Here’s a little tip: for the love of all that is sensible, along with your LinkedIn Profile, please include your resume and cover letter when you apply for a job.
Here’s how getting “please hire me” emails go down from the hiring manager’s perspective:
When I see an email from candidate,”Joe Smith” saying that he has has applied to a job in the subject line of an email in my inbox, I open the email.
I then typically will see a very general LinkedIn profile. There’s no cover letter telling me why “Joe” loves my company and what he or she can do for me in the role. There’s no resume telling me what problems the candidate has solved that might relate to my business.
I have two choices: I can ignnore Joe’s inquiry or I can start Googling his name to determine whether or not I should call them. But I’m pretty busy. So, I’ll give you one guess which option I choose.
As a product manager, my job is to create a clear, compelling, and engaging path for users to do what I want them to do. We call the ease and enjoyment of finding and following that path the user experience (UX).
When you apply to a job, you are the product, but you are simultaneously the product manager. The hiring manager is the user. And when your job application makes it hard for us to see if you’re a fit, or really find out anything about you at all, you have provided a bad user experience.
First, put the user/hiring manager front and center in your job search by starting with an email that makes it easy for the recipient to choose to talk to you—but it doesn’t end there. Sharing concrete examples, focusing on what you can do for the company (and not vice versa), showing up on time, and following up are all part of the continued user experience. And yes, Virginia, you still have to write a thank-you note.
P.S. I work at the dictionary. So as you work on making your UX better, please make sure everything is spelled correctly, too.
