Thursday, July 30, 2009

Job Seeking Techniques

I am serving on a few search committees for positions at my college and it got me thinking about mistakes people make in the job search process. I also have a Web link later. Let me present the following hypothetical situations that could be reality.
  • Imagine a person applying for a faculty position sending in a 15 page resume. Do you think anyone is going to read it? (Resumes are typically much much shorter, and I doubt Barack Obama's resume is 15 pages)
  • Imagine someone sending a cover letter saying they were looking forward to interviewing...except it lists the name of another college. What does that say about an applicant?
  • Imagine reading a resume for a non-labor position and seeing someone listing their height and weight...why would I care if I were an interviewer?
  • Imagine a resume or cover letter with typographical errors that are so mangled that they are near unreadable at points. Guess what happens to that resume?
  • Imagine a resume arriving for a position that requires a certain degree, and the person doesn't make their degree clear on their resume. Guess what happens to that resume?
  • Imagine showing up for an interview for a highly paid position...in jeans and a t-shirt. What message does that send?
  • Imagine not being on time for an interview...what message does that send interviewers?
  • Imagine being asked about your current job and talking bad about them. Even if it is true, that sends a poor message!
These are all situations that could and do happen. You obviously don't want to be "that person" if you can avoid it.

I saw an article on the Web at some point that details some of the common interviewing mistakes people make, and I thought it might be a decent thing to link.

Link to article

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

"Imagine reading a resume for a non-labor position and seeing someone listing their height and weight..."

I have seen frauds in which the perpetrators were trying to lay groundwork for Americans with Disabilities Act or Civil Rights related lawsuits. An HR person should be trained to treat resumes listing physical attributes, religion, political affiliation, etc. with suspicion.

Anonymous said...

I have two resumes. One that highlights my IT experience and the other that highlights my experience in sheet metal fabrication. I spent months sending out resumes with no answer. One day I looked over my resume and to my horror I realised that I had been sending the IT resume to the manufacturing companies, and the manufacturing resume to the IT companies. Moral: Read your resume over before sending it out, even if you think you know what is written on it.
Don Carter