Finding a good job is tough. You have to send out dozens
of resumes, connect with your network, say the right things, spin around three
times, and then pray really hard that the interviewer likes you enough to score
an interview. But sometimes, no matter how hard you try, your interviews go
nowhere. Weeks turn into months, and despite your best efforts, you’re still at
square one. If your job hunt has been taking longer than usual and your search
seems to be leading from one dead end to another, the sobering truth is you may
be causing your own misfortune. Here are some the biggest mistakes that could
result in you being placed on the “no hire list.”
1. Showing up in a bad mood: No matter what happened to
you immediately before the interview, and no matter how tiring your job search
has been, don’t come to the interview with a sour attitude. No one wants to
work with someone who is always scowling and complaining. Your interviewer
cares about your skills, but he or she also wants to work with someone who
won’t negatively affect team morale.
Corporate trainer Chavaz Kingman said if you want the
job, you’ll have to fix your attitude. “One thing people don’t often think of
before a job interview is the mood they are in. If you have friends or
relatives who are not your greatest cheerleaders, then don’t speak to them
before the job interview. You want to be as uplifted and as focused as
possible. Get rid of the negative voices before walking into the interview,”
Kingman told The Cheat Sheet.
2. Being unprepared: Before you go to your interview,
make sure you take care of the basics. It’s not enough to wear a new suit and
have perfect hair. At the very least, you should know some information about
the company as well as a few things about your interviewer, such as his or her
work experience. Life and career coach Maggie Reyes said preparation is as
simple as doing an internet search. It only takes a few minutes to look this
information up on the corporate web page. “Well-prepared candidates review the
company website. If they know who they will be meeting, they look them up on
LinkedIn or Google and learn about their interviewer. They prepare questions
about the role and the company ahead of time and ask intelligent, relevant
questions during the interview,” Reyes told The Cheat Sheet.
3. Disregarding the phone interview: Don’t take the phone
interview lightly. Your success or failure could determine whether you are
granted a face-to-face interview. Just because the interview is over the phone
doesn’t mean you don’t have to prepare. Do your best to sound enthusiastic and
do enough research so that you can ask and answer a variety of questions.
“Candidates should never discount a phone interview as just a screening call.
Today, many employers conduct a series of phone interviews before inviting
candidates to meet in person. It’s important to prepare for a phone interview
just as you would for an in-person meeting,” Annette Richmond, a former
recruiter and founder of Career Intelligence Resume Writing and Career
Services, told The Cheat Sheet.
4. Not reading the job description: Applying blindly to
every job you see won’t get you very far. Take time to thoroughly review the
job description and think about how your skills match what the employer is
requesting from candidates. Reyes said analyzing the description and reviewing
how you can deliver on the employer’s request may help you not only sell
yourself but also answer tough questions during the interview. “Prepared
candidates review the job description and make notes about what portions of
their experience are transferable to the role they are applying for. Those
notes may or may not come up in the interview, but it helps to be prepared. If
there is any part of your experience that isn’t immediately obvious in the resume,
but is highly relevant, make a note of that so you can bring it up organically
during the conversation,” advised Reyes.
Courtesy: The Cheat Sheet.
No comments:
Post a Comment