After I graduated from graduate school, and returned stateside, I immediately began applying for jobs. I was a job search fiend. Every day I would spend hours poring over the thousands of job listings Indeed.com returned to me. One day, I roughly calculated (based on the number of pages I browsed and the approximate number of listings per page) the number of job listings and descriptions I had reviewed: 3,200. Of those 3,200, I might have applied for 50, and of those 50, do you know how many I actually read—in totality—for the purpose of uncovering information about how I should adjust my resume, or, simply just read? Zero. I was so intent on getting a job that I glossed over one of the most essential steps of applying for a job: actually reading the entire job announcement.
No doubt, Alison Green of U.S. News and World Report, who recently wrote an article enumerating the 10 Tips For Submitting Your Resume, would have scolded me had she known about my unhealthy job application habits. Green’s list of ten things job seekers should keep in mind when turning in their resume to a recruiter covers the gamut, and should not be taken lightly. Below is just a sampling of her tips:
- Follow the instructions—precisely. If, when submitting your resume, you can’t follow the instructions on the vacancy announcement an employer will see such lack of attention to detail as evidence of a hurried, inattentive work ethic. Green adds, “there’s a good chance your resume will go straight to the bottom of the pile, simply because you didn’t follow directions.”
- Send it to the right person. Green suggests that job applicants not only send their resume to the correct address, but that they “[c]onsider tracking down the hiring manager’s email address and CC’ing him or her.” I might add that if information about who will be receiving your resume is available, you address your cover letter to that person.
- Always include a cover letter. As Green implies, including a cover letter with your resume is a cardinal rule: “always submit a cover letter with your resume,” says Green, “even if they don’t ask for one.”
- Update your profile on LinkedIn. Information about your employment history, which can be easily discovered online, should in no way contradict what an employer sees on your resume. Green warns, “If an employer looks you up on LinkedIn and notices different job titles or different dates for positions, they may see that inconsistency as a red flag.”
- Don’t work on your resume or send it out from your current place of employment. Use common sense. Unless there are extenuating circumstances (i.e. good reasons) why you might be looking at jobs during your work breaks, or after the workday has concluded, think about how perusing the Web for alternate employment while at work might appear to your employer. If you openly demonstrate a lack of commitment to your job and employer, it is possible your employer might reciprocate those feelings and deliver to you a pink slip.
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