Question

Terry J. Lundgren, CEO and president of Macy's, was asked, “[Do you have] any job-seeking advice for college grads?” Here's what he had to say:

Use whatever contact you have to try to get your résumé read. That's the most important thing—just to get it in front of people. Because we're all flooded with, of course, thousands and thousands of résumés in a company of our size, and getting your résumé read is not an automatic. And so do what you can do to get it in front of the people who matter who will read it. It's not the CEO typically, by the way; it's the HR person or the head of recruiting or head of training or whatever. Third, don't stop there. Don't just do it online, because it's easy to do it online. Do it online and then put it in an envelope and send it to the top company that you're interested in pursuing. And then follow up with a phone call, and talk to the assistant and say: “I just want to make sure that my résumé's getting read. I'm very interested in your company, and it's really important to me. And I just want to know—can you give me advice?—is there anything that I can do to get my résumé in front of your boss?” Whatever you have to say, just to show the most important thing—that you're hungry. And to convince them, maybe you use a little of your acting skills. And I'll probably relate it to college dating—you know, use a little, “I'm really interested in you”— to say: “This is the company I want to work for. Yours is the company that I want to work for.” And then once you get, hopefully, more than one opportunity, you're back in charge to say, “Where do I want to go and where do I want to work.”31

Based on Lundgren's comments and please include your own real-world perspectives and experiences, respond to the following questions:

1. Explain what Lundgren means by showing “you're hungry” for a position. Describe ways in which you can show hunger in a positive way. How have you done this in your past experiences?

2. What does he suggest about the effectiveness of relying exclusively on electronic means to submit job applications? What combination of communication channels do you consider optimal for gaining a job of interest? Any stories from your own life on what worked and didn't work when you used electronic submission practices?

3. He suggests that you should view the process like dating. In what ways does this analogy make sense to you? Explain.

Answer 1

1. Being hungry for a position means showing how much the position interests you and it is a desire as well as need for you to work in it. At times there may be situations where your resume is one of the many that suits the criteria of the job. In such a case the recruiter mind find it difficult to select any one from the lot. He may just randomly choose any one of the resumes or analyse from the point of the candidate as to how much he desires to get the job. This is where showing the hunger for getting it will work. Being hungry for the job also puts an impression on the recruiter that the person who wants the job so desperately will work harder and more sincerly on it then the one who is ignorant right from the process of applying.

Showing hunger for the job is possible through ways like following up for the status of the recruitment process through emails and phone calls, visitng the place in person when the process of shortlisting is going on and in all of these expressing out to the person incharge about how serious you are about the job. I have done such things in the past for a job I wanted to have as it was the best job suiting my profile and lifestyle and losing it was something I couldn't afford. This following up process helped me as I got myself introduced very well at the place and people started knowing me personally which made a positive effect for them considering me for the job.

2. Relying exclusively on electronic means will make the job application less effective as that is the most easy and common way of applying the job. A large number of people will prefer applying online hence being one of them will not make you stand apart and recognised. Other channels of job application that can make an impact is posting it through mail post service, submitting it in person and then following up the status through phone calls or short visits to the assistant.

My experience at a situation where the online submission of application did not work was when I felt it would be effective enough to apply online for the job as they company had given an option for it. I applied online and waited for their response which did not come for a long time. After that when I called up to confirm about the vacany I came to know that it had been filled by a candidate who had applied for the job in person and followed up thorourghly on its status.

3. Viewing the process like dating means like in dating a person or proposing him/her for the date, you will not only show your interest once but keep persuading him/her and showing how much the person interests you. In the same way applying for a job you have to keep the process of showing your interest to get it going on. How important the job is for you, how much the job profile interests you and how you can use ur experiences and skills best at it once you get it is what you will have to show at every level. Even if the person stand less on the qualitfication or experience criteria required for the job but he shows his interest, dedication and sincerity in the process of recruitment then the chances of him getting the job increase. Hence apllying for job is related to dating because showing interest is what matters in both of them.