Great job-hunt advice...and marketing advice, too!

I'm tempted to leave this post up on top for a week, I think it so compelling. This recent newsletter from the SitePoint Tribune: tells you how to sell yourself when looking for a job, from someone trying to hire marketing types. Here is the jist of the article:

I couldn't care less about the applicant's qualifications (unless they can show me how those qualifications will make me money).
...
Out of the 140 applicants, only two addressed the application to "Brendon Sinclair, Executive Director." The rest were to "Whom it may concern", or "Dear Sir/Madam."

Naturally, those two applicants who addressed the letter personally got an interview. And it was simply because they showed initiative enough to figure out who the Executive Director was. It was right there on the Website -- that's pretty basic stuff.

In an interview, everyone says almost exactly the same thing. It's almost impossible, in my experience, to get a straight answer to any question in an interview.

The applicant is not going to say, "Actually, I don't think I'm the best person for this job. I'm quite lazy, frequently dishonest, and usually insolent."
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But of our 140 applicants, only two actually demonstrated any initiative. And the best indicator of future performance is past performance.