I realized today that there’s a flip side to the unsolicited resume: the unsolicited request to submit a resume.  In the first case, a job applicant sends an unsolicited resume to someone who they hope is hiring.  In the second case, a recruiter or hiring manager sends an unsolicited request to someone who they hope might be interested in working for them.

If I, as someone who has an open position, email you, as someone who I think could be a good fit for my open position, part of my job is to try to convince you that you would be a good fit for the open position.  If I’ve worked with you before, then I’ve got a lot of experience and information that I can use when I email you to say that I’m hiring and would love to work with you again.  I can use that to craft an email that tells you how much I admired you when we worked together before, how I think that your skills would fit into this open position, how I think that you can grow in your career in this open position (and perhaps how I think that’s different from how you could do so in your current role), and what about the work environment is something that I think that you would find amenable.

If I somehow find you online and don’t know you, then I have to do a lot of work to try to convince you that my open position is one for you.  I have to be able to figure out from what I’ve learned from you online (most likely from your LinkedIn profile, maybe from your website too) what it is about you that I think would make you a good fit for my position.  I can try to guess at some of the other items that I listed above for the case when I know you and try to convince you that you should take this open position, but I have to tread carefully there.

It’s not enough to email someone and say “I think you’d be a great fit for this position” and then list out the job ad (or part of it).  After all, since my contact is unsolicited, I don’t know where you are in your career or what you’re feeling about your current role.  If I’m lucky, I’m emailing you at a time when you’re already thinking that maybe you’d like to try out something different, and so my unsolicited email is serendipitously well-timed.  If I’m not lucky, I’m emailing you at a time when you have just been promoted, have received a great raise and bonus, are working on an awesome team with a great dynamic, and have the best manager of your career.  In that case, I’d have to convince you that you’d get all of that five times over in my open position, and I probably would have to throw in an offer of your very own tropical island too.

These two cases have something quite important in common: since they’re unsolicited, they have to be extremely convincing.  They have to convince their recipient that they should take the extra and unexpected work involved to respond in the hoped-for manner.

When you send me an unsolicited resume and I don’t have a job open, you’re asking for me to go and try to convince people that we should interview you, and then (after you’ve rocked the interview) try to convince people that we have to figure out a way to hire you.  When I send you an unsolicited request for you to consider an open position on my team, I’m also asking you to spend unexpected time in updating your resume and portfolio, not to mention prepping yourself for an interview.

Whenever you’re crafting an unsolicited pitch, you have to be aware that you’re asking the person receiving your pitch to do work that they probably weren’t planning on doing.  To improve your chances of the outcome you’re hoping for, you’ve got to do a lot of work to ensure that your recipient sees the value in taking the time to do so.