This article will help you find the top Five Avoidable Mistakes Committed by Job Seekers so that you keep a check on them while you step out for a job hunt
Last quarter we were working on a major recruitment assignment to help our client setup their leadership team. As a part of this assignment we ended up hiring for more than 10 mid and senior level positions. As the part of this selection process we have received more than 5000 application, conducted 100+ interviews of shortlisted candidates. This includes candidates from premier schools like IITs and IIMs, HR Leaders (one of the position was Director HR) and even Marketing Heads of leading companies. Despite of this we came across the below 5 common mistakes which as a recruiter you feel candidates can easily avoid.
1. Applying the Job without Reading the JD
Thanks to the online job search platforms all it take is a just a tap on your smartphone to apply for a job. However the same has resulted into lot of irrelevant and un-matching applications. This is an outcome of not reading the JD before you decide to apply for the job. Even by the stroke of luck (or if recruiter fall asleep while going through the tones of applications) if you get shortlisted there are chances that you would get easily eliminated in the interview.
On the other hand as job seeker applies to multiple jobs at a time when recruiter approaches they have no clue about the job he is talking about!
2. Cover Letter Please!
80% of job applications we received did not have a cover letter attached just because candidates are in too much of hurry to apply for the job. This even includes a job of Marketing Head! If you can’t market yourself don’t except a shortlist for a job which requires you to market something else.
Rest 20% of those who bother to attach a cover letter almost half of the cover letters were generic and non-relevant to the jobs. Quarter of them were too short or too long. So all you left is 3-5% job seekers whose application you can take seriously.
3. Curiosity Kills the Cat
Sometimes candidates cross the curiosity line and start following up for the outcome and telling how they are really made up for this job. I even came across a candidate who used to call me post 10PM to find out his shortlisting status! Always remember your desperation is not going to expedite the decision making but can impact your chances of landing a job!
4. Know About the Employer
No employer would like a prospective hire who has little or no clue about his business. Most of the candidates take their interviews too casually and don’t bother to even find out bare minimum information about the employer.
However strong your candidature might be, if you don’t spend time knowing about the employer and his business don’t expect the employer to take you seriously.
5. Attending the Interview from Your Office
Think twice before your choose a corner of your office or a conference room to attend a telephonic/Skype interview. First up all, you would always be worrying about getting caught and same reflects in you state of mind during the interview. Secondly even if you get unnoticed by your kind boss your prospective boss would think that you would do the same in your new job. We had couple of instances when Skype was disconnected by candidate because someone accidentally came in the conference room/cabin.
If you closely observe, all of the above mistakes can be easily avoided if you just take some extra care and add some seriousness to your job hunt. Most of the candidate end up committing them either because they are too casual or over desperate about their job search which is sure shot recipe of their rejection.
About Career Corner
Career Corner is a career services company aimed at helping students and professionals to make RIGHT career decisions. Our assessment, counseling, coaching, mentoring and training programs aimed at helping individuals to discover and develop their careers. We can be reached at www.careercorner.in
About the Author
Business Leader with 10+ years of diverse experience across Strategy & Operations. Worked across industries (Automotive, IT Services, Management Consulting, Education) and geographies (India, USA and South East Asia).
A social entrepreneur at core who started his first social venture SPANDAN at 22 at COEP. Under SPANDAN, TMI and Career Corner conceptualized and developed innovative approaches for solving education and employment challenges by youths. Currently heads Career Corner a career services company aims at helping students and professionals to build their careers.
Rushikesh holds Bachelor of Engineering from COEP (Pune University) and MBA from IIM Ahmedabad.
This article is one of any articles that he has written and posted on his Linkedin Profile
