Reference no: EM132161724

Terry J. Lundgren, CEO and president of Macy's, was asked, “[Do you have] any job-seeking advice for college grads?” Here's what he had to say:

Use whatever contact you have to try to get your résumé read. That's the most important thing—just to get it in front of people. Because we're all flooded with, of course, thousands and thousands of résumés in a company of our size, and getting your résumé read is not an automatic. And so do what you can do to get it in front of the people who matter who will read it. It's not the CEO typically, by the way; it's the HR person or the head of recruiting or head of training or whatever. Third, don't stop there. Don't just do it online, because it's easy to do it online. Do it online and then put it in an envelope and send it to the top company that you're interested in pursuing. And then follow up with a phone call, and talk to the assistant and say: “I just want to make sure that my résumé's getting read. I'm very interested in your company, and it's really important to me. And I just want to know—can you give me advice?—is there anything that I can do to get my résumé in front of your boss?” Whatever you have to say, just to show the most important thing—that you're hungry. And to convince them, maybe you use a little of your acting skills. And I'll probably relate it to college dating—you know, use a little, “I'm really interested in you”— to say: “This is the company I want to work for. Yours is the company that I want to work for.” And then once you get, hopefully, more than one opportunity, you're back in charge to say, “Where do I want to go and where do I want to work.”31

Based on Lundgren's comments and please include your own real-world perspectives and experiences, respond to the following questions:

1. Explain what Lundgren means by showing “you're hungry” for a position. Describe ways in which you can show hunger in a positive way. How have you done this in your past experiences?

2. What does he suggest about the effectiveness of relying exclusively on electronic means to submit job applications? What combination of communication channels do you consider optimal for gaining a job of interest? Any stories from your own life on what worked and didn't work when you used electronic submission practices?

3. He suggests that you should view the process like dating. In what ways does this analogy make sense to you? Explain.