…an offer in hand
got a letter from one of our readers…seems he is getting a job offer in the next day or two from a company and is expecting another one from another company on the 15th…he wanted to know how to stall a decision with the first company so he can compare it with the offer of the second…he asked our advice…so, here it is..
don’t even try this…30% of the time a company says they are “going to make a offer”…they don’t…they think they are gonna, but they don’t…
if you have an offer in hand..call the second company and ask them if they can move faster…if they can’t, make a decision on the first offer regardless of how the second one might appear…a bird in the hand is always best..
if you postpone the first offer any longer than a day or two, they will inevitably think you are “shopping” their offer and will often rescind the offer and go to the next candidate…
in this economy, you can only count on the offer you have in your hand… don’t believe anyone that tells you they are going to make you an offer until they do..
…i’m getting an offer…no more interviews
…famous words…don’t do that…don’t ever bank on an offer unless you have one…in writing..in your hands..and don’t stop interviewing until you have it..
we can’t tell you the number of tremendously disappointed people we have consoled over the years who thought they were getting a job offer, quit interviewing and never got it…
no company will ever admit to doing this, but we have seen situation where the candidate showed up for their first day of work to find out that there was no job for them…
lesson…don’t stop interviewing until you have an offer in you hands and a start date that is a as quick as you can get it…you never know what might happen
…five biggest resume mistakes
1. people overestimate the value of a resume…it isn’t going to get you a job…sending it, thinking that it is magical, is an error…it may not even get you an interview
2. the average resume gets read in 10 seconds…don’t think someone is reading and digesting what you wrote…if you don’t get their attention in 10 seconds, it isn’t working
3. people underestimate the number of resumes they are competing with…on average …300
4. people overestimate the qualifications of the people who will screen, read and or “pass” their resume along…if you think the “right” people are reading your resume..you are wrong…
5. people write the wrong content on their resume…they write what they understand about themselves …forgetting that unless they are clear about what their company does and what they do, most people won’t understand it…if your resume can’t be understood by a high school senior…who doesn’t know you…you are writing the wrong content…
…informational interviews
so much has been written and spoken about these over the years…save your breath, time and trouble..
no employer in today’s market…who is worth talking to, has time to give you an “informational” interview…now if it is your uncle, or your dad’s best friend…maybe…
but don’t call someone and ask for an informational interview..you are either looking for a job or not…and if you are..talk to people that might have one…ask for a job…not information…how wimpy!
…keep ’em short and to the point
get this right!…long emails to potential employers don’t get read…
just like cover letters and even resumes..keep ’em short and to the point…emails should be four or five lines..no more..
hiring authorities get hundreds of emails a day…they even miss some…but anything longer than four or five lines will get shorted…use bullet points and “hit ’em quick and hard”
you are going to read it four or five times before you send it…your hiring authority is going to scan it once…maybe read the first two sentences or so…
….my clinical depression
wonderful candidate…great job opportunity…makes it through four interviews and near the final one he talks about overcoming clinical depression…all of a sudden the conversation got real strained and silent…now they are thinking about it..
the employer believes the job is really stressful and some of the folks there are wondering if the candidate can take the pressure…
the sad thing is there was no good reason for him to talk about his depression…simply no good reason…he thought it would make him appear as someone who had overcome personal challenges…
Lesson:..anything, …i mean anything that may be a personal liability, that isn’t essential to the job..DON’ BRING IT UP…
don’t know yet what the company will decide, but candidate didn’t need to bring this up
