As economic pressures mount, employers and
executive search firms will become more selective about
who they invite to serious interviews. Recruitment and
selection costs will be even more under scrutiny, since
mistakes are costly and not easily rectified.They will
have to choose the best candidate available from a field
that might include applicants who perform well in
interviews, without offering the substance necessary to
fill a particular job.
How
you, as a candidate, performs in
this process, significantly affects your chances
for success. Often, potentially good
candidates make mistakes that can cost them
their, otherwise, good chances. Without wanting
to sound depressing, in a challenging economic
environment, that might kill one of the few
opportunities, which could come your way.
In order
to help you, we have selected a number of
key mistakes, candidates make in their
relationship with the human resources manager or
the executive recruiter. Avoid them, and
you improve your chances.
Ten Mistakes that can kill your Chances
of getting the Job
1.
Do
not write a ten page resume.
No one is interested in the details of what you
have done 20 years ago.Singing in the Church
Choir or having been a Boy Scout leader is, at
best, peripheral to the job. So don't mention it!
Write a short and "to
the point" resume that has all the
essentials in it. Name and address of former
employers, the job title of the person you
reported to, your own job title and from when to
when you worked for that company, your
responsibilities and your direct achievements, if
any, all on two pages maximum.
2.
Do
not create your resume and other documentation in
some obscure format that no one can read, or
open, that is "deadly".
Use MS Word (.doc), Adobe (.pdf) or rich
text format (.rtf), if you
send the application electronically. Remember if
it cannot be opened by the receiving person it
will end in the bin. He or she will
not come back to you!
3.
When you
state in the resume what your objectives are, be
specific. No one caresabout a general statement of
objectives, such as "I
am a self taught hardworking executive prepared
to contribute to the profitability of the
company". Most HR professionals and
executive recruiters have read the same statement
hundreds of times and are not interested in it!
4.
Do
not write a rambling cover letter
exhibiting all your virtues. It will inevitably
end up in the bin, since no one is interested.
Keep the cover letter short and to the point!
5.
Don't
introduce yourself to an executive recruiter by
saying "I received your name through a
mutual friend".Executive
recruiters are usually, even under present
circumstances, quite busy and have to put up a
firewall between themselves and calls from
unwanted applicants. Remember, the
executive recruiter works primarily for himself,
secondarily for the client from whom he has the
assignment and very lastly for you, the
person wanting a job!
6.
When the executive
recruiter or the human resources manager of a
company invites you for an interview, don't get
"verbal diarrhea".Be prepared and reply clearly and
to the point! Don't wander off into peripheral
areas!
7.
When you
are being interviewed for a specific job, make
it known to the person interviewing you, after
you have listened to him, that you are interested.
Don't pretend not to be interested and
think this preserves your negotiating power, it
does not. Employers are not looking
for disinterested people!
8.
After an
interview, do not call an executive
recruiter or employer without a real reason.
Just a friendly inquiry or leaving a message to
call back without any clear purpose, is an
instant "red flag"
to the recruiter that you are desperate, not
keen, but desperate!
9.
Some people
think they have to repeatedly phone the hiring
executive and ask what the status of their hiring
decision is. Do not phone the hiring
executive and ask about the status of your
application. The prospective employers
will tell you, when they are ready. Remember,
they are the people offering the job, you
want the
job.
10.
Never
talk badly about your former employer,
even if you had deep disagreements with him, and
even if your criticism was justified. It is an immediate
turn-off for your future employer or for any
executive recruiter.
Getting a job is about presenting your
relevant abilities in the best light. The emphasis here
is on "r e l e v a n t".
Other abilities, while laudable and worthy, do not play a
part. Also, remember that there are always two sides to a
coin. The side you present and like (why else would you
present it?), and the way the executive recruiter, or
future employer, wants to see it! Often, what is positive
to you, might be questionable from the point of view of a
future employer.
