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5 Mistakes Most Job Seekers Make

job-search-tipsBy Joey Trebif
Founder, CareerAlley

For every item you need to get right for your job search, there are probably 100 things you don’t want to get wrong. The top 5 mistakes most job seekers make are listed below. Following are a few tips on things to avoid.

1. You Don’t Have a Brand:

Overkill – Your “brand” is critical to your job search, but it should not be your entire focus. Be careful not to go overboard by creating an exhaustive four or five-page resume that highlights every everything you’ve ever done in your career.

You Don’t Have a Purpose – You seem to be “all things to all people” and have not defined a purpose. If you are not focused on who you are and what you want you don’t really have a marketable brand.

2. Too Many Job Search Boards: 

Limit the Number of Sites You Use: If you use more than 2 or 3 job search sites you should consider cutting down.  Depending on the sites you use, most of the major sites have similar (if not the same) job opportunities. You should use:

  • One major site  such as SimplyHired or Indeed.com
  • LinkedIn
  • One site which focuses on your career type

Focus on the Most Recent Opportunities: Most job opportunities are posted and “filled” within a few days.  Set your search criteria to jobs posted within the last 7 days.

3. You Don’t Manage Your Time: 

As you are no doubt aware, job search can be very time consuming.  It’s so easy to go off on a tangent and not accomplish much in terms of your job search. Try the following:

  • Create a job search plan
  • Use the “one a day method” which is submit at least one job application a day through one of the sites mentioned in item #2 above.
  • Balance your time by alternating your job search resource (company career sites, job search boards, recruiters and your network).

4. “More” is not always Better: 

While I strongly believe that the more people who know you are looking for a job, the better your chances for finding a job, I don’t believe that you should use any of the services that “blast” or mass deliver your resume to hundreds or thousands of potential employers. This method is likely to result in your resume looking like spam. Targeted search (applying for specific opportunities) is still the best method. This allows you to personalize your application (by using a specific cover letter) and control the distribution of your resume (what would happen if you current boss was on the mass mailing list?).

5. Your Resume has Errors (or Worse): 

Your resume is your first point of contact with hiring managers and recruiters. If you want to get a chance to interview and ultimately the job, you will need to ensure that your resume is perfect. With all of the competition in today’s job market, anything less that perfection is likely to get your resume tossed.

Spell check don’t always work as planned and grammar checkers even less so. If your resume has basic typographical errors it is highly unlikely that you will get an interview. Even if you’ve checked your resume several times, there is still a chance that you have some errors or have maybe phrased something that could be hard to understand.  The best method for proofreading your resume is to have a friend or relative check it for errors.

This article was written by Joey Trebif at CareerAlley and was republished with permission.

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