5 Main Mistakes While Looking for a Job

Despite the plenty of vacancies, the number of candidates complaining of the lack of “good job” is not decreasing.

Why? The candidates are the reason: they are looking for the job in the wrong places and in the wrong ways. We have discovered 5 most common mistakes in search of a job and are glad to share this information with you. Well, here are the main mistakes.

More than 63% of candidates write that they are working but open to new offers. As a rule, such specialists are rather careful in their methods of placing their CVs or in the choice of vacancies, not to expose their search on the current workplace. That is why they choose only tried or anonymous methods of search.

This is not always justified. For example, if for old time’s sake the specialist decides to notify only friends or relatives about his or her searches to find a job on the recommendation just like he or she did last time, this is surely a more reliable method than, for example, ads in the streets. But how many vacancies do relatives and friends have in stock? Won’t you have to look for the job for years?

That is why it is better to place your CV on job sites and limit access to it to the certain employers. If it is necessary, you can contact a recruitment agency or a headhunter. You can consider social networks as well. Why not?

I know a lot of experienced specialists who on starting to look for a job simply find their old CV, add a couple of lines about their new job - and it is done. No checking for mistakes, no dates, no information coherence. The employer needs a resume - here it is! And after that, these specialists are displeased with replies to their “masterpieces”. Also, they can copy parts of their official duties into the CV as if to make it more reliable and important.

This is not enough. There must be something special about your CV that will make the employer take the phone and want to invite you to the job interview. How to do it? Very easily. You need to write about the results of your work, describe your achievements. And you need to do it in short, but brightly. Think over, whom the employer is looking for for this position and become such a candidate.

You create a CV on one of the job sites, copy it to several sections and sit down waiting. Familiar, isn’t it? Our verdict is: this is certainly good but too little. To make the CV work, you should not only renew it constantly on all internet sources but also have 2-3 variants of it for different specialties or functional areas if you are looking for a job on more than one position.

Also, you should look through vacancies on specialties that are interesting for you, contact human resources managers of the companies that you consider to be perspective. Believe me, today it is considered as market realities rather than bad manners. In the end, you are not asking for alms, you are looking for new opportunities to apply your skills.

Many employers are surprised when during the job interview the candidate answers the question about the desirable salary with the amount that equals his or her expenditure and doesn’t mention the cost of his or her skills.

This is a common mistake of young specialists. They probably don’t understand yet that the employer is willing to buy not their ability to rent a flat or visit nightclubs, but their skills that will let the company make more money.

Surely, some employers are ready to invest in the candidate’s potential. However, that means the qualified execution of the official duties or active participation in projects, not a simple desire to work.

Certainly, any HR manager would like to hear the real reason why the candidate is looking for a job, instead of the expected “had no career growth” or “got tired of the routine”. However, you shouldn’t dump all the unpleasant details or, what is worse, gossips or complaints on the manager. Of course, you can let yourself speak your mind during the job interview. But there is a huge possibility that you will “weep away” this job.

Why? Because no one likes weepers and gossipers. If you were working in the company “for ages, but never achieved a higher salary and career growth”, there appear certain questions. What did you do to achieve them except asking the boss? Were you really so successful if other people were promoted for years instead of you? That is why before starting to enjoyably picking apart your former or current employer, you should decide if this is really more important for you than getting a job in this company. If so, go on.

Let’s sum up. Employers need energetic and active candidates who are not afraid of taking the responsibility, new fields of work and are ready to grant the result. Such candidates quickly become employees. Try it and you will succeed!