Know Your Audience

On her Selling to Big Companies blog, Jill Konrath talks about the need for sales people to educate themselves before approaching potential clients. Her post struck a chord since I constantly receive mass emailed resumes from job seekers looking for positions that don't exist in my company. Many recruiters will tell you that one of their biggest beefs is receiving mass emailed resumes from people who clearly don't know which niche they serve.

Jill ends her post:

The lesson: Contacting prospective customers before you've invested time learning about their business is a sure recipe for disaster. Don't do it!

So before you send out any more resumes, take the time to develop a targeted list, learn something about each company/recruiter on your list, and personalize your correspondance. You'll see an immediate improvement in response rate.

Comments

[Sabina Newson]

Great article, Louise.
It's a shame more people don't have their resumes professionally written and get advice on who to submit it to, instead of this shotgun approach. I run a service like this in Sydney.