Occasionally, the question is asked on how to avoid submitting your resume to the same place where there’s hundreds of others resumes being submitted and losing it to the black hole.

My suggestion was try to reach the hiring manager directly.

But, rightfully so, many hiring manager’s would not appreciate that approach as:

1. You’re not following the protocol in applying, causing perceived negligence to following directions.

2. Hiring managers are busy, and you’ll probably not get a response or the response will be, “apply online” or “speak with HR”.

While I think this can be circumstantial depending on who the hiring manager is, a few other thoughts:

1. Can you find another common thread in your reach out, rather than just sending your resume?

2. Do you share a mutual connection that may be able to open the conversation up for you?

3. Rather than going to the hiring manager, maybe a better approach is someone at a lower level within the organization that you can ask for guidance on how best to approach and express interest.

“When one door is closed, don’t you know, another is open” ~Bob Marley