Common mistakes students often make when looking for job
Looking for job in the economic recession is difficult. With thousand graduates are looking for job, competition is fierce and getting pass the applications processing to get a job interview is not easy. According to a study, the reasons many students did not get the job interview because they often make mistakes in their applications when applying for their first job after graduation. Following are some common mistakes:
Students often write a “general resume” and send to hundreds of company with the hope of getting a job interview. Today with emails, it is much easier to send resume to thousands of company. A student told me: “It is like gambling, you put in thousand bets, and the chance is you may win something.” Unfortunately, it is the most common mistake that students make. Today hiring companies do not read thousands of resumes anymore but use software to “filter out” unwanted applications and automatically sends rejection letters back via email. A hiring manager said: “If you do not thoroughly read my job description and application instructions, you do not have any chance. A job description is what the company needs. If you do not have the exact match of skills, the software will reject you automatically as no human ever look at your resume.” For example, if the job description is: “Java programming skills and object oriented knowledge.” then you should write the exact sentence. If you write: “Object oriented and Java skills.” then the software may reject you, because it is programmed to identify the exact match and do not distinguish the difference in meaning. The clever students would re-write their resume to match the job description or using the job description to write their resume and applications.
Today even entry level jobs are requiring one or two years of experience. Many graduates avoid these jobs as they do not think that they are qualified. It is a common mistake as most companies do consider capstone projects and summer jobs as the experience that they are looking for. If your work in a capstone project, you have the experience. If you work in the summer, you have the experience. If you build a website for your class or your school while you were a student, you can count that as web development or programming experience. If you are a class leader or students association officer, these positions also count as leadership experience.
By definition, a resume is a short list of your academic achievement and extracurricular experience. Many students are told to write everything that they can think of to “impress” the company and that could mean two or three pages. That is a common mistake because most hiring managers are not going to read beyond the first page, especially when they have hundreds of applications to read through. The rule for college graduates is: “One page is sufficient to showcase your knowledge and skills relating to the job that you are applying.” Do not write more than necessary and do not put anything irrelevant to the job description.
Every resume must start with the objective that define what are you looking for. For example: “To obtain a software tester position where I can maximize my testing and programming skills in Java, C++, Python and Ruby” or “Obtaining a Search engine optimization position where I can use my SEO skills and experience to increase site traffic and search engine placement.” Stating an objective can convince hiring companies that you know what you want to do and are familiar with the field. While people believe that objective on resume is optional, but hiring managers told me that the objective statement is the first thing that they read as applicants need to be clear about their employment goals. If the objectives do not meet their job description, they do not read further and often discard the applications.
Graduates often put a lot of technical detail in their applications and nothing else. That is a common mistake, although hiring managers are looking for skills and abilities but they are also looking for the “right person” that fit their company too. They know what you have learned in school, what courses that you are taken, they understand the abilities of most college graduates. They know that skills can be taught, but personality is who you are, so candidates who can show that they fit into the company best are going to get hired. That is why beside technical skills, you also need to put something that show your personality. A hiring manager told me: “Among all college graduates with the same degree, I will always hire someone with positive personality such as “Volunteer for charity such as support the poor and under privileges” or someone with organization skills such as “Organize student's association activities.”
There are many ways to look for jobs than just sending resume and wait for answer. Students must not be afraid to reach out to other people and let them know that you have graduated and are looking for job. You never know what may happen or where help can come from. It could be your neighbors or a friend of a friend. The more people knowing that you are looking for job, the better chance you will get helped. A graduate told me that after several months looking for work without any result, he went to a family wedding and sit next to his uncle who told him that he needs someone with programming skills. He said: “I never know that my distanced uncle owns a software company and is looking for programmers.”
Every graduate is looking for a “dream job”. However your first job may not be a dream job but students need to know that your first job is also not your last. Getting your "dream job" right out of college is just a dream. You need to get work experience and work your way up to get to your dream job. When looking for your first job, you need to keep an open mind. You will learn a lot about what you need to get to your dream job so do not limits of your job search to a few places but broaden it. You may ask yourself: Why not consider jobs in another city? Why not thinking of working in foreign country? Why not working for a global company? You can do anything when you are young. You may not be able to do that when you have family and more responsibilities. Please remember that with the right knowledge and skills and with your youthfulness and passion, you could do almost anything.
Sources
- Blogs of Prof. John Vu, Carnegie Mellon University
