…you answered the phone and asked me to call you back before you asked who I was.
…you interviewed well but never followed up with a thank you email. Someone else did.
…you asked to reschedule your interview, twice.
…you were running late and didn’t call to let me know. You sent me an email 5 minutes before the interview instead.
…you smelled like alcohol. Not like rubbing alcohol.
…you didn’t know how to explain what good communication meant to you.
…you brought up jobs you had in the past that weren’t listed on your resume.
…you never returned my phone calls or emails.
…you didn’t show up for the interview with my client.
…you lied about the reason you left your last company. I found out.
…you never learned the privacy settings function on Facebook.
…you hung up on me.
These are only a few examples of why people didn’t get the opportunity to get a job. I’m an independent recruiter. I don’t have time to call you and set interviews for fun. If I’m calling or emailing you, it probably means I have a real job to fill.
It’s definitely frustrating being out of work and having people waste your time. It’s also frustrating being employed and having people waste your time.  There are plenty of reasons and excuses for the reasons I listed above. But when it’s your job to find a job and you’re not doing well at it, you’re firing yourself.
Looking for a job is a full time job. The kind of job that you dread going to everyday and slowly eats away at your self esteem. I know what it’s like. Many of us have been there. But if you treat your job search like anything but a full time job, just know you do have something to lose. That something is called opportunity.
When I say looking for a job, I don’t mean posting your resume online and applying for jobs from your computer. I don’t mean spending all day on twitter talking about how badly you need a job. Here are the main criteria in a successful job search:
- Volunteering within an organization that allows you to utilize your professional skill set and develop new professional relationships.
- Networking with other professionals and offering yourself as a resource to assist them in anyway that will allow you to use your professional experiences.
- Researching the market and what others are doing to find work.
- Reading about resume writing, interviewing and networking, on and off line, to make yourself an expert in those areas.
- Ask for advice from everyone you know and share the advice with others.
- Give yourself a work/life balance. Schedule your job search to 40 hours a week and take time for yourself and your family.
All of this is very possible. It takes you to make it happen.
I’m curious…
Would you rather have a job that made you miserable everyday and took up so much time that you couldn’t look for another job?
OR
Would you rather spend the 40 hours a week job searching as if it were your job?
{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
Wow, I can’t believe all those events happened to you! You would think people who are looking for a job, would really like to have one. Out of all of those listed, this one made me laugh…
“…you never learned the privacy settings function on Facebook.”
Hilarious!
Thanks Leif! You’d be surprised how many people think they are serious about their job search but their actions reflect otherwise. It continues to shock me every single day…
It sounds like you can make a whole new blog with the responses you have been getting.
Veronica-First let me say that I love your work. It speaks for itself. Second, your points are on target. Job seekers have to be willing to go above and beyond the call of duty to be gracious, polite, and accommodating to both recruiters and hiring managers. Not everyone has good manners, but I certainly wish they did. You found a humorous way to point to this issue.
Keep up the good work Veronica, I’m most definitely a fan.
Sincerely,
@HRMargo http://linkedin.com/in/margorose
That is a great list that all job seekers need to read! People may say, “Of course, you don’t do that when you want to find work,” but it’s amazing how many people still commit these errors.
Margo – Thank you for reading and for the comment! I also wish everyone had good manners! And the point you made about job seekers willing to go above and beyond is true for them as well as recruiters and HR professionals. (a whole other topic I’ll be ranting about soon!)
Melissa – Very true. I hear the “of course” statement frequently. Sometimes people do things to ruin their chances at opportunities without even realizing it. I hope this helps some people to take a step back and pay attention to their own actions.
You have no serious work experience on your resume (you were a river guide for two years before you started B-school), the economy stinks, you are competing with some very strong candidates for this internship, you (a female) are wearing polyester slacks and a sloppy sweater with snags in it, and you lean back in your chair and demand, “Why should I work for you?”
Gee honey. Maybe you shouldn’t.