Eight Job Hunting Myths

What Job Seekers Need to Know Before Their Next Interview

Jul 18, 2008 Deborah S. Hildebrand

For anyone who thinks they know the hard and fast rules of job hunting, here are eight misconceptions about the process.

Okay, everyone thinks they know what it takes to find a job, the right things to do and the proper way to do them. There are a ton of experts who tell job seekers the dos and don’ts of job hunting, resume design, interviewing and whatever else it takes to find a job.

Truth of the matter, there are a lot of good ideas out there. However, there are also a lot of misconceptions; things that job seekers misunderstand or automatically believe because of their own past experiences. Here are eight of them.

Jobs are a Dime a Dozen

Well, especially in today’s economic climate when the U.S. has experienced a job-loss rate of over 400,000 jobs in the past six months, some jobs are just becoming scarcer. Not all jobs, of course. But as companies try to do more with less, jobs are going to be eliminated. Most notable areas of concerns are the auto, financial, airline and construction industries.

The best course of action for job seekers: don’t change jobs unless absolutely necessary. For anyone not being laid off or fired, it might make sense to stay put right now. Remember: last in, first out.

It’s Better to Quit First

This is one of those curious misunderstandings that tend to puzzle a lot of recruiters. Somehow job seekers think it’s better to quit a perfectly good job (even if they happen to be miserable at the current time) in order to leave them sufficient time to find a new one. There is no logic in that, especially given what has just been said about today’s economy.

Companies Don't Hire the Unemployed

There was a time when the nation was robust and a lot of hiring was going on. It was during these salad days when a mistaken belief was born which basically embraced the idea that if a candidate was unemployed and looking for a job there must be something wrong with him, otherwise he would be gainfully employed.

This taboo of hiring someone that no one else apparently wanted has since tapered off. However, job seekers should be prepared to explain -- to the comfort of the hiring company -- why they are no longer employed.

Flood the Market with Resumes

This is pretty much akin to the old saying, “baffle them with bulls**t.” The problem with sending out a gazillion resumes is that first, job seekers begin to forget who they have contacted and subsequently lose control over their job hunting process; and second, there are probably not that many jobs they are truly interested in, so now they have to start turning down inappropriate opportunities – a waste of everyone’s time.

Better to develop a defined plan with a specific focus that is easy to control and screams great organization skills.

Resumes are Optional

Just because job seekers send their resume by email, they are not off the hook. There is still something to be said about a candidate showing up for his interview with a nicely formatted resume printed on quality bond paper.

Recruiters Ask the Same Interview Questions

When job seekers read article after article about how to answer interview questions the right way, they tend to expect these are the questions that all interviewers ask. While they may be helping themselves to become familiar with the best answers to the questions posed in the article, they are not really preparing themselves to handle everything that could be thrown their way.

Interviewers are all different, with different interview styles and different interview questions. The best way to prepare for any situation is for job seekers to be fully aware of their own work experience and to candidly answer questions based on what they know about themselves.

The Candidate with the Most or Best Experience Always Gets Hired

So many things can happen between the time a job is posted and the final decision, that who ultimately gets hired may, in fact, be no one.

Sometimes jobs go unfilled due to internal changes, budget cuts or other reasons. Sometimes the candidate that gets hired is the least expensive one or the one that was available immediately. Other times, if there are multiple interviews, it’s the person the interviewers could all agree upon.

What it comes down to is that there are a lot of reasons people get hired for a job and experience is important, but it’s not the single deciding factor.

Salary is Always Negotiable

There is a mistaken belief that if a great candidate can get his foot in the door and show how terrific he really is, a hiring company will pay whatever price necessary to bring him on board. Can it happen? Sure. Always? No.

It boils down to budget. Sometimes there are strict salary guidelines in place and sometimes it’s a small company with a small budget. Whatever the case may be, candidates whose salary requirements are higher than the company can afford are probably a mismatch for the job opening, not just from a monetary standpoint, but perhaps from a skill set and work experience one, too.

It’s great to get advice on how to ace interviews or design the perfect resume; however, nothing speaks to experience. Go through enough interviews and job seekers will truly understand how the process works. Then they will know what they need to know before their next interview.

The copyright of the article Eight Job Hunting Myths in Career Advice is owned by Deborah S. Hildebrand. Permission to republish Eight Job Hunting Myths in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

Job Hunter

Comments

Jul 18, 2008 8:55 AM

Lynn Pritchett :

Very well said! Write on!

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