I really want to help people out there to get hired. I think it might be beneficial as the CEO of my company, who makes the final hiring decisions, to share my experiences while I search for candidates for my open positions.
I cannot stress enough, if you get called for an interview, please do your homework. Let’s say you sent a great cover letter and resume. You got that call you have been anticipating. The interview is set up for next week. Do your homework–research the company’s website, corporate culture and what they are most passionate about. Are there any past articles that you can view online to give you any further insight into how you can be the inspiring candidate that stands out among a sea of resumes? After interviewing I have heard a few typical excuses/pitfalls that I would like to share with you to help you avoid them yourself.
• When I asked him if he had visited our company’s website he said he was too busy to check it out. Here’s the thing-why are you interviewing for a job at a place you know little about? It’s like picking up a dress off of the rack and not looking at the dress size. How do you even know if you are the right fit or if you would be happy there?
• I asked her if she had any printed materials to demonstrate her ability to write, sell, or be organized? The typical response is my computer broke, or I was out of town and I just got in. But upon further probing, she really just didn’t have anything that represents her work. So tell me again, how have you convinced me that you can really do the work?
• Don’t provide personal references. They are of no value to me unless they are from a credible business setting. I’m sure your BFF is cool but my time is limited.
• I had a person state they didn’t check out our website prior to the interview then proceeded to surf the net to read the website during the interview. This is not the time to decide you need to do some research. I can’t evaluate whether you can perform the job duties if you are unaware of what type of business I am in.
• Read the entire job posting before you send your materials. I can’t tell you how many people really don’t read the entire posting, send a resume, and then question the job details. This gives me the impression that I am just another business you sent your resume to and you sent out 50 today. Slow down and check out the details.
Overall, it’s really easy to stand out as a great candidate with a little effort by avoiding the pitfalls of the above. It would be better to spend 5 minutes prepping for 10 good job interviews rather than spending countless hours on interviews that go nowhere. I believe you are a great candidate and care about your work or you wouldn’t be reading this post. I wish you much success in your job search.