A recent interaction I had with a client:
Jobseeker: I have applied to over 600 jobs but I have got hardly two calls, to date.
Me: Alright, let’s see where, when, and how you have been applying.
Upon thorough review, here’s the diagnosis of the mistakes that she made:
❌ She’s been sending unsolicited resumes to everyone she connects with on LinkedIn and everyone who is working anywhere in any department.
❌ She has a generic resume and that does not target the position.
❌ Her cover letter says ‘please find attached my resume for your kind perusal’
❌ She is only applying (outbound) but hasn’t worked on her setting her profile so that she gets headhunted (inbound).
❌ Her networking is ineffective as she is only talking to others but not listening.
❌ She does not have a track of where, when, and whom she applied to, therefore has missed to follow up again.
❌ She had vague dates to no dates on her resume leading to inconsistencies on her profile.
❌ She had included obvious skills like MS Office, Outlook, team player, communication, etc
❌ When she applies outside of her area, she fails to explain the career change leaving the recruiter to think “why is she applying here?”
❌ She is a lateral entry with experience, hence her resume should not start with education.
❌ She had copy-pasted some sentences from the job description but failed to correct the tenses and sentence formation, showing a glaring mistake.
❌ Her hobby was not even a hobby as she said she likes to meet friends.
❌ She used different fonts, bullets, and spacing across, leaving the ATS confused
❌ She applied, ignoring the application instructions and mandatory requirements on the JD.
❌ Her resume’s file was named ‘mycv2020’