By some tallies, each corporate job receives 250 applications. That’s an overwhelming amount of competition. It’s essential that you ensure that your cover letter, résumé, and online profile don’t rule you out before the hiring process even begins. Here are three things that will disqualify you on the spot:
- Basic errors. No one is perfect, but if your résumé and cover letter reflect that you didn’t employ a quick spell check or do a thorough proofread, you’re sunk. If you don’t care about representing yourself well, why should they be confident that you’ll represent their organization well?
- Confusing information. If hiring managers have questions or concerns, they may just skip your submission. Are you shifting industries? Connect the dots between your experience and skills and their organization’s mission. If there’s a significant gap in your experience, frame it in a positive light or fill in with relevant education or volunteer experience to show continued growth.
- Wrong institution. When searching for a job, most job seekers send out dozens of applications. Be scrupulous to update the names and salutations each time. Make a practice of highlighting the changeable portions of your résumé in yellow on your working file, so you can double check for accuracy, remove highlighting, and save with a fresh filename for each institution.
