We’ve been gathering some stats from our unemployed friends (we’ll roll those out in a new post soon), and so far, the ratio of interviews to job offers is simply astounding… in a bad way. We’ve got a ton of talented people running around in their interview suits and getting nothing but sweaty. If business is good anywhere in America right now, it’s in a psychiatrist’s office.

It begs the question: what do you do when you get denied for the job? Can you salvage any part of the opportunity? Should you bang your head against a wall, and if so, does COBRA cover the hospital bill? We’d love to get some input from our readers, but here are 4 tips to get your noggins cooking, because we at UberEmployable believe it ain’t over ’til you get hauled away in cuffs:

1. Re-submit your resume with different keywords. As you probably know, many companies utilize HR software to narrow down their resume piles. As these software tools often implement keyword searches in order to figure out which resumes to keep and which to chuck, it’s possible that your first application didn’t even make it to a pair of human eyeballs. If you’ve gone several weeks without getting any action on the first submission, try tweaking your resume using different keywords that apply to the job, and perhaps even removing ones that may identify you as over or underqualified.
2. Request an interview anyway. If you get a call or email stating that your resume was considered and denied, why not ask for an interview anyway? You’re already being told you have zero chance, so your chances won’t get any worse by requesting a short interview or phone call in lieu of a 45-minute sit-down. Granted, you’ll need to spin a pretty marvelous pitch to rekindle a company’s interest in you, but a little self-promotion sometimes goes a long way.
3. Come back with a lower salary. In any other job market, we would scoff at this notion. But, sad as it is, any job will do for a lot of folks right now. That said, we’re not suggesting you get on your knees and start crossing zeroes off your salary demands. Instead, ask employers to consider a lower base salary paired with an end-of-year bonus, an agreement to a salary review after 90 days, a week extra of vacation, etc. Don’t lay down for them, but get creative enough where you stand out as a candidate who is willing to compromise for the right position at the right company.
4. Offer to work one day for free. This is a favorite of the UberEmployable crew, as there’s nothing more indicative of employees’ competence than having them actually grind out eight hours with their prospective co-workers. Unfortunately, it’s rare for a company to allow for this scenario. Even though you’re only there for a day (and working pro bono, at that), most businesses would still need to ensure that you’ve signed all the disclaimers, gone through the HR training, passed the requisite employment tests… in other words, several days of work for current employees just to let you work there for one. But… you never know. And perhaps the mere mention of that offer could prove to an interviewer that you’ve got cojones, and you’re not afraid to use them.

Got any other bright ideas? And no, crying into a bag of Cheetos is not a bright idea.

“Hello, this is Mitch.”

“Hi Mitch, this is _____. I heard through a mutual friend that you have expertise in social media marketing and were available to consult. Is this a good time for you?”

“I have to apologize actually – my battery’s dying so I’ll have to take down your contact info and get back to you.”

“Your daughter?!?!”

“Pardon?”

“What?”

“My daughter?”

“You said your daughter is dying??”

“Wait, what? Oh no no no… battery. My battery is dying.”

“Oh. Wow.”

Think your first impression beats this one? Leave your story in the comments!

When you’ve finished slumming through all the relevant job board postings for the week – applying to positions that you don’t even want to think about accepting – what else can you do? Well, you could cast your visions of underpaid hum-drummery aside for a bit, and aim for the stars: seek out the companies you want to work for, not just the ones currently hiring. Put some A-grade effort into documenting how you would be an all-star addition to their teams, and then utilize the available tools (corporate sites, LinkedIn, relevant press releases) to get the contact info for the department and supervisor you should be sending your resume to.

We’re big proponents of this proactive (yeah, we just used that word… sorry) approach, for a handful of reasons:

1. It’s not uncommon for companies to be lax in posting new job opportunities, or to be simply unaware that they have a gaping hole in their staff until someone points it out. Just because an employer isn’t looking doesn’t mean they don’t need you.
2. If the company actually does respond positively, you’ve certainly got a bit more leverage than you’d have in other situations, because you’re the one who carved out the job opening in the first place.
3. Applying for an opening that doesn’t exist sometimes means you’ll skip right over the iron curtain that is HR, and get your document to land right smack on the desk of someone who actually gets paid to take initiative.
4. Isn’t it refreshing to be applying to something that actually interests you, and spurs you on to promote yourself creatively rather than fill out yet another cookie-cutter app? It’s a little peace of mind, if nothing else.
5. One of the basic tenets of networking: if you want to be lucky, be opportunistic.

We haven’t come across too many folks who would disagree with the above, but there are naysayers who would claim that what you send to a company in this situation could come off as desperate. Remember that you’ve got to make a big enough impression on your potential employer to get him/her to entertain the idea of adding a staff member… but think twice before you take your enterprising efforts to stalker-ish levels. For instance, writing up a competitive research document to send along with your resume might be construed as threatening or disrespectful rather than enlightening.

Hey, we never said it would be easy. Nevertheless, we’re convinced it should be one more weapon in your job search arsenal if you’re serious about staying on a fast track.

Employer: “What’s most important here is for you to be able to support the full breadth of what I’m doing as the Director. Whether it’s SEO, traffic analysis, or even putting together wireframes and mock-ups, I need you to be my right-hand man. I don’t expect this position to have six or seven years of experience in each area as I do, but I need you to be competent everywhere so I can feel good about passing things your way.”
Candidate: “Great, I have nine years of experience in those fields, so it shouldn’t be a problem.”
Employer: “Oh. I see.”

It’s pretty obvious from that excerpt that I sealed my fate right then and there – would you bring someone into your company knowing they had more experience than you and were going to be more cost-effective? Granted, I’d still answer the same way today (ask me again next month), but that’s because I despise dumbing myself down, not to mention my well-documented history of lacking a speech filter. But is this the path to short-term success?

I suppose it depends on how desperate you are for work. As a candidate applying for a job you’ll be overqualified for, you can often assume the following to be true:

• You’ll be underpaid
• You’ll feel stifled or slowed down by your boss
• You’ll be considered a peer to people who should be your subordinates

Can you handle that? If so, take a really close look at your resume and cover letter for every single job you apply to. Figure out who your supervisor will be and put yourself in his/her shoes. Overqualification is not something employers seek out – especially in this job market. While it has its obvious upside, an overqualified employee often costs more than the position’s market average, becomes quickly frustrated and has a hard time working in a team, and may have little to no loyalty to the company if presented with an opportunity elsewhere.

So, how do you look as qualified as possible without looking overqualified? Here are a few tidbits I’ve passed along to others recently:

• Vague adjectives are your friend. Take my above interview example. I could have just said I had “extensive” experience rather than exposing that I’ve been doing it longer than my potential boss has. Just make sure you keep boasting your specific experience where it counts.
• A rose by any other name… If your last post was Director, and you’re looking at a smaller/less successful company’s opening for Manager, you might try referring to your past position as “Supervisor”. Get me?
• Age is just a number. Are you seeking a position that requires 3-5 years’ experience? Then why would your resume state that you graduated in 2001? Stating the date of your graduation is not a resume requirement – don’t expose yourself. Kudos to my dad for that tip.
• What have you done lately? Candidates with over 10 years of experience sometimes have a tough time squeezing all their relevant positions onto one page, but guess what: the level of interest employers have in your past performance drops off exponentially from your most recent to your least. Nobody gives a crap about what you did 5 jobs ago, and like your graduation date, it shows you’re a little long in the tooth for many positions. Keep the top 3-4 items unless you’ve got something really amazing to dig up from your distant past.
• Be so excited that you just can’t hide it. What’s the tone of your cover letter? Surely you’re not talking about how you lost your last position, but are you coming off as a frustrated individual who thinks he/she deserves the position? Think about what this job would mean to you if you were younger and/or not so qualified. Be excited about the opportunity to learn, grow, blah blah blah. Yeah, makes me sick to my stomach too.

Now again, if someone were to give me this advice, I’d say thanks but no thanks. However, it’s understandable that many of you out there really do need the paycheck much more than the satisfaction of being placed where you can be most effective… and in that case, it might be worth considering doing some experimentation: find several openings for the same job title, and shoot out your usual self-promotion to one half (the control group) while sending a dumbed-down version to the other. If you have interesting findings from such a technique, or if you just want to rail on us for even suggesting this strategy, leave some love in the comment box!