Four Mistakes To Avoid On Your Job Application
James Caan CBE
Recruitment Entrepreneur Chairman | Serial Entrepreneur | Investor on BBC's Dragons’ Den (2007-2010)
September is always a busy time of year for job seekers looking to start or build their careers and find their perfect role. Back in my day filling in a job application meant handwriting pages worth of answers on paper but thankfully, in our contemporary society, everything is done online. Of course this makes the process 1000x more efficient but at risk of sounding really old, it can also incur silly avoidable mistakes because people get lazy.
I know applying for multiple jobs can be frustrating but you must always treat every application as its own separate entity and avoid falling into bad habits like haphazardly copy and pasting.
I’ve had some crackers in the past; applicants forgetting to remove the job role or business from the last copy and paste, applicants addressing me with the wrong name, applicants copy and pasting the same paragraph three times, applicants answering the wrong questions…the list goes on.
Here are some of the most common mishaps I’ve come across and why you need to avoid them entirely;
Wrong referencing
For some reason, lots of applicants think employers aren’t going to contact their referee. If you’re one of those people, let me just set the story straight – employers ALWAYS want a character reference. I have never employed a new member of staff without contacting two referees and this isn’t just a quick ‘so, should I hire her?’ call – I’ll spend at least 20 minutes on the phone uncovering your strengths, weaknesses, work ethic, how you deal with pressure and how I should manage you.
Always, always, always check if your referee’s details are up to date and if they are actually willing to discuss how you added value to your previous role. Submitting a wrong reference is an instant turn off.
White lies
Of course you want to impress and you want the employer to think you’re perfect for the job. However, the route to this success is definitely NOT through white lies.
If you only have two years’ experience in the industry yet exclaim you have five, you will get found out. If you claim to have managed a team of ten but it turns out you’ve only managed one person, you’ll get found out. If you say you received awards for your great work yet after a phone call with your boss I find out you didn’t, I’m not going to be impressed.
People always seem to think the experience they have isn’t good enough and make up these elaborate stories to make themselves look a little better. The secret to a good application is illustrating how and where you added value to your previous role and how you can use these experiences to understand, master and better the role, it’s not about how much better you are than everyone else.
Spelling mistakes
There’s no excuse for spelling mistakes, especially if you’re applying online (I mean you have a built in spell check!). You don’t need to be an editorial mastermind to recognise simple spelling mistakes.
Spending an extra 20 minutes checking your application could be the difference between making it to the next stage or not. Sending an application with spelling mistakes, however, could be the reason you’re not successful. Whenever I read an application littered with spelling mistakes I think lazy, no attention to detail, careless. Three attributes you do not want a potential employer thinking about you.
Too wordy
“James, I would love to work with you I think I could learn a lot from you and I would be perfect for the role because I really want it and I’m willing to go over and above to show how much I care about….” Get to the point!!
I want you to show me passion and determination without waffling. An employer isn’t going to read 10 pages of the above. I want to know why I should give you the job, how you’re planning on adding value to the team and what previous experience you have that is relevant and relative.
By this I mean harnessing the power of matching skill and experience. Don’t list achievements unless you can illustrate how that experience is useful for the role you’re applying for.
More often than not, our instincts give us a good indication of how well we have presented ourselves in these sorts of situations but visceral reactions aren’t enough to rely on – avoid these blunders and give yourself a better chance of success – Good luck!
Loan Consultant at AMBELLE FARMERS SAVINGS AND LOANS COOPERATIVE
9 年encouraging
Rev.Pastor United Methodist Church in Cameroon
9 年The four mistakes to avoid on your job application is a fantastic advice to all looking for jobs. I wish all job seekers had the opportunity to read this.
Job adverts, not job descriptions.
9 年Aren't spell checking and editing down the word count a form of white lies? If someone is verbose and bad at spelling, I'd like to know this as early as possible.
EMEA Enterprise Sales Recruiter - Telco - Tech - Finance
9 年Not everyone will talk to you about a former employees strengths and weaknesses for 20 minutes, so that comment is nonsense. Employers don't ALWAYS want a reference either. Are you suggesting that every hire in the history of recruitment has come with a reference? We know the answer is no, so why make that claim? References are usually biased towards or against a former employee, and as result many organisations don't value the data. That is why the process is now often referred to simply as "employment validation" and only the dates of employment are checked. HR departments wont give out information for legal reasons, and most managers would laugh down the phone and hang up, if you had the audacity to ask them how you should manage their former employees. It all sounds great in theory James, but in practice its a very different story.
Superintendent at Angsana Home, Thye Hua Kwan Moral Society
9 年Straight to the pointers. Great article. It just reaches the mind.