Why You’re Not Getting The Interview…and Tips For Next Time
We recently posted a position for a Marketing intern at various universities and on Craig’s List. While we’ve hired before, this crop of candidates seems to be on downward trend which is unfortunate in today’s economy as they will be going out into the real world against some very good and experienced candidates that have recently been downsized.
While it’s not in the company’s best legal interest to reach out to each one individually and tell them why we’re not going to interview them, I thought it would be constructive to write this post. This goes out to all of those job candidates out there that are wondering why nobody’s getting back to you. Hopefully, you will learn from this and realize what other people are doing when going after the same job you are and use it to step up your game for the next gig.
Here are some tips that will put you in the top 10% of the other star candidates that are applying for the job.
- Actually use our company name in the email and cover letter. Sad to say, the first blatantly obvious thing that’s making candidates stand out is the fact that they took two seconds to put in our actual company name. Nobody believes you when you tell them how excited you are to work at “your company”.
- Think of what you write in the initial email as your cover letter. The shot above is actually an email we received…for a Marketing position! If you’re that great (sarcasm) at selling yourself, I can only imagine how much effort you’ll put in to selling our company.
- Keep the formatting simple. We’re interested in you and what you can bring to the table, not how pretty you make it look. The font on one applicant’s entire cover letter was in her school color of yellow. You ever try to read yellow on white?! It hurts. You end up deleting it and rubbing your eyes for five minutes. Black, normal font. Standard spacing. Focus on the content.
- Keep it to one page. When applying for an internship or entry level job, chances are you haven’t had enough experience to fill two pages. When we receive a two or three page resume from a 20-something, it’s either because they must be legally blind and are using a ridiculously large font or sharing things that are not pertinent to presenting their value. I have seen one or two exceptions to this rule from students that have done an internship every year and/or summer through college but if you’re reading this, you’re not one of them.
- Take two minutes to review what you’re about to send. We’ve had a few cut-and-paste replies where the candidate has told us how she qualifies for everything we listed. Too bad none of the requirements were from our job posting. If you’ve gone through the process of answering a job posting, take the extra two minutes out of your day to review what you’re about to send and make sure it’s for the job your applying for.
- Actually go to our company site and learn about us. It strikes me as funny that in an age where information is so easily accessible, people will spend more time tweeting about their breakfast then researching the company for which they hope to depend on for their livelihood. Go to our site and see what we do. Read our press releases, news, and blog. Get crazy and look us up on LinkedIn, Facebook, and other social media sites. Even if it takes you an hour, it’s worth it. Why would you not want to research a company you hope to have a future with? What if you find out that you don’t like our business? Wouldn’t you be glad you know so you don’t waste any more time?
- Use the information you learn online to write a customized cover letter. Back in my parent’s day, you used to try and have an objective on a resume that you could get printed fifty times when you had it copied. Today, there’s no excuse for not tailoring the objective in your resume to our position and addressing your cover letter directly to us. Speak to how you can meet the qualifications we’re looking for. Tell us where you think you could add value and why you’re interested in us. Not “your company”, us. Go above and beyond and compliment us on a recent article or tell us why you like our product or service (Only if you really do and it’s authentic.)
I promise you that using these seven tips will make you stand out against 90% of the crowd almost immediately. Good luck!
To Employers:
I know it can sometimes be frustrating when you want to tell a poor candidate why you’re not even going to come close to hiring them but it’s usually best that you don’t. Feel free to be constructive and point them to this post.
Also, I know that we’re not the only ones out there with some good experiences or tips. Please go ahead and share any you have in the comments.
Looking forward to hearing them.
