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Top job search errors to avoid
So, you are out in the market hunting for a job? Think over these two questions for a minute before you start taking any active steps.
1. What is job hunting?
2. Does job hunting simply mean finding a job for your self?
If you see it in the marketing perspective, job hunting can be viewed similar to selling a product in the market. The only difference here is that the product you are selling is intangible your skills and you have to speak for it yourself.
So, all the preparation that one needs to do before launching a new product in the market needs to be done before you start with your job hunting exercise.
Some of the most common mistakes we land up committing are:
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Kshipra Singh is a co-founder of http://www.careerride.com/, a website that provides answers to the technical and personal questions asked during an interview.
Illustrations: Uttam Ghosh/ Dominic Xavier
1. Going with an un-attractive product brochure
Your product brochure in this case is your CV. You must have noticed that companies design interesting, tidy and user friendly brochures to sell their products/ services.
Products displayed on an un-attractive brochure land up gathering no attention. This holds true for your CV as well.
It is important that you put in ample time and efforts to make your CV interesting and user friendly.
2. Inadequate preparation
Not knowing yourself well: Before you sit to write your CV, it is extremely important to analyse yourself. Think over basic but important things like:
- Your skills
- Your strengths and how can they benefit a potential employer
- Your weakness and what you can do about improving them
- Your likes/ dislikes
- What do you need to do to make yourself a stronger contender for a position?
Answers to these questions will help you in writing an effective CV and facing the interviews.
Lack of research about company: Your effective CV finally got you an interview call but you have not done your homework to research about the company. What's going to happen? You will be looked upon as an un-interested candidate. So, make sure that you research about the company well before going for the interview.
Lack of study about requirement: Studying the requirement is an important part of the base work you do to face an interview. It helps you in mapping your skills and qualities to the requirements for that position and present yourself more strongly.
Unprepared for obvious questions: There are some very obvious questions you can expect during an interview. If you stumble while answering them, it displays your lack of preparation and interest in the position.
Not having examples to back up statements: Making statements without having examples to back them up will be talking hollow. You will be remembered by interviewers not for your statements but for your stories. So, have a lot of examples ready to back up your statements.
Un-attractive packaging: How you arrive at an interview says a lot about you. Make sure that you dress up neatly with a well arranged folder of all the required documents.3. Lack of systematic approach for job hunting
Many people think that applying to the jobs advertised online is all that they need to do to get a good job. If you are one of them, rethink.
Many positions are still filled up through consultants, internal references, advertisements in print media. Make sure that you use every medium to get a good job.
It is not just about getting a job rather it is about getting a good job.
4. Shying away from calling up
Most of us send the CVs for a position and wait for the interview call to come. You will notice that most of the job notifications carry a phone number and the name of a contact person.
You can take a chance to call up the person after sending your CV and try to arrange for an interview. It is possible that they would say "We will get back to you" but there's also a possibility of some people asking you to come and meet straight away.
Don't forget that a lot of people apply for every single position and being proactive can work in your favour.
5. Being an inactive network developer
You might think that networking is a waste of time, but if done properly, it can work to your advantage not just in the short run but also in the long run.
While networking, you will have to be on the giving side most of the time, but in the long run you will see that you have someone or the other always there for you in time of need. And yes, this holds true for job hunting as well.
Also read: Seven golden rules of networking