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发信人: Entrepreneur (格格蕉蕉), 信区: Jobs
标题: When Bad Job Searches Happen to Good Candidates
发信站: 荔园晨风BBS站 (Thu Mar 11 19:30:34 2004), 转信

When Bad Job Searches Happen to Good Candidates

Ten Common Mistakes Made by Job Seekers
By Laura Gassner Otting, President, Nonprofit Professionals Advisory Group

Each job seeker who comes to me in need of résumé editing or job
search counseling is unique. Each has had a different career and each
carries individual goals for the future. That being said, many of them
make the same mistakes on their cover letters and résumés as they
travel the job search highway.
Here are the ten most common mistakes
I encounter:

1. "Insert Job Here": Most job seekers are looking
broadly at any available position that fits within their interests and
skills set. Therefore, they send out undirected résumés and, even
worse, form cover letters differentiated only by the value in the
"insert job here" space. Spend a few extra minutes to learn about the
organization, and personalize your letter and resume reflecting what
makes your candidacy special.

2. Read and Follow Directions: Does
the application call for a writing sample and a salary history? Are
you being instructed to mail by post all materials, or would the
organization like applications submitted electronically? Job description
writers pay to advertise specific directions for a reason. Follow them.

3. Think About the Message You Send: Rehearse the voice mail message you
plan to leave. Consider a more serious e-mail address. Does your home
voice mail play strange music or have a silly outgoing message? Is
your résumé printed on purple paper? All of these things factor into a
headhunter's first, and indelible, impression.
4. A Poor Résumé: Too
many résumés cross my desk and end up in the trash can. The really
good ones grab my attention and get read, and even better, get forwarded
onto a hiring committee. The really bad ones list tasks and skills,
rather than accomplishments and results. Stop writing about your
hobbies; start writing about the change you brought to an organization
and the constituency it serves.

5. Spell Check: Nine out of ten ré
sumés I have seen claiming that the applicant is "detail oriented" have
a typo on it somewhere. Some of these typos are tricky, like extra
spaces and missing hyphens. Others, sadly, are not. Don't forget to look
over headers and addresses, even your name – several weeks ago I
consulted with a Phylllis who had just sent out a hundred résumés in a
mass mailing – for pesky mistakes.

6. Dream, Within Reason: If
I've seen your resume cross my desk for jobs way out of your range, I
won't be inclined to believe your interest or fit when you apply for
something perfect. Of course you can move into increasingly senior
positions – I spend all day every day helping job seekers do exactly
that – just don't try to skip too many steps up the ladder or you might
become the boy who cried wolf.

7. Know Your Weaknesses: I am always
willing to consider imperfect candidates. No candidate ever has
everything the search committee wants. I'm never inclined, however, to
consider applicants who are imperfect but think they are the best
thing going. If you are missing a key skill or some years of experience,
own the weakness, but then describe how your other skills and
experiences will help you compensate or catch up quickly.

8. Curiosity
is Key: Nothing saddens me more than a candidate who seems ideal at
first, but then asks me no questions about the organization I am
representing. If they aren't curious about the position or the group,
then I begin to second guess whether they are really the right fit. Once
a hiring manager's excitement is dampened, it's hard to get it back.
Note: questions based on the salary or benefits do not count.

9. Thank
You Notes: Call me old fashioned, call me a prig. I like thank you
notes. Thank you letters are the perfect opportunity to remind your
interviewer why you should be hired, or for you to insert into the
equation a key fact that you forgot to mention when you met. These
letters are so uncommon, sadly, that candidates who thank me for
spending time with them stand out in my mind. I become more attached
to them, I campaign for them more vigorously, and they get hired more
often.

10. Get a Second Opinion: Send your résumé to a friend, a
colleague, a mentor or a résumé professional who can give you an
outside perspective. Often, job seekers think that they have been
exceptionally unambiguous about their proudest career moments when, in
fact, their résumés are unclear to anyone who wasn't sharing the
same conference room. An outside pair of eyes will shed light on your r
ésumés' strengths and weaknesses, and help your materials shine.

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