The best way to get a read on if your resume will do well is to be preemptive. Do your homework. Investigate HR sites and see what they consider annoying. You might never know if your “sly compliment” was actually interpreted as a sexual advance… and they will most certainly never say so. If you never knew that “love” was not an acceptable thing to call your interviewer, you might be prone to making that mistake if you were, say, a swashbuckling Englishman with a taste for women and employment. But people still tend to do it anyway. And why? All they had to do was read the blogs of the people that were going to hire them.
You can generally avoid stupid mistakes (or at least big pet peeves) by visiting the blogs and websites of the people who are actually reading your resume and cover letter, the ones who are actually doing the interview with you, and so on. They, like everyone else, tend to spill the beans on the worst of the worst that they encounter. While it may seem only like common sense to not flirt like a drunken sailor, make eyes like a Hooters girl or beg for a job like a junkie searching for his next fix… people still do it.
Hiring managers, also sometimes known as “HR” (they tend to conglomerate together in something called a ‘Department’ and make rules about things and make you watch those awkward videos about places you can’t touch…) are usually the ones to read your resume and call you back for an interview. So, to help you out, I’ll list some of my new favorites here that look at things from the opposite side of the cover letter:
I Hate HR – very well written and concise. A lot of HR-specific content, but good tips and hints here and there to make the read worthwhile for a job seeker.
Not Hired – hilarious doesn’t quite cut it when talking about this site. They find the worst of the worst resumes/cover letters/etc… a definite must-read.
Important Elements of Resume Writing – multiple points of interest in this article in particular, and on a few of the other articles on this site. Good place to get info.
Read through those sites… enjoy it… and then realize the most important thing you can ever realize about job searching: you are your own worst enemy. The HR people… they’re allies in disguise.
Know Your Enemy
You can generally avoid stupid mistakes (or at least big pet peeves) by visiting the blogs and websites of the people who are actually reading your resume and cover letter, the ones who are actually doing the interview with you, and so on. They, like everyone else, tend to spill the beans on the worst of the worst that they encounter. While it may seem only like common sense to not flirt like a drunken sailor, make eyes like a Hooters girl or beg for a job like a junkie searching for his next fix… people still do it.
Hiring managers, also sometimes known as “HR” (they tend to conglomerate together in something called a ‘Department’ and make rules about things and make you watch those awkward videos about places you can’t touch…) are usually the ones to read your resume and call you back for an interview. So, to help you out, I’ll list some of my new favorites here that look at things from the opposite side of the cover letter:
Read through those sites… enjoy it… and then realize the most important thing you can ever realize about job searching: you are your own worst enemy. The HR people… they’re allies in disguise.