Resumes Are No Longer Enough; A Stand Out Story with Second Life

 

 

I was entertained recently when a new college grad told me how much time he put into his resume and cover letter and how mad he was that the company he sent it to didn't respond as he might expect. Did he really think that's how it worked?

 

The hard truth is that a lot of resumes sent into a company's website or to a recruiter never get read.  Do send resumes. That's not the point.  Just know that having a resume represents the basics alone. So how to you stand out in the job race?  And how does a company stand out in the war for top talent?

 

You Stand Out.

 

An example: EMC had two great experiences with career fairs in Second Life. We got a couple of super hires from the effort -- a developer with a key IT skill set and a financial controller who had experience with large, global, and dynamic organizations. On top of that,  the brand ripple effect blew away expectations like the special effects of a Will Smith blockbuster.  The ripples are still spreading by people who participated, saw the coverage of it on TV , heard about it on National Public Radio, or spoke to anyone who might have participated -- whether hired or not. Everyone won in this adventure.

 

EMC is not alone in the Virtual World Success Club. Sodexo and Amazon have made career connections as well. Here's a link to the Amazon story as told by a recent hire as a result of the Second Life Recruiting event.  It is a great read.

 

Following is the story of one of EMC's Second Life hires. We would not have found each other if it were not for this "Stand Out" medium.  No method of 'stand out' stays new forever. The name of the game is to be seen or known in addition to your resume in order to stand out from the crowd (but not in a crazy way; jobs mean business).

 

Further your brand to capture attention today -- employment brand and personal brand alike.

 

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“I had reached a point in my career where I needed a new opportunity—a place where I could be more creative and face some new professional challenges,” Yevgeniy (Eugene) Gorelik said.

He had been at a start up and found it light on resources, training, development and career potential. He had been at a big, established company and found it lacked innovation and drive.  He knew he wanted a job where his creativity could thrive … a place that respected innovation provided great training, resources and career opportunities.

 

An excerpt from EMC’s Intranet, “ChannelEMC,” featuring Eugene’s and EMC’s Second Life recruiting adventure follows:

The deciding factor

“At the time the EMC virtual career fair was advertised, I was interviewing with Genzyme and Google,” said Eugene. I was looking for a company where things are not set in stone. EMC's involvement with the Second Life world illustrated the fact that—even though it’s a big, well-established IT company — it’s also open to new ways of doing business. For me, the virtual interview was the deciding factor in choosing EMC. It provided evidence of leading edge technology and innovation. That’s what I was seeking in my next place of work.”

A “fun and exciting experience”

Eugene’s Second Life experience began when he clicked on the Monster ad, submitted his résumé, and quickly heard back from an EMC recruiter with an invitation to set up a virtual appointment at the fair. The recruiter also offered training—just in case

Eugene felt a little unsteady on his virtual feet.

“She told me how to teleport to the EMC facility, where I met Polly Pearson and a number of other people from EMC. Then I followed the recruiter to the interview area, where we talked for a half hour. It was a fun and exciting experience—not what you’d usually expect at a job interview,”

Eugene recalls.

The Second Life experience was followed by a meeting at the EMC bricks-and-mortar facility. Soon he was offered his current position.

“I thought this was a very creative approach to hiring, which gave me a really good feeling about EMC,” he says.

It just gets better

Now that Eugene has been at EMC for several months, I recently circled back with him and asked what his experience has been.  He said that he believes EMC’s real life persona has lived up to its virtual image as a company that supports creativity and innovation. “When I have an idea, people are always ready to listen,” he says. “And, if it turns out to be a good idea, there’s a lot of support for implementing it. That’s just what I wanted.”  Eugene has also become a huge fan of EMC’s training and development resources, the MBA tuition reimbursement program and all the on-line technical training modules we offer. 

Learn more: EMC’s Peter Quirk blogs about virtual worlds and EMC’s Second Life career fairs at Peterquirk.wordpress.com.

EMC’s Second Life career fair has so far resulted in more than 16,000 Google hits and international media coverage (print, TV, and radio).

 

Second Life is a registered trademark of Linden Research, Inc.