how to not suck when applying for a job

Replying to a craigslist posting or anything cold is for losers. If you find yourself sending a “resume” to someone that has never heard of you, realize that you are not a winner..

Ideally, you leverage a personal connection to get a job and it’s a warm lead. Winners only respond to warm leads. Exhaust all existing connections before considering cold calling a new place. If you have targeted a particular place to work, that is great. The trick is to explore alternate avenues to get noticed. You want to first make sure you don’t know anyone that works at this place – LinkedIn is great for this. Once you have dug around and googled the place, two things might happen. 1. You find out you know someone that works at this place. 2. You are more informed about this place and if you are lucky enough to get an in-person interview you have something relevant to break the ice with.

Here are some tips to consider:

1. If you misspell a word, I instantly delete. This is the cardinal sin of sending a resume to anyone. Run spell check, and if you really can’t spell with spell check a click away you should perhaps go back to school.

2. If you don’t write a cover letter, I instantly delete. I had a bunch of people sending me their resume in the cover letter, which is not what you should do. You should write a very personal and direct note that explains the key things you want explained, but in the process you should show what you can do if given little instruction. This is the test of your professional tone.

3. If you have a weird email, I instantly delete. Obviously we all have had emails and chat names that we wouldn’t want others outside of our social circles to see, but others just use them anyway. If you send me an email from an address that doesn’t have the Name setup and it just shows me a hotmail address in the name field, you suck at email.

4. If your tone in the cover letter email isn’t professional, I instantly delete. The thing is, I need you to be writing my emails, so if you can’t impress me with yours why would I want to hire you? Also, I believe the “cover letter” is your email, I don’t think you should ever attach a cover letter. You should have one attachment, your resume document.

5. If you send the email cover letter from your phone, (and I know this because you included your email footer “sent from my mobile phone”) I instantly delete. In my posting I asked for Tech-Savvy, show me how savvy you are by deleting the default message. This is the equivalent of using a toaster with the sticker on the outside. You would obviously take that sticker off if you had used it professionally. It’s a rookie n00b move and you know it!

6. Do not ever say “To whom it may concern” that sounds like your sending a court document. Granted, this is a serious endeavor, but don’t use words and phrases you aren’t familiar with. If you don’t have a name to use, then just say “Hi”.

6b. Your email footer is almost as important as your email address. Make sure you know the corporate culture protocol on what a footer should look like. Some people like to put a legal statement for instance.

7. Do not tell me about your personal problems. I really do not care that your last job was “an abusive work environment”, or that you moved to the area because your “father is having health problems.” I care about my business and need people that are going to work harder than me. I don’t need you to be my new weakest link.

8. The file name of your resume should be firstnamlastname_resume.fileformat or jessethomas_resume.pdf. And think about file size, obviously you want this file to be as small as possible.

9. There was a scene in The Office in which Dwight applies for a job and has a binder of documents and it’s funny and over the top, but something is to be said for being prepared. I will take Dwight over Stanley any day!

Being prepared + being awesome = opportunity. You might be so amazingly prepared but not have the right match for this job, but they might hire you for another job. Check out my boy Braden Young’s job application for Krispy Kreme in Philadelphia, http://twitpic.com/3boo85 If you are applying to any kind of creative job, this is extremely important. This is the difference between, getting the highest possible salary, getting the most control in the office, getting the best title. You need to think about getting hired as a sales challenge. You want as much as possible. A kid fresh out of school is like a gambler thinking he can beat the casinos.. Its very hard and the few that can beat the casinos leave with money in their pockets. Be a winner! set your self up for success!

10. LinkedIn is such a key tool. You should have a profile that is up to date and full of digital recommendations. Think of LinkedIn as a TripAdvisor for people focusing on their career. So the idea is to have lots of recommendations over a long period of time. You don’t want short bursts, you want consistency. LinkedIn recommendations are like references for a new generation.

In conclusion,
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Do not sell yourself short! If someone ever asks you “What would you rate yourself out of 10”, you should say “1,000”. Do not ever ever ever say “I am a 7 out of 10”. If you believe that then you shouldn’t be applying for a job at this awesome place in the first place. Have a positive attitude but only after you have prepared yourself. Set yourself up for success. The balance of not selling yourself short and not sounding like you are making stuff up is the difference between being rich or being poor. Make it happen!

Be funny, but not silly.

Be serious, but kiss the ring.

Show your character! and hope the person on the other end likes you. Be the best you can be!!