More than once, I've placed candidates whose resumes had been buried in the HR department's file drawer for months. After HR had stamped the resume "NO," the hiring manager paid me tens of thousands of dollars to hire the candidate. (I've also had HR departments come running to me after the fact, claiming no headhunting fee was owed "because we already had the candidate's resume." The hiring managers always paid.)

There are risks in doing this. Remember my friends in HR? They will try to cut you off if they find out you went around them. That's their job. So take it with good humor. You can be respectful and still be assertive. Is HR's ire worth another shot at the job? I say yes. If you get hired, you'll have plenty of time to placate HR, and the fact of getting hired will be your best argument for them to accept you.

That said, how do you do this? It's simple, though not easy. You must identify the hiring manager who owns the job. You must make contact. My suggestion is to triangulate -- find one or two people who know the manager personally, and ask them to intercede. (Tell Me Who Your Friends Are.) Ask them to introduce you; to urge the manager to contact you ("Don't let this candidate get away!"); to facilitate a meeting. Having lost a round in HR, you need to win one with a person the manager trusts. (Get Past The Guard.)

The other alternative is to e-mail or call the manager. Be brief. Have something compelling to offer in terms of your abilities. But don't just ask for an interview or suggest that you should be interviewed. Prove that you are worth meeting. How? That's up to you, my friend. If you can't figure it out, you should not make the call. Your presentation must be compelling, because I don't believe in wasting any manager's time. If you're not compelling, then our buddies in HR were right to reject you.

But I say, go for it! (Just be smart and ready.)

Best,
Nick Corcodilos
Ask The Headhunter®

 
  

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