Once Bitten, Twice Shy, Third Time Stupid
By:
Edmund
Ng
Over the years in recruitment, I have seen many job applicants
make the same mistake again and again. This is a fatal mistake that
I feel need to be addressed. These are the list of things that you
should not do in the event of applying for jobs.
Do not spam the HR executives
A lot of desperate job seekers had been committing this same
mistake. If you visit the yahoo groups, you will realize that some
of the members are so helpful that they list out all the email
addresses of the HR executives and headhunting/recruitment firms. It
is really scary as the list comes in hundreds and thousands. Not
surprisingly, my email was included in it as we're in the
headhunting business as well.
Guess what happens when the hr executives receive your email. Count
yourself really lucky if they don't list your email in the spam
folder. What have you achieved? Nothing, but you have probably
pissed people off. If you are one of those that enjoy broadcasting
your resume, you would probably ban yourself from applying for jobs.
Most of the established companies have got spam filters installed
and even if your email doesn't get picked up by spam filters, your
resume is likely banned from their database. Word get around fast
and all HR executives normal share a common pull of blacklist
resumes.
Do not submit your resume to job portals where anybody can assess
I always receive calls from a lot of jobseekers asking me why they
are not able to find job opportunities with large MNCs. It's not as
if they do not qualify as some of them do have pretty good
credentials. As all these queries piled up, I decided to do some
cross reference with some of my clients to find out what was the
main problem. Guess what was the reply?
Oh...they have been banned. Why have they been banned, I asked? Well
by submitting their resumes to job portals that all employers have
full access to (e.g Monster.com), you have just flooded the market
with their resumes. You might think it might be a good thing but
this should be done only on a last resort. Why is it so? Basically
all the recruitment firms accessing that has access to the portal
will pick your resume up as well. Imagine 30 or 40 recruitment firms
submitting your resume to companies like Microsoft and Accenture.
What happens? Your name gets strike off even if you apply directly
to the company later.
Do Not Submit Your Resume More Than Once
By submitting your resume more than once you're really getting on
people's nerves. A lot of people do not know that. What do you think
I do when I receive the same resume 3 or 4 times a day? I delete his
email and go to the spam filter and block his email address. That's
what most HR executives do as well. Remember, your job is to send a
neat & professional resume to make sure that the HR executives can
do their job easily. You help them by helping yourself.
Always Indicate The Job Title/Code
Imagine a large MNC who has got 50 different openings. Out comes a
resume that does not indicate any intention. What do you think the
HR executive will do? Your resume will probably end up in the
deleted mail folder. Do you think the HR executive has time to call
all the candidates? They might do so if your resume is really well
written. Imagine 50 X 100 resumes. The likely chance is that your
resume will end up being deleted.
Now you understand the meaning of Once Bitten, Twice Shy, Third
Time Stupid. There are so many people who continue to make these
glaring mistakes day after day and that is going to impact on their
career if they are choosing to join a large and reputable firm. More
importantly, you need a good solid resume that bring you far in your
career.
To sum it up, these are the things that you shouldn't do to avoid
losing the opportunity of joining an MNC.
1 - Do not Spam the HR executives if there are no genuine
opportunities advertised.
2 - Do not submit your resume to job portals where anybody can
assess.
3 - Do not submit your resume more than once.
4 - Always indicate the job code.
Follow these steps and you stand a better chance of securing a good
job.
Author Bio
Edmund Ng is the CEO of a consortium of Headhunting Firms. He
manages multiple job portals and the largest IT-Jobs Yahoo Groups in
Singapore. He also runs http://www.PurchaseResume.com - a
professional resume service provider that has helped more than 700
people get their dream jobs.
