Searching for the right job can really get scary, especially if you are fresher. Terrible interviews and weird typos in your cover letter and resumes always make you doubt whether you will ever get what you want.
Well first of all, let us tell you that feeling like that is completely natural. Just take it from professionals like us, mistakes are made everywhere. But you can avoid them. How? Simple! You just have to know the worst mistakes that most job seekers make.
Avoid all of them when you are at an interview or trying for a job. And there! You will be free of all worries in seconds.
Scary Mistakes Job Seekers Make:
1. Horrible errors on the resume:
Your resume is important. That is the first thing every interviewer will look at before they ask you questions or call you for an interview.
So make sure to have your resume good with all words written properly. Plus a lot of resumes lack quality and good content. It is often called skeletal resumes.
A lot of people make the mistake of not caring about what they put in their CV. Don’t let yourself fall into that category.
Make sure the resume has good details and explains your skills and qualifications in the best way.
2. Don’t send your resumes to everyone:
Another scary mistake a lot of freshers make is sending everyone in the company their resumes. If it is one company, you should contact one person and give only that individual your resume.
Even though some people would like to think being aggressive is good, it could come across as desperate and overall… very annoying.
So when you are trying to land your job, keep it to just one person in the company.
3. Let your guard down once you have nailed it:
Now once you have nailed the job, celebrate! But don’t become complacent at all. Do remember that no job is permanent.
You have to keep your resume up to date and never give up on networking. It has got you a long way and definitely will in the future.
In that way you won’t be going into that dark and scary room next time you have a good opportunity and a better job.
4. Throwing your hands up in the air and quitting:
This is a popular mistake a lot of job seekers make. They give up too fast, especially when the situation is so temporary.
If you haven’t been lucky enough to nail the job of your dreams, it is time that you change your luck and try a couple of new things.
There are other tips in the same post you can try out in order to start off from a new foot.
5. Not using social media:
If you have the misconception that being a private user is helpful and that staying invisible like the cloak in Harry Potter is going to be helpful, then you are entirely wrong.
Go ahead and seize the opportunity and let him know what you can offer through social media. Start off by updating your status on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and Google.
This will show your expertise to build a new team of networks where people can start liking your works and trust you again.
6. Unable to remove errors:
Mistakes always ruin your chances of getting the job. This also includes ill advised posts online that will make the manager have a bad impression of you.
Typos and other silly mistakes also fall inside this category. You talk about how detail oriented you are and yet send a resume that is of very poor quality with mistakes peppered all over? It is very unlikely that you will get any jobs in that case.
If you are applying for jobs where you need very little supervision, then make sure to remove all those inappropriate posts online.
Try to dress yourself and present in such a way that only a good impression will be made.
7. Scaring off people who are going to hire you:
Another mistake people made while seeking for a job is scaring the hiring manager. Just because you have the right to apply for every job, doesn’t mean that you should.
Don’t behave like a kid who grabs candy just because it is there. You should be selective and only apply for those jobs you think you are capable of handling.
Whenever you are trying for any kind of job, recruiters and hiring managers will always notice if you are unfocused and they will lose interest in you. In that way, you will have lesser chances of getting the job.
8. Not preparing to answer all important questions in an interview:
If you want to win a contest that is competitive, you will prepare all answers before going there. Planning in advance is very important for all kinds of interviews.
You have to practice whatever you are going to say. If they are looking for someone who has special skills, you should be able to explain how good you are to fit into that role.
You should be able to tell them all past experiences where you have been a good example. Use those stories to prove how capable you are.
9. Creating a resume of the past and not of the future:
Another mistake we have noticed quite often is creating a resume of the past. Please be sure to not mummify your skills. The resume is often considered as a marketing document.
It is definitely not a record of things you have done in the past. What you have to do is ensure you have made clear connections between what you are keen on doing next and the accomplishments instead of going over and over again on the past history.
If any of you have done this in an interview and still haven’t got a job, probably this is the place where you need to change.
10. Not keeping up with the contacts:
There are plenty of job seekers who are guilty of not keeping a track of all those people they met while networking. These people could influence their search in some way or the other.
When you meet someone who has shown a bit of interest in you and would like to provide you with a couple of sources, make sure to keep in touch with them all.
Mail your contacts and speak to them every now and then. Keep yourself up to date of what is happening around you and you will be more likely to hear from them if the opportunity arrives.
11. Not sharing the thrill:
When you are in search of a job, make sure to tell everyone about it. This includes your friends, family, previous teachers, friends’ parents etc.
Even if their companies are not recruiting this moment, they could still know someone who can help. It is highly important that job seekers don’t overlook some of the most obvious things. That would be huge mistake.
12. Not looking at the short term goals:
Temporary to permanent roles are a very easy way for every candidate to get into a good company. If you think it would be the right fit, then try to dedicate the hours that are required to excel in the role and potentially be brought on full time.
On the other hand, there are such roles that can allow you to determine if the job happens to be a good fit without any kind of serious repercussions.
Another good perk could be professionals could try a test drive into the new industry and see how things are going.
13. Ask everyone:
Never stop! Always allow your community of people to expand more and more. Go and ask your previous co workers what they are doing.
Or speak to your college guides and professors. Try to learn about new sources from them. Anyone belonging to any stage of the career can help you build a better network.
14. Thinking you are invisible:
A lot of people lose their chances because they think they are invisible and their bosses don’t check their profiles. So putting up inappropriate pictures is absolutely normal.
If that is you, then stop right away because that is a horrible mistake you could be making as a job seeker. It will ruin your chances of getting the job.
Conclusion:
This brings us to the end of the list of scary mistakes job seekers make. Seeking for a good job is hard and we completely understand. But if you avoid these mistakes, you will definitely find something worthwhile.
If there are questions you would like to ask us or in case there are comments you would like to post, feel free to leave a comment below. We would love to get feedback from you.
On that note, good luck.
