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The 10 Worst Job Hunting Mistakes

1. Failing to Ask Questions in an Interview


Employers want to hire people who are interested in the company and its specific
business and want to learn and grow within. If, at the end of your interview, you fail to
ask pertinent, detailed questions, it will be assumed that you are not very interested or not
prepared. Of course, certain IT jobs require the question-and-answer aspect (like any
engineering or programming openings) but not all of them do, such as the marketing or
data entry. If you ask smart, well-thought out questions, employers will see that you have
researched the company and really put thought into your interview. It also means their
investment in you will be
It is equally bad to ask questions that are too simple or can be easily answered by reading
the companys website. Asking when the company started, or where headquarters are
located, will not score you any points. Prepare at least 10 questions you truly want the
answers, too, along with follow up questions. Avoid questions that only require a oneword answer as they leave the conversation at a dead-end.
2. Not Being Concise
Dont confuse telling your story with creating your autobiography. Recruiters are
inundated with applications and are faced with weeding out the good from the bad. The
first step involves quickly skimming through submissions and eliminating candidates
who clearly are not qualified. Therefore, your application needs to pass the skim test.
Look at your resume and ask yourself:
1) Can a hiring manager see my main credentials within 10 to 15 seconds?
2) Does the most critical information jump off the page?
3) Do I effectively sell myself on the top quarter of the first page?
Many workers are proud of their careers and feel the information on a resume should
reflect everything theyve accomplished. However, a resume shouldnt contain every
detail and not everything . So be judicious. If your college days are far behind you, does
it really matter that you pledged a fraternity or delivered pizza? The editing step will be
difficult if you are holding on to your past for emotional reasons.
If you were a recruiter looking at a resume for an IT writer, which of the following entries
would impress you more:
Wrote news releases.
Wrote 25 news releases on IT in a three-week period under daily deadlines.

Clearly the second statement carries more weight. Why? Because it uses numbers to
quantify the writers accomplishment, giving it a context that helps the interviewer
understand the degree of difficulty involved in the task. Numbers are powerful resume
tools that will help your accomplishments draw the attention they deserve from
prospective employers. With just a little thought, you can find effective ways to quantify
your successes on your resume.
3. Being Too Polished or Over-Prepared
Of course you should prepare questions and examples, but a major interview mistake can
be preparing too much. Interviewers can tell if you are too rehearsed or not genuine.
Dont be afraid to be yourself during interviews. Practice does make perfect, but too
much practice can cause you to lose out on employment opportunities.
Dont be afraid of having answers that arent textbook perfect. Be honest and highlight
your achievements. The right answer isnt necessarily what you think the interview
wants to hear.
4. Using an Unprofessional E-Mail Address
Anarchy212@gmail.com doesnt exactly give off the impression of a serious person
looking for a job in the IT securities field. A silly email address makes potential
employers think that you dont take your job seriously and that you may act similarly on
the job. Just like your resume, your email says a lot about you, and if its particularly
weird, it will be taken into consideration with the rest of your accomplishments. You
may think your fun email address is memorable, but when a company sees an
inappropriate email name, expect it to go go straight into the Do Not Call pile and
forgotten minutes later.
Stick with email addresses that contain your name. This way, potential employers can
easily attach your email to your resume and your resume to what a great candidate you
are.
5. Sloppy Speech
Speaking correctly, when on the phone with a potential employer or when in an interview,
is just as important as having a typo-free cover letter. Being an IT professional doesnt
mean youre not expected to interact with a wide variety of people, even if you have a
low-key, quiet, HTML-crunching personality. During your career, you will be expected to
talk to anyone from salespersons to public relations officers, from data crunchers to IT
engineering or writing peers. No matter who you are speaking to, you must be able to
speak clearly and concisely. This means leaving out the ums and likes, not talking
too fast or too slow, and using strong, decisive words to get your point across. The
growing influence of the geek-techy cultural model on the business world doesnt mean
that the old social expectations will go away entirely.

Think of the Google model. Plenty of people at the Mountain View company are laidback and use social-network idioms but they must also be confident and clear enough
vocally to get their 15%-time products some airtime during meetings. Dont skimp on
professionalism here.
For the interview, remember that you must be able to speak to the level of your audience.
You should talk to the potential employer with confidence but stay away from sounding
arrogant. It is also important to not speak like a child who is being scolded. Dont
whisper or slur your speech, and remember to take a breath between sentences. Simple
stuff, but youd be surprised how many people blow it here.
6. Failing to Customize Your Cover Letter
If you are applying to many of the same positions at different locations, it is tempting to
cut and paste your cover letter, substituting the appropriate employer name and position
title. But job-seeker beware! Employers can sniff out a cut-and-paste cover letter from a
mile away. If you notice that your department-of-choice has begun to do work in the IT
security counter-terrorism field, and you have a 5 years of counter-terrorism, military, or
security experience, you can tailor your cover letter to mention it.
By using a cut-and-paste cover letter, you also risk leaving in an incorrect employer by
not thoroughly re-reading what you wrote. If you are applying for an IT position at a
government agency, for example, you might want to double check that you changed the
Department of Energy for Department of Defense. Because youd have a hard time
explaining away your laziness.
7. References Do Not Check Out
If you are required to provide references for a recruiter or an HR department, it is
absolutely essential that you select professional, qualified referents.
An excellent reference convinces an employer that his or her trust in your ability to do the
job is well-placed; a negative, ambiguous, or careless reference will have your employer
hitting the escape button.
The traits of a good referent are straightforward: they must be credible, and provide a fair
and balanced representation of your skills. They must be eloquent, non-confrontational,
and emotionally mature. Most importantly, you must have spent significant time in a
work environment with them, and you must have directly worked with or for them.
8. Not Having Concrete Examples
When an employer asks about your experience in a specific area, have examples at hand.
If you have to sit and think about a time you dealt with a difficult patient, and you sit in
silence for too long, an interview might assume that you are unprepared or that you are

creating a story to tell. Prep for your interviews with a friend or co-worker and have them
quiz you with questions you might get asked at the real thing.
Simply answering yes isnt enough. Back up you answers with specific examples to
show your wide range of experience. Be honest if you dont have an example, though.
Telling the truth is always better than making up a lie that your employer could learn
about later.
9. Using Personal Pronouns and Articles in Your Resume
Your resume and your cover letter are not the same thing. While its okay to talk directly
about yourself in your cover letter, I should be avoided at all costs in your resume. You
resume should be concise, neat, and easy for an employer to read. Long explanations for
job assignments and accomplishments are not needed. You want employers to learn as
much as they can about you in one page, and wordy explanations will just turn the reader
off.
10. Highlighting Duties Instead of Accomplishments in Your Resume
One of the most common errors is for job applications to give a laundry list of the job
duties instead of pointing out their accomplishments. Employers can usually identify
what your duties were through the job title they would rather know what you did that
made a difference. How did you succeed at your last place of employment?
Instead of Managed sales for a website for 7 years you could say Single-handedly
organized 7 years of economic growth trend records for 25+ sectors of website, including
marketing, analytics, and content provider deals. Including your accomplishments
instead of your duties will make you stand out in a crowd.

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