Biggest mistake when applying for a job
The biggest mistake you can make when applying for a job is to not be bothered to read any special instructions to employer provides.
I had a few interesting responses over the past week to several job positions and freelance tasks and posted on different job boards.
For one job opening about 50% of responders followed the directions. Many of the candidates were very well qualified. With a quick glance at their application I could tell whether or not they really read my post. If they didn’t, they had no chance of winning the project.
For a freelance job opening, the person who “won” the project failed to follow instructions for the test project. Oops.
Finally, I had an opening where not a single responder followed the directions. Kind of sucks because it was a very well paying job for something that wasn’t exactly rocket science. And I spent a decent amount of money on the posting’s placement.
In 2009 I learned a lot about hiring people. Biggest lesson: most people are idiots.
You speak the truth… especially the last line…
Comment by diorex — November 25, 2009 @ 7:31 pm
Most people are idiots huh? Have you met them all Andrew?
Comment by Keith — November 25, 2009 @ 8:47 pm
I had a similar experience. When leaving my last job, I helped hire my replacement. The ad asked for three simple things (resume, live samples of work, social media profiles). We got 74 applications and only 5 included that info!
It was very eye opening for me. It made me realize that the job market isn’t as bad as it might seem, as long as you’re able to follow directions.
Here’s a post I wrote with details about the 74 applicants:
http://www.mickmel.com/blog/200909/how-to-land-a-job-using-craigslist/
Comment by Mickey — December 1, 2009 @ 4:29 pm