1. Responsiveness – this one goes a long way. Think email reply time, scheduling, etc.
2. Availability – most hiring managers are not available evenings and weekends but if they do email outside of business hours, it looks infinitely better to go the extra mile and not wait until Monday.
3. Attention to Detail – you would be surprised how many emails, resumes, and LinkedIn profiles have typos and grammatical errors. Word docs will outline errors for you as you type – no spell check needed. Come on, people. That is just lazy.
4. Thank you/Follow-Up Notes – it should go without saying that after any interview comes a follow-up note, but take it one step further and send it immediately, the sooner the better. Do not play hard to get on this one. Besides, that is not how you play that card anyway.
5. Follow Through – Do you close the loop or leave things hanging and wait for someone else to handle it? When scheduling an interview, send the hiring manager a calendar invite to confirm.
6. Linkedin Recommendations – This can be a tool but only when used properly. Do not shoot yourself in the foot by asking for recommendations and having all of them in the same month or by trading recommendations with friends. This undermines the legitimacy of the recommendation. The key to online recommendations is to scatter. There is nothing wrong with requesting an online referral, just do not do it all at once or in obvious clusters when you were out of work.
7. Linkedin Profile Pics – You need one. Period. You need a good one. It is no beauty contest; just do not look like an a**hole.
8. Dates of Employment – This should include months and years. Omitting months raises suspicion.
9. Gaps in Employment – There may be a good reason for periods of unemployment, but do not wait for the interview to explain, you may not make it that far. List reasons such as acquisitions, IPO’s, layoffs, specific clients consulted for between gigs, etc.
10. Tenure – Now, my personal industry focus has low expectations in terms of length of employment, but in general too many instances of working at a company for a year or less are deal-breakers.
留言