I know you are eager to get a new job. Recruiters know that too. Yet, all too often job seekers make mistakes that kill their chances of being called for the interview. Here are a few to avoid.
1. Don’t get too personal – not in emails or phone conversations. Recruiters don’t want to know that your daughter just got married or your dog had puppies and flirting will not get you pushed to the front of the long list of applicants.
2. Don’t use gimmicks – cutesy language, texting slang or resume tricks. Keep language professional and use proper sentence structure when writing a cover letter or e-note. Demonstrate your professionalism throughout your communications with recruiters. They will see you as more of a potential candidate for their job, over a job seeker trying to get attention with “roll your eyes” tricks.
3. Don’t be demanding – recruiters hate this tactic and consider it unprofessional. Treating people the way you want to be treated is a good rule of thumb to follow. Be kind, professional, and respectful of a recruiter’s time and work ethic.
4. Don’t lie – or inflate your skills and talents to impress a recruiter. Eventually it will be evident that you have overstated your experience and abilities. This drives recruiters over the top because it makes them look bad to the company who thinks you were misrepresented.
5. Don’t be a stalker – by being a pest. Demanding and too frequent emails or phone calls are annoying to a recruiter and certainly will taint their impression of you. If the recruiter thinks you are a good fit, they will keep in touch – believe me on this one.
6. Don’t be generic – using a cookie-cutter resume format and “fill-in-the-blank” cover letter. Either of these will cause a recruiter to put you in the forgettable pile. Be memorable with strong contextual content in your job search collaterals.
Yes, there are recruiters who themselves do not act professionally. You still need to be impeccable with your words and actions. You will be more successful working with recruiters and won’t end up on the NDC (non-desirable candidates) list if you implement some of the don’ts in this blog.
