Undergraduate Blog / Career Development

Exit Resume Black Holes

This blog post is written by PCA Shun Ping Huang ’17.

Resume black holes are real. We’ve all experienced it when we apply to a job on a company website and never ever hear back. As the recruiting process becomes more competitive and electronic based, resume black holes become bigger and more relevant.

But did you know? You can get your resume out of this black hole. Here are a few tips and tricks to help you exit those resume black holes.
  1. The Obvious Trick: If you want your resume to shine brighter than the thousands of other resumes in the hole, it has to be in perfect shape. It cannot have typos, should be simple, and have matching key words to the job description and company culture.
  2. Human Connection: Another way to get out of the black hole is to not be there in the first place. Instead of sending your resume into the company website, give your resume to a human that you were able to connect with at a conference, job fair, or a casual event.
    • Having one-on-one interactions with recruiters who are looking to hire you will give you an advantage that you can’t get by submitting an application online.
    • Conducting informational interviews can also help build connections. Check out this blog to find out more about informational interviews.
    • Take advantage of tomorrow’s Senior Job Fair (April 7th, 2017 9:45am – 12pm @ Knight Aud.) to make a human connection and skip the resume black hole!
  3.  Alumni: Email alumni working at or affiliated with the company and let them know you applied. They may be able to pull your resume of the hole and put it in front of a relevant recruiter or hiring manager.
  4. CCD Advisers & Faculty: Let your relevant professors and CCD Adviser know you applied and see if they have any connections they could reach out to in order to get your resume out of the hole.
  5. Affiliations: Take advantage of your organizational affiliations. Most of the interviews I received are because I applied through Babson’s Career Resource AND through another organization. Sometimes it just takes an additional string attached to your resume that will allow recruiters to notice your resume.
    • Examples of organizational affiliations: Ladders for Leaders, SEO, The Opportunity Network, POSSE, Big Brothers Big Sister, Boston Security Analysts Society, etc.
  6. Follow Up: Last, but not least, don’t be afraid to follow up and email recruiters and/or people working at your dream company. If you show enough interest, in a respectful manner, they will at least give you a response and let you know how to improve your resume.

If you have any other tips on how to get out of the resume black hole, please share in the comments below!