In a recession what would job hunters do differently compared to normal times?

Be proactive. Upload your latest resume and cover letter to popular career website such as career builder.com , Monster.com , Dice.com and Zoominfo.com. Make yourself easy to find for the potential employers. Some of the career websites even allows you to upload your photo to the profile. Go for it. When recruiters find your profile with photo, they know that you want to be found.

 

 Subscribe to email notifications of your preferred jobs. Apply for jobs with appropriate cover letter and most recent resume.

 

Well, you did all that and then what? Wait for a potential employer to call you? How do you know if your resume has not fallen through the black hole? What can you do to make your resume seen by a hiring manager?

 

This is where you deviate from the conventional process. Try to find somebody from inside the company who can take your resume and put it on a hiring manager’s desk. You can use your social network contacts such as facebook or linkedin. Also try to find the vendors and clients of the targeted employer who could help you out. By getting a human element involved, you make sure that your resume doesn’t fall into the black hole. It never hurts to have your application brought in by more than one person or through more than one channel. You can apply online and have your resume brought in by an inside contact. It’s better to do it all at the same time rather than waiting to see the result from your first attempt to use subsequent channels.

 

You did what you could to make a hiring manager look at your resume. But, did you make your resume standout? One of the most effective ways of achieving this is adding testimonials on your resume. Get testimonials from your previous supervisors and coworkers. You can also include a detailed cover letter with a PS in it.