The Detrimental Mistakes That Job Hunters Make

• Underselling - In order to succeed in the job market you need to sell your skills. Too many job hunters undersell themselves and forego job opportunities because they feel their not qualified. There are certain attributes that translate across industries, these are your transferable skills and you need to sell them. This is especially important if you are going for a job in a new industry.
• Cover letter - There are a number of common mistakes people make when it comes to the cover letter. The biggest mistake is not sending one with your resume. Cover letters can be powerful tools if harnessed correctly. They can be extremely detrimental if they are not. Always write a specific cover letter for each new position. Formulated cover letters do not work. Do not rehash your resume in your cover letter. Instead demonstrate how your unique skills can benefit the company and how they match the role. Keep it brief and make a few high impact dynamic points that will grab attention.
• Follow up - Follow up should be viewed as part of the process of getting a job. You should follow up after you have sent your resume, make contact with the employer to see how the process is going and reiterate your interest in the position. After an interview you should follow up with a thank you letter. Finally follow up with a phone call after you have sent your thank you letter. These are all expected parts of job search protocol and it will be detrimental to your application if you fail to follow through on them.
• Embellishment - There is often a fine line between fact and fiction when it comes to resumes. It is ok to sell yourself and be creative with words and phrases to describe your attributes. There is a difference between embellishing your skills and lying. Do not lie on your resume or in a cover letter. Lying is detrimental to you career search and it will not go down well if uncovered later.
• Your needs vs. company needs - Employer want to know what you can do for them not what they can do for you. Don't make the mistake of talking about you too much in your job correspondence. Instead highlight how you can help them achieve company goals and objectives.
• Generic - A lot of job seekers use generic cover letters to reach a wider audience of potential employers. Generic letters won't get you interview; in fact they will properly land your resume in the trash. You need to appeal to a specific reader when you're addressing your cover letter. Demonstrate specific company and positional knowledge.
• Mistakes - Spelling and grammatical errors are common in job correspondence. There is no excuse for these kinds of mistakes and they will detract from the impact of your content. Ensure you check your correspondence thoroughly and have someone else check over it too. Make sure you have the correct spelling for people you are addressing and company information.

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