Job search myths exposed

As I’ve spoken with and met with more and more people during my time as a recruiter, it is interesting to see how some of the same sorts of things often pop up during the course of a conversation.

Specifically, people often think about things related to their career and to job searches that aren’t necessarily correct. Here are some of the common myths:

Recruiters get paid to help you get a new job: You don’t pay a recruiter so they’re not working for you. If you are paying a recruiter, you’re getting ripped off. Just like the person selling the house pays the real estate fees, the hiring company pays a recruiter, not the job searcher. Recruiters don’t get paid to help you get a new job. They get paid when they help someone – anyone – get a job with one of their clients. It could be you, or someone else, it doesn’t matter. Their job is to fill the job, not help you get a job specifically. If they help you get the job, great. If it’s another of their candidates who gets the job, that’s great too. Obviously that not great for you of course but the recruiter is happy.

Education can make up for hands-on experience: In my experience mostly as an IT recruiter, this isn’t the case. I’ve lost count of how times I’ve asked someone if they hands-on experience with a particular skill or platform and they respond by saying that they don’t have this experience but they took a course on it or they can learn it. Employers typically want someone who has the experience they are looking for unless such a person doesn’t exist. Taking courses and trying to learn it on the fly often doesn’t cut it.

Offering quantity over quality is preferable: Whether it’s on your resume or in the interview, written or verbal diarrhea – where you go and on and keep talking, hoping that something you say will catch the hiring manager’s attention – is a common way that people lose out on interviews and jobs. Listing every single course you’ve ever taken on your resume or just talking and taking up air in an interview but not actually answering the question that was asked are two common ways that people offer quantity over quality. These rarely help your cause but they often hurt it.

Instructions don’t matter: When applying for jobs, one of the easiest ways to eliminate yourself is by not following instructions. If the job ad asks for a cover letter, send one. If the application process involves answering 5 questions, answer them. If the job application deadline is in two days, try to get your application in the day before just to be safe but don’t miss the deadline. Not paying attention to simple instructions is often a sign to the hiring manager that you don’t pay attention to details.

Spam is good: Applying for 3 different jobs with the same company that have completely different skillsets and experience isn’t a great idea but this is something that happens frequently. I recall cases where I was looking for (as an example) a Network Administrator, Project Manager and Customer Service Representative with a particular client and get people applying for all three jobs even though the jobs should clearly attract different candidates. The thought that there would be someone who would legitimately qualify for all three jobs is absurd and yet people will email their resume over for all three when in fact they qualify for none of them. Typically all three of their emails end up in the deleted folder.

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