Saturday, May 31, 2008

25 WAYS YOU MIGHT BE SABOTAGING YOUR OWN JOB SEARCH

I found this on The Best Article Every Day and Thought I should share it.
Written by Anthony Balderrama
art.job.search.pd.jpg
When you’re job hunting, you can go mad if you think about the amount of factors beyond your control that affect your chances of getting hired.
The economy, your location, industry trends — even the hiring manager’s mood — can influence whether or not you get a job.
Still, as nice as it would be to blame your lack of offers on external factors, you can’t forget that common denominator in your job hunt — from the résumé to the interview — is you.
Here are 25 ways you might be unknowingly sabotaging your own job search:

The first steps
1. Not keeping track of your accomplishments
When you’re happy with your job, it’s easy to forget about possible future job hunts. You never know when you’ll end up looking for new work, and if you don’t keep a running list of awards, promotions and accomplishments, you might not remember them when it’s time to update your résumé.
2. Leaving on a bad note
As much fun as it is to fantasize about telling off a bad boss, don’t actually do it. Leaving a trail of angry bosses or co-workers will come back to haunt you when you need references.
3. Not networking
If you’re silent about your job search, your friends, family and colleagues won’t think of you when they hear about job opportunities.
4. Only using the Internet
Online job boards are fantastic resources, but you need to do some footwork if you want to increase your chances of finding a job. Contact companies whom you’d like to work for, even if there are no job listings. Not all companies advertise openings online.
5. Only searching for the perfect job
Yes, your job search should be focused. After all, applying to every job posting that comes your way is a good way to waste time but not an effective way to find a job you want. However, if you approach your job hunt unwilling to accept anything less than the precise job title, pay, vacation time and hours you want, you’re setting yourself up for disappointment.
The résumé and cover letter
6. Writing a generic cover letter
If your cover letter looks like it could have come from a word processor template, right down to the “To Whom It May Concern,” don’t bother sending it. Hiring managers look for a candidate who wants that specific position, not someone who sends out applications en masse. Write a new cover letter for each job application and include details specific to that company.
7. Typos
Sending a cover letter or résumé filled with grammatical mistakes and typographical errors shows hiring managers you don’t care about the quality of your work and probably not about the job, either.
8. Including your current work info as the best place to contact you
Making sure employers can get in touch with you is important, but they shouldn’t be contacting you at work. “Potential employers are going to question if these people will search for a new job on their time,” says Kathy Sweeney, résumé writer for the Write Résumé.
9. Focusing on yourself and not on the company in the cover letter
“When ‘I’ is the predominant subject — and there are times when it is the only subject of all the sentences in the cover letter — it indicates to me that they don’t understand my organization and its needs, and, in fact, says they don’t care to know,” says Dion McInnis, associate vice president for university advancement at University of Houston-Clear Lake. “And therefore, I don’t care to know them.”
10. Not targeting your résumé to the position
Just like the cover letter, your résumé should build a case for you to be hired for a specific position. If you’re applying for a financial analyst position, don’t waste space including your teenage stint as a lifeguard.......

4 comments:

Richard Jennings said...

Not sure if this will help you but I just got a job using a job matching site called www.realmatch.com - I work in Telecommunications but Im sure they cover all industries....good luck!

aloted said...

love the new blog look, really cool.

thanks for the tip on job searches..need to digest it in..never know when i'll need it.

enjoy the rest of ur weekend!

The Activist said...

@ Richard Jennings, thanks bro

@ Aloted, you r welcome dearie. Do have a wonderful new Month!!!

webround said...

this week I'll be posting about a job site that only advertises 6-figure (and above)job vacancies...

job search tip - apply for a job even if you don't meet all the advertised skill criteria such as "advert asks for 6 years experience and you have 4 -5 years experience". sometimes, the people who craft the vacancy advert don't really craft the requirements well, and so they don't get people with the listed requirements. they thus lower the requirements internally and select applicants based on this new criteria.

i've seen this happen several times

My Passion, my focus, the change that I want to see in the world - is my propellent factor.

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