THE candidate had worked at a top-notch firm and had just the kind of hands-on experience the job being filled required. She had a solid work history, and her resume touted a roster of achievements.
She never got a call, though. And the reason couldn’t have been more basic: She failed to put contact info on her resume.
There are all sorts of obstacles between you and that dream job of yours – more talented competitors, the roulette moods of company management, market forces hellbent on eliminating the position rather than filling it. So the last thing you want to do is commit corporate hara-kiri by making mistakes human resource staffers say are common among job seekers.
Such self-inflicted wounds make it easy for HR staffers to weed out a majority of candidates. The second they see them, an applicant is often toast.
These common mistakes range from not knowing the first thing about the job you’re applying for to taking “Tell me about yourself” as an invitation for an off-Broadway-length monologue.
Avoiding these mistakes may seem like basic common sense, but even the best and the brightest sometimes slip up, say hiring managers. Sometimes the best way to know what to do is to know what not to do – so read on.
DO YOUR HOMEWORK
To a person, HR workers say their biggest peeve is ignorance. Job applicants often have no knowledge of the company they’ve sent a resume to, no clue about they job they’re seeking, and no notion of what their skills are.
That’s particularly unforgivable in the Internet era, when so much information is so close at hand, says Frank Roche, a partner in the Philadelphia human resources consulting firm iFractal.
“In this day and age, there’s no excuse for not knowing the company you’re interviewing for.”
So access the firm’s Web site and click the “About us” link to get its history and mission statement. Plug their name name into a search engine. Hit job-related message boards for some inside dirt. If it’s a retailer, go to its stores and soak in the atmosphere. Ask your friends what they know about the company, and have them ask others.
KNOW THYSELF
Candidates also project their corporate ignorance by applying for the wrong jobs – and that usually stems from having no idea what their skills are, say HR types.
“The most common mistake is they apply for jobs they’re not necessarily qualified for,” says Trudy Steinfeld, the executive director of NYU’s Wasserman Center for Career Development. “The salary sounds nice. The job description sounds nice. So they apply for it.”
Often the problem is, “They’re not looking at [a job] through their own skill sets,” says Patti McCaig of Buck Consultants, a city HR consulting firm. “People look at it through rose-colored glasses.”
And even if the company does have a job open that’s right for you, they’ll be resistant to your charms because you haven’t done the due diligence to figure that out.
CHOOSE YOUR BATTLES
This round-hole-square-peg problem often results from tossing out resumes like confetti at a parade.
To “James,” the head of HR at a major fashion retailer, who requested anonymity, this tactic reeks of hopelessness, which isn’t a quality companies tend to seek in their employees. And he sees it all the time – some 25 percent of candidates make this error, he says.
“It tells me the person is desperate to find a job,” he says.
The most obvious giveaway that you’re applying for every job under the sun is a cover letter that’s not tailored to the position you’re seeking.
“You can have a boilerplate letter, but you need to tweak it for each job,” says NYU’s Steinfeld, adding that customization is a breeze with today’s computers.
GIVE IT TO ‘EM STRAIGHT
Does it need to be said that lying or even exaggerating on your resume is a bad idea?
Yes it does, say HR execs, who see it regularly – even from high-level candidates, according to Polly Wright, senior consultant with HR Consultants, Inc.
With background checks becoming everyday events, fudging the facts automatically lands your CV in the paper shredder. (By the way, typos don’t help either, so have your resume picked over by a Scripps Howard Spelling Bee champ.)
DON’T PLAY HARD TO GET
But while you’ll want to leave out references to that Rhodes Scholarship you never won, don’t do the same with your contact info. It’s happens more often than you might think.
“It’s probably a daily occurrence,” says Matthews.
And speaking of contact info, don’t get cutesy with your e-mail address.
“If you list hotbunz@hotmail as your e-mail, we’re a little scared of you,” says Wright.
Also, when recording the outgoing message prospective employers will hear when they call, remember that a cellphone ain’t a radio.
“You don’t want to have an extremely lengthy message or two minutes of music playing before it gets to your name,” says Shayne Bernstein, of Hunter College’s career development services.
Last, in case you still haven’t gotten the memo: If you have a MySpace or Facebook page, it will be found and scrutinized. That means deleting embarrassing photos of you bumpin’ and grindin’ at Cabo. And do the same with expletive-filled rants on your blog about why the nation needs a “Ron Paul/Mike Gravel CO-PRESIDENTZY to stop the korporate kleptocrats in there traxxs!!!!!”
CONSIDER THE CULTURE
Job interviews are a tremendous opportunity to seal the deal – or make you an instant laughingstock once you’ve left the building.
Again, a little research goes a long way, says Roche, who estimates that companies eliminate three-fourths of candidates based on whether you’d be a “fit” in the corporate culture. So if you’re interviewing for a position at a highly traditional company like, say, DuPont, it’s best not to come across like gangbusters, he says.
“You can’t go in there and be an agent of change,” he says.
The flip side would be Google. Don’t expect to get a job at a younger, less hidebound company if you roll in wearing a Robert Novak-approved three-piece suit and speaking like the president of Toastmasters.
If you wind up stretching yourself like Gumby to achieve a certain corporate fit, you’re probably doing yourself more harm than good, says David Massey, the director of global talent acquisition at Campbell Soup Co.
“If that’s not the way you behave and that’s not what you believe in,” then it’s probably not a good idea for you to work there, he says.
MIND YOUR MANNERS
Issues of fit notwithstanding, there are rules of etiquette that too many candidates fail to obey, say HR execs. To wit: Unless you’re applying for a clerk’s position at Show World, dressing down won’t get you anywhere in an interview.
“I’ve seen people who literally looked like they rolled out of bed,” says Bernstein.
So dress appropriately, but be neat. Avoid heavy perfume. And if you smoke, burn it up after the interview.
BUT ENOUGH ABOUT YOU
Too many applicants forget that an interview is not a talk show, says James.
“I’ve had interviews where people talked without coming up for air for 45 minutes. I can last for about 10 minutes,” he says. “I think it’s desperation again. People are desperate to sell themselves, and they sell themselves out of an opportunity.”
The flip side is forgetting to listen.
“You’re so busy anticipating what they’re going to ask you, you don’t listen to the entire question,” says Steinfeld, who suggests practicing “active listening” to bone up for an interview. “People feel like they’re not being listened to. It’s a real negative, and it’s a real problem.”
GIVE THANKS
Probably the most widespread mistake people make is failing to write a thank-you note after an interview or to someone who helped them get a foot in the door. Few bother anymore – and it’s a big tactical error, says Richard Nelson Bolles, the author of the seminal job-seekers’ advice book “What Color Is Your Parachute?”
The practice is “dead in terms of job hunting for sure,” he says. “People just don’t think it’s important. And what’s silly about this is that employers think thank-you notes are tremendously important.”