Tomorrow morning I will send a resume and cover letter for a Sales Assistant position listed on mediabistro. I like very few job boards, but there's something about Media Bistro that I do like. It has a more exclusive feel to it, I suppose.
I have previously worked in Advertising, and I really want to get back into that field. This position would be a good starting point. As I was reading the job description and qualifications, as I got closer to the bottom of the page, what do I see?
That dreaded, horrible button to "Apply Online."
This means I have to conduct further research.
God bless Google. Google gives me everything I need in these instances, notably e-mail addresses and fax numbers. I always try and search for a fax number first, because they are easier to find. Even if I could locate an individual e-mail address, there's no telling if that address is any good. With the high turn-around rate with employees these days, it's highly possible that the discovery of such address is no longer active.
I was able to locate a fax number for the company who will be enlightened with my resume tomorrow morning. The cover letter is complete but I do not intend on sending it until then. Whenever I fax a resume/cover letter, I always do it first thing in the morning. I never fax in the afternoons, and I especially never fax on a Friday afternoon as it's too risky. It's too easy for someone to grab it, lose it, and guess what....now your resume has the entire weekend to circulate around the office. Who knows if the resume will even arrive at its proper destination by the following Monday.
Many "HR Professionals" will balk at this idea, claiming that if the applicant can't follow instructions on how to apply, it's a red flag. I disagree. This is a blanket statement towards job applicants. While I will not contest that there are folks who cannot follow directions because they can't read...or whatever...there are others that know how to get around the system. It is a system that was in place long before the internet became a popular recruiting tool. It is called the beloved fax machine. In addition, I insert a little quip in the first paragraph of the cover letter:
"I am unable to execute an electronic submission at this time, so I hope a hard copy version will suffice."
Good? Bad? Actually, I don't really care. But at least this way the recruiter cannot say I'm not following instructions. Cover thy ass!
There are never any guarantees that faxing your resume will be seen by the right people. But the chances of someone seeing it are greater than applying online. Case in point: when I used to work at The Daily Herald, I would frequently monitor the fax machines for ad changes, ad copy, letters submitted by readers to the editor, press releases, and so on. Every now and then I will get resumes for various positions. Once I get a resume, I immediately place them in an inter-office envelope and send it to the attention of Human Resources. With that said, I cannot believe that I'm the only smart fart that does this. Every fax number has an associated person that mans it, and it is their job to distribute these faxes appropriately. And if they don't....then they should be fucking fired, shouldn't they?
