Top Job Search Fails

Hey guys,

So I find myself trying to hire a new employee again. Every time I have gone through this I have seen some things that really stand out and severely affect people’s chance that I will hire them. As I have had multiple friends looking for work in the recent past, and the economy makes it so that anyone of us may be looking for a job unexpectedly, I thought I would put this out there and maybe some of you might avoid making a mistake that could kill your chances at getting hired.

Obviously when applying for a job, the first impression a employer gets is your response to their add or job posting. This should consist of a cover letter and resume. Every employer takes these and selects those people who they think make good interview candidates. I have eliminated more people in this stage for reasons that have nothing to do with their skills or experience than I can count. Let me explain.

When I put out a job posting yesterday, I had thirty resumes in as many minutes by the end of the day there was over 150 resumes in my inbox. It takes an incredible amount of time to go through that many resumes. As such is the case, anything that makes this more difficult lowers the chance that I will take the time to read the resume. With that many candidates, I can afford to be picky about whose resume I review.

The first thing that often gets someone’s resume put in the recycle bin is when they copy and paste the resume into an e-mail response to a job posting. Most often, if you respond to a Craigslist add or other such job posting and you copy and paste your resume into the body of the e-mail, it will not display properly. Most people have their resume formatted in MSWord or another Word processor. While that is not a problem, most times the e-mail program the employer is using does not support all the formatting. So you end up with things completely misplaced or a resume that is jumbled around and hard to read. REMEMBER! I have 150 resumes to go through. If it is hard to read I will just delete it. Take the time to attach your resume so that I open it in my word program that supports most formatting.

On that note, let’s talk about formatting. The simpler the better. The less fancy looking bullets, strange margins and odd background colors you include, the less of a chance that an employer will have trouble viewing it. A lot of people do these things to make their resume stand out from others. Honestly the best way to do that is to make it as simple, concise and to the point as possible. Don’t skimp on things, but don’t tell your life story either. The more that it looks like a professional business letter the better. If you want an example of a perfect appearance, I received one the other day that did it amazingly and I will happily share it with you after I take out the personal info about the candidate.

Next: Proofread. If you cannot send me a cover letter and resume that is grammatically correct, my opinion will instantly be skewed against you. If you can’t spell, get your mom/boyfriend/old kindergarten teacher to proofread it for you. Do not rely on spell check.

Last thing about the resume is this. Take the time to custom tailor your resume to the specific job you are looking for. If I am hiring for a secretary I don’t need a paragraph about your forklift experience. It is just one more thing I have to wade through to find what I want and one more reason for me to skip right over you and go to the next. When I was searching for a job I kept several resumes that were tailored to specific types of jobs that I commonly applied for. When I found one that fit and went to apply, I already had a basic form that only required a little tailoring instead of spending an hour completely redoing it.

Next is the cover letter. This should be short and concise. But it also should be tailored. Take a minute or two to do a little research on the company and then address the specific work you are applying to perform with a brief statement to that effect. This shows you are actually serious about getting a job.

DO NOT respond to a job posting from your blackberry/iphone/driod. These are notorious for misspellings, grammatical errors or bad formatting. Once again, this makes it difficult to read, which leads to…………………the recycle bin.

Now we come to the interview.

If you have even the slightest suspicion that something you wear, say or do might possibly have a negative effect on your interview, don’t let it come in with you. This means if you have a long gotee like me…..cut it off. “But Mike?” you might say, “Why do you have long gotee?” Simple. I ALREADY HAVE A JOB.<=read in retard voice with stupid hand gestures} If I find myself looking for a new one in the future, I will immediately trim my facial hair to, at the least, a short business like appearance if not altogether off. I had a friend asking if she should remove a Tagus piercing before going to an interview. She had many people on Facebook telling her that they thought it should be ok this day and age because it is not that gaudy or uncommon. WRONG! There are still many people in this country that consider anything like that to be unprofessional. You have no idea what kind of person will be conducting your interview. If you miss out on a good job that you were perfectly qualified for because you were too attached to your piercing, and the interviewer was a little old fashioned……well, sucks to be you. But you can feel good that you gave someone else an awesome opportunity. The above mentioned person took my advice, removed her piercing and got the next job she interviewed for. True story. Not saying that my advice got her the job, but I guarantee that her lack of a Tagus piercing did not hurt her chances.

I shouldn’t even have to say this next bit but I have been given blatant proof that many people just don’t have a clue. In short, dress well for your interview. The most casual thing you should wear, even for construction job interview, is a nice, new pair of ironed jeans and a professional looking button up shirt or the female equivalent. This tells the employer that you at least have enough respect for them put on some decent clothes. This should include a nice pair of shoes and a lack of gansta bling or the baseball hat cocked at the perfect angle. Shorts and a shirt are never acceptable.

“But Mike! I want you to hire me fo me. Not some fake ass me all dressed up like I ain’t neva do fo realz” (This actually just happened) Ok. So what you are really saying is that you want the employer assume that you don’t really want a job, you are just looking to fill your application/interview quota so that the government doesn’t take away your unemployment. Or that you simply are so arrogant that you expect me, the employer, to be kissing your feet after the interview and so what you wear won’t matter. You are just that cool. Right. Idoit. Get out of my office.

Be on time. If you have not been there before, leave 30 minutes early so that you have time to get lost, call the company, get directions and then still make the interview on time. Make sure you have contact info for the location you are going to. If you can, drive there the day before to make sure you know how to get there. Plan to show up 10 minutes early.

Do not get something to eat on the way there. Murphy will make sure the you arrive with a giant mustard stain on your shirt if you do. If you smoke, have your last cigarette before the interview prior to leaving. If you can, have your last one before you get dressed. Some people are extremely sensitive to the cigarette smell and the most you can do to eliminate it the better. There are sprays and stuff as well that will help get rid of the odor. And to top it off, if you can do this then Murphy doesn’t get the chance to send you into the interview with a nice cigarette burn on your shirt.

Finally, read the job posting entirely. Employers will often ask for you to bring some type of paperwork or ask that you apply in person or call first rather than sending an e-mail about it. Or they may say that they don’t want any calls about it and you should only respond via e-mail. Failing to follow the posting’s instructions is a great way to not get a job.

I hope this helps some of you. I am always willing to answer more questions if you have them or look over your resume if you would like a professional opinion. I am not HR or an expert on this but I do have a decent amount of experience in this area and would love to help you find employment if you are looking and I can. Thanks for reading.