Went to a job fair in Fresno and one booth had a 4 foot stack of resumes on the floor
I stopped by a trade job fair at the convention center in Fresno last Tuesday just to see what was out there. One electrical contractor had a table set up, and next to it was a stack of resumes about 4 feet high that people just dropped off and walked away from. I talked to the guy running the booth for 20 minutes and he said he grabs maybe 5 off the top of that pile because the rest never get looked at. So I asked him what actually works, and he said showing up in person with your license number written on a card beats a resume every time. Has anyone else had luck just walking in and talking to the foreman instead of applying online?
The part about grabbing 5 off the top because the rest never get looked at is real, but walking in and talking to the foreman only works for some trades. In Fresno a lot of those big outfits still route you through the hall or an online portal, so the handshake thing gets you a maybe not a job.