In our hiring survey, 42% of you said that your organization will be hiring for new positions in 2011-2012, and 49% of you said that your organization will at least maintain current staffing levels. So whether you are hiring anew or hiring to keep things humming along, we thought we’d examine one crucial step in finding that next great colleague: making sure we get the best possible applications. What job applications grab your attention? We looked at the Idealist Guide to Nonprofit Careers, where we advise job seekers about how to put their best selves on paper.
Here’s what we tell them:
- Make it personal: cover letters should be personalized to the organization, and demonstrate a clear understanding of the position and how you will fill that need.
- …But not an autobiography: cover letters and resumes should illustrate relevant and related skills and experience only.
- Talk the talk: the application should demonstrate a level of passion, commitment and understanding of the organization’s mission and purpose, including appropriately using language/terms that the organization uses.
- Don’t let them wonder: the application should clearly explain any employment or experience gaps.
- Be like eye candy: a typo-free application that features crisp, clean formatting, ample white space, and an easy-to-read font has the best chance at being read.
Is this sound advice?
Is there a tip you’d love for job seekers to know? What elements do you focus on that move an application to the next round? Let us know by sharing your thoughts in the Comments section below.
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{ 8 comments… read them below or add one }
Most of the hiring managers appreciate a “Thank you” note.
I agree you.
Personally, after all the resumes and cover letters I’ve sent out to employers on this website and on others, I’m tired of hearing about “what employers want” or reading that I should send thank you notes to hiring managers. I don’t mean to offend, but how about an email confirmation that an employer actually received my resume? O how about a computer generated, automatic email saying (gasp) “Thank you for taking the time to apply for this position.” Not difficult to do! Since it’s computer generated…a real person wouldn’t have to waste their precious time acknowledging the real work and effort I put into each resume or cover letter I send out. Sometimes I think that employers, even for non-profit organizations, forget that they’re dealing with human beings and not objects.
I agree with Mr. Rand with regards to employers acknowlegement of applications and resumes.
A courtesy acknowledgement confirming receipt of job seekers paperwork, whether computer generated or personal, informs the applicants that the application process went through accurately.
I am also frustrated by the lack of responses that I have received particularly from positions posted on idealist. Nonprofit organizations should recognize that they are held to higher standard of courtesy. When they do not even provide an automated response they not only lose a prospective employee, they also alienate a potential donor.
Even a simple “filled” note or an automated counter of the number of views/applications/bookmarks on the idealist job posting would be nice.
Not only do non profits managers forget to acknowledge receipt of your resume, even with automated emails; often time they do not even have the courtesy to let interviewees know if the position has been filled. However, they are quick to make a judgement about interviewees if thank you emails have not been sent to the hiring managers right after the interview! There’s some organizational skill!! which some like to justify by saying “its a Buyers Market’
I agree with the comments posted, but I would take it a step further and say and organizations need to follow-up with candidates after interviews, the same way candidates do. I have been interviewing with a number of organizations and noticed that HR departments have been taken out of the process (probably due to budgets) and teams have not been educated in proper procedures… Like following up with an email or phone call informing candidates that they are no longer in the running or that the organization is no longer hiring for the position. Having gone through 2 or 3 interviews and than not hearing anything is NOT acceptable. When I work directly with HR this doesn’t happen, however when HR is left out of the hiring process this has become the norm.
I completely agree with the comments here so far. I also would like to weigh in that I have been very surprised at the number of recruiters, who forget their professionalism in terms of responding to thank you notes after an interview or in notifying candidates, who have interviewed if a position has been filled. I can see they may not feel they can reply to every resume they receive (though I think an automatic acknowledgment of some kind if easy and a reasonable cost), but if an applicant has gone through an interview process with the organization, he or she deserves a more personalized reply.