Quote of the Day:
“Successful people do what unsuccessful people are not willing to do. Don’t wish it were easier; wish you were better.” Jim Rohn, entrepreneur, author and speaker
If curiosity kills the cat then carelessness and silly assumptions can wreck a job search.
In a world in which value-recruiting reigns supreme, where clients zero in on the potential contributions a prospective candidate can bring to the table, a candidate’s carelessness and faulty assumptions will undermine their credibility.
The carelessness extends from typos on a resume, including misspelling of your own name, an errant autocorrect revision that goes unnoticed, to providing a reference, or several references, who are not employed where advertised so the telephone numbers or work email addresses are incorrect, or worse, the reference confesses that they haven’t spoken in a long time, sometimes years. The latter falls into the assumption mistake category. What have I said in the past about informing your references?
Whatever the reason, these little oops events can do an enormous amount of damage. For an inexperienced/desperate employer anxious to fill a vacancy, they can be overlooked. For an executive recruiter, these should be examined; are these miscues a symptom of a bigger issue? Fair question.
Candidates should take extra care with their resume before they hit the infamous “send” button. Perhaps the first question they should ask themselves is this: are my references in order? This means contacting them before the recruiter calls to remind them about your employment, job title(s) and to refresh their memories about your past accomplishments. You might also tell them about the job you are applying for — scope of responsibility, reporting relationship and performance expectations. The more a reference knows about the position in advance, the better reference can be provided. If you are using a reference that you have not spoken to in six months to a year, or longer, you are making a big assumption that all will come out well and that is the last thing you want to do in a competitive job search.