How Many Resumes Should I be Sending Out Each Week?
By Jeremy Cyrus 08/01/2012
Unemployment can be an unsettling experience, to say the least. And along with some degree of fear and self-doubt, the entire process can also feel isolating. Job seekers often come to us with questions like these: “Am I working hard enough to get back on track?” “Am I trying TOO hard?” “I’m sending out at least five resumes a day…Is that enough?” “My unemployed acquaintance is sending out fifty resumes a day, but if I did that, most of them would be for minimally appropriate jobs. Right?”
If you’re torn between spending hours on a single application versus carpet bombing employers with fifty resumes a day, keep things in balance with the following considerations.
1. The number of contacts you make and resumes you send each day will vary with your industry and your targeted position. At least five applications per day is usually appropriate, but only if each of those five are well researched, carefully tailored to individual employers, and perfectly matched to your skill sets and experience.
2. If you intend to loosely target employers and fire off resumes to positions that aren’t quite a perfect match, you’ll need to send far more than five per day. Keep in mind that if you cast a wide net like this, you’ll gain the attention of more employers, but you’ll irritate more of them as well. Most employers don’t enjoy receiving resumes that are obviously part of an indiscriminate mass mailing.
3. The worst thing a potential employer can do to you is pass you over. So if you if aren’t quite sure about a position, or if you possess only eight of the nine requirements listed in the posting, apply. Just keep your expectations reasonable, and polish your resume to a perfect shine before you send. The resume experts at FreeResumeBuilder.org can help. Contact us today.