a Web 2.0 business information engine that’s created (and is creating more) highly disruptive products. And the team we’re looking to hire for: is our Core development team, which focuses on natural language processing, artificial intelligence, and information integration.
And you are: an embedded software engineer with a PhD in electronics, and a Masters in signal processing and controls.
Then, you can’t claim in your cover letter that your: “working experience closely matches the position requirements.”
Here’s the thing. If this cat had made a strong, thought out pitch about how his work experience was in any way relevant, it’s not out of the realm of possibility he would get considered by some companies. Not here, because we honestly need directly relevant experience for this critical hire, but a larger organization might have thought “hmm, smart guy, can communicate – and, it never would have occurred to us from his resume, but yeah, that project he did is relevant to what we do…”
The ever interesting Yann Gourvennec has a brilliant post up about managing your online reputation, a must read for anyone who is, well, anyone in this brave new world. Get yourself out there.
David Perry’s great. He has a new book out – Guerrilla Marketing for Job Hunters – that you should buy, now. Worth the investment. Here’s a video interview he and his co-author, Kevin Donlin, just did with the Wall Street Journal.
