14 May 2016

Everyday at Year13, we spend a lot of time chatting with you guys and trying to get you into the job you’re looking for. We love helping you guys out, and that’s exactly why we want to point out a few common mistakes that will hopefully help you get the call backs you’ve been waiting for. We’re gonna be honest, some of these are real face-palmingly (yes, we’re making that a word) obvious mistakes that seem kinda silly when you read them, but trust us, we see these things all too often.

So please, for the sake of your future and our sanity, try and avoid the following blunders.

1. Your resume has typos

It’s so simple, but it seems that more often than not, resumes have typos, grammatical errors, or just simply don’t make sense. Whether English is your first, second, or third language, there are countless resources to reach out to for resume help, even if it just means getting a friend to read it over for you. These kinds of glaring errors on your resume will almost guarantee your name is getting tossed onto the “no go” list, particularly if the job you’re going for involves English skills or communication in any shape or form (aka. most jobs). Remember, your resume is the potential employer’s first impression of you and your work ethic, so take the time to perfect it.

2. Your email address is inappropriate 

I know, I know, most of us created our email accounts back in 2004 when MSN was our main form of communication and our addresses featured a lot of underscores with such phrases as “sarah_r0x_your_sox”. BUT PLEASE GET A NEW EMAIL ACCOUNT. Newsflash; an employer isn’t going to want to hire you if pingerz@blahmail.com is your primary email address. Sure, it might’ve been hilarious in Year 7 (and feel free to keep it as a throwaway email for competitions and spam mail), but try to clean it up before sending out your resume. A sensible variation of your full name is what you really want in this kind of situation: jane_smith, jane-smith, jsmith, smithjane… you get the gist.

3. Your voicemail sucks

“Hello….hello…are you there?….” BEEP

PSA to all of you who have a joke voicemail: you make my weep, everyday. But seriously, the ghost voicemail was funny the first time, maybe the second, but by the 57th time your friends kind of want to strangle you (rightly so). If you’ve done everything to the T so far and you’ve finally gotten that call you’ve been waiting on, don’t ruin your shot by forgetting to touch up your voicemail with an appropriate response. An employer isn’t going to be impressed if your voicemail tricks them into conversation, or tells them to “f*ck off” (yes, I have literally been told this by someone’s voicemail… needless to say, I didn’t leave a message). Cause, let’s be real, landing a job and earning some mullah is worth giving up the practical joke.

4. You’re attaching the wrong cover letter

No one knows better than us how hard it can be to keep track of every job application you make, particularly when you’re sending out twenty a day. Ideally, you should be tailoring your cover letter and even your resume to each job your applying for, or at least have one for each industry you’re interested in. But, with all those resumes and cover letters, you also have to remember to attach the right documents to the right job. It’s a little awks when you’re applying for a job in a cafe, and all your cover letter talks about is how great you are at plumbing. It’s an easy mistake to make, one that can be done with a simple mis-click of a button, so always take a couple extra seconds to check the cover letter you’re giving is the right one.

5. You’ve got a bad attitude

It’s really hard going into the workforce for the first time, particularly when all you’ve known is school and your social skills are maybe not what you’d like them to be. But we know this doesn’t make you a bad employee, it just means you haven’t quite found the confidence you need to talk to potential bosses, on the phone or in person. But here’s the thing: someone who is unresponsive on the phone, who only answers “yes” or “no” to questions, or who simply isn’t polite, isn’t going to get the job no matter how awesome their resume is.

If you’re someone who struggles in these sorts of high-pressure social situations, I have one piece of advice for you: fake it. Put on a smile, listen carefully, sound super interested in what your interviewer is talking about and just be generally enthusiastic. Always elaborate on your answers and always, ALWAYS be polite. You’d be surprised just how far being a “nice kid” will get you, and after a while faking it just becomes… natural.

None of these seem very far-fetched and yet, more often than not, they are the most overlooked reasons why you aren’t getting a call-back. If you want that job, no matter what it is, you have to put your best foot forward. And that begins with the basics, people!