The 10 Worst Job Hunting Mistakes

7/25/2019 The 10 Worst Job Hunting Mistakes

1/4

The 10 Worst Job Hunting Mistakes

1. Failing to Ask Questions in an Interview

Employers want to hire people who are interested in the company and its specific

business and want to learn and grow within. If, at the end of your interview, you fail to

ask pertinent, detailed questions, it will be assumed that you are not very interested or notprepared. Of course, certain IT jobs require the questionandanswer aspect !like any

engineering or programming openings" but not all of them do, such as the marketing or

data entry. If you ask smart, wellthought out questions, employers will see that you haveresearched the company and really put thought into your interview. It also means their

investment in you will be

It is equally bad to ask questions that are too simple or can be easily answered by reading

the company#s website. $sking when the company started, or where headquarters arelocated, will not score you any points. %repare at least &' questions you truly want the

answers, too, along with follow up questions. $void questions that only require a one

word answer as they leave the conversation at a deadend.

2. Not eing !on"ise

(on#t confuse telling your story with creating your autobiography. )ecruiters areinundated with applications and are faced with weeding out the good from the bad. The

first step involves quickly skimming through submissions and eliminating candidates

who clearly are not qualified. Therefore, your application needs to pass the skim test.

*ook at your resume and ask yourself+

&" an a hiring manager see my main credentials within &' to &- seconds

/" (oes the most critical information jump off the page

0" (o I effectively sell myself on the top quarter of the first page

1any workers are proud of their careers and feel the information on a resume should

reflect everything they#ve accomplished. 2owever, a resume shouldn#t contain every

detail and not everything . 3o be judicious. If your college days are far behind you, does

it really matter that you pledged a fraternity or delivered pi44a The editing step will bedifficult if you are holding on to your past for emotional reasons.

If you were a recruiter looking at a resume for an IT writer, which of the following entries

would impress you more+

5 67rote news releases.85 67rote /- news releases on IT in a threeweek period under daily deadlines.8


2/4

learly the second statement carries more weight. 7hy 9ecause it uses numbers to

quantify the writer#s accomplishment, giving it a conte:t that helps the interviewer

understand the degree of difficulty involved in the task. ;umbers are powerful resumetools that will help your accomplishments draw the attention they deserve from

prospective employers. 7ith just a little thought, you can find effective ways to quantify

your successes on your resume.

#. eing Too $olishe% or &ver'$re(are%

Of course you should prepare questions and e:amples, but a major interview mistake can

be preparing too much. Interviewers can tell if you are too rehearsed or not genuine.

(on#t be afraid to be yourself during interviews. %ractice does make perfect, but toomuch practice can cause you to lose out on employment opportunities.

(on#t be afraid of having answers that aren#t te:tbook perfect. 9e honest and highlight

your achievements. The 6right8 answer isn#t necessarily what you think the interview

wants to hear.

). *sing an *n(ro+essional ,'Mail A%%ress

6$narchy/&/ou

may think your fun email address is memorable, but when a company sees an

inappropriate email name, e:pect it to go go straight into the 6(o ;ot all8 pile and

forgotten minutes later.

3tick with email addresses that contain your name. This way, potential employers can

easily attach your email to your resume and your resume to what a great candidate you

are.

-. lo((/ (ee"h

3peaking correctly, when on the phone with a potential employer or when in an interview,

is just as important as having a typofree cover letter. 9eing an IT professional doesn#t

mean you#re not e:pected to interact with a wide variety of people, even if you have a

lowkey, quiet, 2T1*crunching personality. (uring your career, you will be e:pected totalk to anyone from salespersons to public relations officers, from data crunchers to IT

engineering or writing peers. ;o matter who you are speaking to, you must be able to

speak clearly and concisely. This means leaving out the 6ums8 and 6likes8, not talkingtoo fast or too slow, and using strong, decisive words to get your point across. The

growing influence of the geektechy cultural model on the business world doesn#t mean

that the old social e:pectations will go away entirely.


3/4

Think of the ?oogle model. %lenty of people at the 1ountain @iew company are laid

back and use socialnetwork idioms but they must also be confident and clear enough

vocally to get their &-Atime products some airtime during meetings. (on#t skimp onprofessionalism here.

Bor the interview, remember that you must be able to speak to the level of your audience.>ou should talk to the potential employer with confidence but stay away from sounding

arrogant. It is also important to not speak like a child who is being scolded. (on#twhisper or slur your speech, and remember to take a breath between sentences. 3imple

stuff, but you#d be surprised how many people blow it here.

. Failing to !ustoie 3our !over 4etter

If you are applying to many of the same positions at different locations, it is tempting tocut and paste your cover letter, substituting the appropriate employer name and position

title. 9ut jobseeker bewareC Employers can sniff out a cutandpaste cover letter from a

mile away. If you notice that your departmentofchoice has begun to do work in the ITsecurity counterterrorism field, and you have a - years of counterterrorism, military, or

security e:perience, you can tailor your cover letter to mention it.

9y using a cutandpaste cover letter, you also risk leaving in an incorrect employer by

not thoroughly rereading what you wrote. If you are applying for an IT position at agovernment agency, for e:ample, you might want to double check that you changed the

6(epartment of Energy8 for 6(epartment of (efense.8 9ecause you#d have a hard time

e:plaining away your la4iness.

5. 6e+eren"es 7o Not !he"k &ut

If you are required to provide references for a recruiter or an 2) department, it isabsolutely essential that you select professional, qualified referents.

$n e:cellent reference convinces an employer that his or her trust in your ability to do the

job is wellplacedD a negative, ambiguous, or careless reference will have your employerhitting the escape# button.

The traits of a good referent are straightforward+ they must be credible, and provide a fair

and balanced representation of your skills. They must be eloquent, nonconfrontational,

and emotionally mature. 1ost importantly, you must have spent significant time in a

work environment with them, and you must have directly worked with or for them.

8. Not Having !on"rete ,9a(les

7hen an employer asks about your e:perience in a specific area, have e:amples at hand.

If you have to sit and think about a time you dealt with a difficult patient, and you sit in

silence for too long, an interview might assume that you are unprepared or that you are


4/4

creating a story to tell. %rep for your interviews with a friend or coworker and have them

qui4 you with questions you might get asked at the real thing.

3imply answering 6yes8 isn#t enough. 9ack up you answers with specific e:amples toshow your wide range of e:perience. 9e honest if you don#t have an e:ample, though.

Telling the truth is always better than making up a lie that your employer could learnabout later.

:. *sing $ersonal $ronouns an% Arti"les in 3our 6esue

>our resume and your cover letter are not the same thing. 7hile it#s okay to talk directlyabout yourself in your cover letter, 6I8 should be avoided at all costs in your resume. >ou

resume should be concise, neat, and easy for an employer to read. *ong e:planations for

job assignments and accomplishments are not needed. >ou want employers to learn asmuch as they can about you in one page, and wordy e:planations will just turn the reader

off.

10. Highlighting 7uties Instea% o+ A""o(lishents in 3our 6esue

One of the most common errors is for job applications to give a laundry list of the jobduties instead of pointing out their accomplishments. Employers can usually identify

what your duties were through the job title F they would rather know what you did that

made a difference. 2ow did you succeed at your last place of employment

Instead of 61anaged sales for a website for G years8 you could say 63inglehandedlyorgani4ed G years of economic growth trend records for /-H sectors of website, including

marketing, analytics, and content provider deals.8 Including your accomplishments

instead of your duties will make you stand out in a crowd.

Documents

The 10 Worst Job Hunting Mistakes