Marketing your Hispanic Heritage to Employers: Your “Get Hired” Marketing Plan, Part 2

By Mesia Quartano and Barb Freda

< Back to Part 1 of this Article

4. Create a Targeted Message with your Resume and Cover Letter

Now that you've researched the market and decided on your target audience, it’s time to develop "on point" marketing materials. This includes your resume, cover letter and any other communications you send to a company.

This is not the time to send your resume to every employer under the sun. If you're going to market yourself effectively and get the job that’s right for you, you must carefully select the companies you want to target and differentiate yourself from other jobseekers based on each company’s specific needs. As any marketing pro will tell you, the more targeted you make your pitch, the more likely you are to generate a response.

First, all communications you send to a prospective employer should be personalized. No hiring manager wants to receive a mass email that you’ve obviously sent to hundreds of other companies. A potential employer wants to see that you have a real desire to work for their company, not that you are just looking for any old job.

Concentrate on communicating your top skills and how they specifically benefit your target employers. Don’t try to be all things to all people or you will look unfocused and disorganized – a sure-fire way to get your resume ignored.

“Candidates need to understand what separates them from everyone else. Think it's the perfect job for you? So do 123 others,” says Peter Newfield, a resume expert and founder of Career-Resumes.com. A well-written resume needs to differentiate you from the other 123 candidates, get you past the “gate keeper” and get you to the interview.

Your materials should show that you are familiar with the company’s current situation, strengths, challenges, opportunities and competitors. Show how you would solve problems facing the company.

Quantify results for the employers. “Give results, not the action itself. Your job is to impress, not inform,” says Newfield, who recommends opening resumes with a summary where you can showcase international experience and skills. If you managed to penetrate a certain market because of your language or your understanding of a unique cultural group, say so.

Bill Lawrence, Senior Global Diversity Staff Manager at IBM, also suggests getting your skills, including your international skills, on the resume in a “snapshot” or summary. “It's an effective way of packaging yourself so everything is captured. Your resume has to say, `I can help you grow,'” says Lawrence.

5. The Interview: Pitching Yourself

Once your resume and cover letter have landed you an interview, you've got a chance --maybe your only chance -- to convince the hiring manager why you are the best person for the job. Rehearse for this opportunity (see Mastering the U.S. Job Interview: 10 Tips for Hispanic Professionals), review your research about the company and dress professionally.

The interview is a fine time to remind employers of your multicultural talents. “You are a `value-added' candidate (because of language and multicultural skills), but sometimes you are so close you can't see it,” says Crawford Hentz. “You've got Diversity Competence, which is great because it expands your capacity to do business in an increasingly flat world.”

This is also the time to back up your resume with real-world examples of your abilities. “Give employers a before-and-after,” suggests Bill Lawrence. “Say: `When I walked in, we were making X million dollars. Three years later, we were making ten times that.' Then tell them how you did it and why you succeeded.”

The most important facet of the interview is confidence (not cockiness or arrogance). If you want employers to hire you, you have to believe in yourself. After all, you know yourself better than anyone, and if you don’t believe in your value, why should an employer?

6. Follow Up, Get Feedback and Refine your Message

Your marketing campaign isn’t finished, even though you've completed your market research, written brilliant marketing materials (your resume and cover letter) and landed an interview.

The minute you return from an interview, you should send a thank-you note to anyone who interviewed you, expressing appreciation for their time and stressing your interest in the position. The post-interview thank you note is not optional.

At the end of your job interview, you should always ask about the timeframe for making a hiring decision. When that time period is nearly over, pick up the phone and call the hiring manager just to touch base, get yourself on their radar again and to remind the company of your enthusiasm for the job.

If you find that the position has been filled, try to get feedback from the recruiter about why you didn't land the job. This should be done in a non-defensive manner, after congratulating the client on finding the match. "I'm pleased you found someone who was such a good match. Do you have a few minutes to tell me where my skills didn't quite suit your needs?"

The recruiter may be able to give some coaching tips on what you could have done better. Be gracious when receiving these critiques, as you are getting valuable information that you can use to improve your interviewing skills in the future.

At this point, it doesn't hurt to follow up with another note, once again thanking them for the opportunity and asking the company to keep your information on file for the future. These good wishes will make you stand out, and your name may come up the next time a suitable position opens up.

< Back to Part 1 of this Article