If you've ever had to job hunt, you've probably read up on tips to landing your dream job. Not to toot our own horn or anything, but PowerObjects is a pretty awesome place to work. We have an amazing company culture and our people are some of the best in the biz. Needless to say, our recruiting team is always hard at work trying to the find the next CRM superhero, which means they have seen their fair share of cringe worthy resume mistakes and bad clothing decisions on interview day. In today's blog, we'll share a few of their tips and tricks for nailing down the perfect job. Let's just call it, "How NOT to get a job in five steps or less." So let's begin!
1. Hot head meet company head. Picture it now – you're headed to an interview, you're stressed out, and road rage gets the best of you and you more than express your frustrations to your fellow freeway friends with a few choice hand gestures. While you may now feel better, this might not have been the best choice. Whatever you do, don't let your anger out on other drivers or your fellow bus/train passenger. You never know who that person might be, in fact, it just may be the person you are scheduled to meet with. Yes, it has happened, and it usually doesn't work in your favor.
2. Pants on fire. Manager: "It says on your resume that you can write JavaScript code from scratch; can you tell me about your experience?" You: "Oh, I don't have actual experience. I just read a book once." Manager thinks to herself, "This is not going to work out." Although it's good to demonstrate your education and your interest in continual skillset growth, putting something on your resume that you haven't done makes you appear to be lying, even if that is not your intention. If you've only studied something, feel free to list it, but make it clear that your experience isn't on-the-job. Trust us, this will save you so much pain later!
3. ERRORS. "Please consisder my resume for the positiion of CRM Consultant." Before you apply to a position, did you check and double check your resume, cover letter, and email for spelling and grammatical errors? Did you spell the hiring manager's name right? Did you spell YOUR name right? These are crucial to a job hunt, and you may be surprised how many people don't bother to check these items first before they send it out. It's also important to make sure you include your correct email and phone number. You want them to be able to contact you, after all! In the past, we've received great resumes with a typo in the email address and no phone number. It's hard to get the job when you're not reachable.
4. Sloppy Joe. Well look at you, you landed an interview! Congrats! Then interview day comes and you throw on an outfit and fly out of the house, forgetting your deodorant and a shower. You run in the door just in the nick of time, smelly and slightly disheveled from your lack of time-management prior to the interview. Nope, this is not going to work. If you look sloppy, if you smell stanky, and/or if you disrespect someone's time, it's a big turnoff. Take the time to look good, smell good (but back away from the cologne after one pump!), and SMILE! Remember, Joe CRM is always dressed to impress!
5. Simma Down Now. Do you have lofty goals for your life and career? Awesome. Really, that's great - you should! But coming in on your first interview with a company and saying that you're interested in being the CEO in five years is a bad move. It almost always comes off as arrogance instead of aspiration. Unless you're interviewing for a very senior managerial role or interviewing for the CEO role itself, keep your lofty goals to yourself until you're in the door and can put your skills into action.
Now that you know what NOT to do, you should be well on your way to a successful job hunt. Let us know if that job hunt points you in our direction by following us on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. Also check out our job postings and make sure you sign up for our recruiting newsletter!
Happy CRM'ing!
