The 500 (or more!) Secrets of Job Hunting

We are business casuel, but I expect people to interview in a suit. I'd always err on the side of overdressing (in most situations - depends on the industry - conservative industry like business/financial you are better off showing up in a suit)

21. Have your resume done professionally at least once.

22. Apply to companies you like, especially small companies, even if they aren't advertising an opening. Then you're not competing with the zillion people spamming their resumes out.

23. Print your resume and cover page on high-bond paper. Lightly colored or off-white can make it stand out from the stack.

24. Cold call and network. Call a company, ask for HR or the hiring manager. Ask if they have any openings in X field. Ask if they know anyone who's hiring in X field. Ask if they know any other HR folks in town.

25. Make your own business cards or have them professionally done if you like but have them! Hand 'em out when networking, when interviewing, when at job fairs, everywhere. Most people do not have 'em.

I guess I expect that you guys occasionally do use suits and therefore don't look out of place in suits. People like programmers, who will never wear a suit for their jobs shouldn't interview in suits.

26) Don't talk trash about your employer or prospective employers online. Almost all recruiters are doing internet searches and more than once I've seen candidates left out of consideration based on the negative things they said about their current employers or the companies they were interviewing with.

27) Don't talk trash about your last employers either even if the reason you quit was because they were scumbags. You don't know who knows who or who is related to who so best to just not talk trash about anybody at all.

28 - Always wear clean underwear.

29. Check your teeth for spinach...


(Shelley Berman)



30. I'll add that I've always gotten jobs when I've been relaxed at the interview - but then I've always gotten jobs, even in a tight market. So I'd put "Relax already" high on my list.

Hmm. While personal hygiene is of course essential--smell good and be clean including nails, ears, hair, and glasses (if any)--I don't believe I have ever been on or conducted an interview where underwear was an issue.

29. No heavy perfume or colognes though.

We did have a hygiene situation at one of the labs I worked in. Ay yi yi. Must have had a scrub down for the interview day..

On dress, I think, and I know no one is arguing, that the field of employment matters. I was in on the hiring of a new senior tech in our research lab. In waltzed a young lady with a hippy dippy dress (this would have been around '72 or 73) and stapled shoes and hem. But she was swift and funny with a good resume to date and boss and I approved. She had a masters in chemistry and a painting MFA - and was reasonably well read in our field. She and husband and child lived in student housing, were scraping by. She turned out to be terrific, probably smarter than all the rest of us put together, very congenial and a hard worker with good ideas. We're still in contact decades later, she now a tenured prof at another university.

But yes, try to avoid wearing the stapled shoes.

Well, I dunno.....I was teaching yesterday, in a Catholic primary school, about helping with sexual behaviour problems in kids.

As I was doing so, I could feel my new tights slowly coming down, taking my undies with them.

I was also very aware that the skirt I was wearing was loose in the waist, and was also slowly travelling downwards.

I spent the last 45 minutes of the session holding onto my skirt, and hoping that, if the tights/undiers combo came down, I was wearing damn decent panties!

Now...in my field, one often has to write and present an ad hoc presentation at job interview...so I say one can never be too careful!

31. All things being equal, attractiveness matters. For men, this means trim your nose/ear/neck hair. Pluck the eyebrows. Clean under you fingernails. Make sure your clothes are not wrinkled. Shine your shoes. If you have a nice watch, wear it. If you have a crappy watch, leave it in the car. Pick a reasonably conservative tie. Shave. Get a haircut.

32. Do not wear clothes with slogans. Or jokes. In fact, if it has writing on it, then wear something else.
(This includes the "SELECT * FROM users WHERE clue <> 0 - Oops, 0 rows returned" shirt.)

33. Lie.

34
I would think common sense.. but..
DONT bring anyone with you.
Arrive as if you are going to WORK right away

35) But do NOT misrepresent your credentials, education, or experience on your resume or on an application form, and do not seriously exaggerate your expertise or abilities. A lie could come back to bite you and even cost you your job and a sharp interviewer can spot a snow job a mile away. Reasonable confidence in one's ability, presenting experience to one's advantage, leaving out negatives, stressing that you learn quickly, are willing to learn and work hard, all are okay.

#36. Don't monopolize or take over the interview.

Really bad form. I interviewed someone who just wouldn't or couldn't shut up. Needless to say, she did not get the job. To top it off, she was a know-it-all who had done everything.

37. Be willing to think outside the box when job hunting isn't going well.

38. Be willing to move back inside the box when job hunting isn't going well.

39. Do some volunteer work for political campaigns and charity organizations using the skills you want to market to employers. Someone will notice and word gets around about you.

40. Brush up on those stale skills you've not updated in awhile. Go to an industry conference or seminar, refresh skills at your city's local adult school.