how many resumes should I submit to one organization?

May 19, 2010 2:15 PM

One organization has several job vacancies in different departments but all have skillsets that I can handle - should I submit an application for each?

There is an organization who has several jobs open for my skillset, but each one is in a different department and for a different hiring manager. One hiring manager is hiring for multiple positions that are relatively similar.

How many resumes do I submit? One for each position? One for each hiring manager? Would one hiring manager consider me for both open that she has?

If it matters, they use one of those crappy job application management apps, so I'm not emailing anybody directly.

(anonymous because my current employer reads this site)

posted by anonymous to work & money (3 answers total)

From professional recruiter ...

How many resumes do I submit? - Depends on total # of positions. If 5 or more, choosing the 3 you think are the best match - or most attractive to you - would be good enough. Submitting a resume for EVERY position can make you look like you're just gaming the system, or that you don't/can't recognize the distinctions (they're probably there, believe me) among the positions.

One for each hiring manager? - This is probably a good compromise.

Would one hiring manager consider me ....? - Hard to say. Some maybe yes, some maybe no. Waste of time to predict. If you get in to see the hiring manager with multiple positions, you can ask to be considered for the rest of them, as well.

TIP: Your prospective employer may read this site just as your current employer does. Comments about "one of those crappy job application management apps" do not serve you.
posted by John Borrowman at 2:34 PM on May 19, 2010

Do you know, or can you find out, who the hiring managers are? If you can, why not reach out to them personally? If you can get meetings with them, you can express your interest; learn more about the particulars of the positions; and explain how you can help them make more money / improve and deliver their services / and so on. That way, not only will you be able to gauge which position might be the best fit as well as the best bet before you start jumping through HR hoops, it is also possible (and we would hope likely) that the hiring manager of the mutually best option would short-circuit the bureaucracy to render the HR process merely a formality to effecting a transfer. HR generally doesn't like employees (or outsiders to the company) taking this kind of initiative, but if your company is well run, HR should be the tail wagged by the dog and not, as is so often and unfortunately the case, the other way around.

Although not all hiring managers are receptive to potential employees reaching out to them, the more effective ones often are. The ones that aren't are usually lazy and tend not to run productive enterprises -- in part because they don't bother to try to find the right people.
posted by SuzB at 3:05 PM on May 19, 2010

Former recruiting manager.

Unless the organization is truly huge-- i.e. the federal government, a gigantic conglomerate, etc.-- you have to assume that all the recruiters are, if not sitting in the same place, at least in regular communication.

Applying for every open position at a company makes it look like you don't know where you would fit. Pick at most three, and be sure to tailor your cover letter to each one (obviously without contradicting yourself).
posted by charmcityblues at 3:10 PM on May 19, 2010