30 Job Hunting Mistakes You Can Easily Avoid

Job hunting can be a grueling experience all-around, so make the best of your time by avoiding these mistakes and see better results!

Whether you're a long-time career professional or just starting an undergraduate program, it pays to know what to avoid when starting your search for a position. Most people today have moved to the online application process, in which recruiters receive an average of 200 applicants each. This creates a huge pool of applicants, many who largely are underqualified and unprepared as they've taken the "shotgun" approach of applying to every job they can find.

Although this approach may seem easier, it's the least personal and least likely to net a response. Taking a targeted approach to which organizations and/or positions you apply to can save time and make a better impression on recruiters, and is just one of the many mistakes that job-seekers make in today's online world. Instead, if you're serious about the job, be sure to find out who the hiring manager or recruiter is and send them a personal letter or email conveying your interest. If you want to go over-the-top for the job, you can do something really out of the box like these people. One person even bought advertising space on billboard outside the employers office!

Job Hunting Mistakes to Avoid:

1. Speaking Negatively About Past Employers

If you feel as though you've been cheated by former employers and would love nothing more than to drag them through the mud to anyone and everyone around, it's best to restrain the urge and let it go. The person who's doing your interview is likely not a psychologist and isn't interested in hearing about how you've been wronged in the past. They're interested in whether or not you can solve the problem before them, filling the position.

The last thing any potential employer wants to do is hire someone who will bring negativity to their team and who'll constantly drudge up stories of how terrible their former employer or colleagues were. If you'll trash talk the employers who've given you opportunities in the past, then chances are you'll do the same thing in the future. Instead, focus on the positives, what you learned, and how you've grown since your last job.

2. Try to Negotiate Salary Too Early

Clearly, recruiters and hiring managers understand that you want to get paid. However, candidates who bring up the salary issue to early throw up red flags, as the organization is typically looking for team members who are interested in the work itself and developing their careers, rather than just getting paid and going home.

Bringing up how much you'll be paid during the first interview also ties in with making yourself look desperate, which is attractive to no one. Instead of making your interviews all about the money, focus more on the aspects/responsibilities of the position, why you'll excel in the role, and what you can bring to the table that other candidates cannot.

3. Underselling Yourself

The labor market is somewhat backward compared to more traditional economic markets where goods and services are the valuable centerpieces. In this market, labor and skills take their place and provide more leverage to the interviewee than many of us realize. Between posting and responding to listings online and the cost of paying interviewers to meet and evaluate candidates, filling positions can costs thousands of dollars in which companies do not want to backtrack only to pay more. So if you've made it past the first round of interviews, you know you're in a good negotiating position when it comes time to talk about the salary.

Although nerves can sometimes get the best of us, never allow the interview to be fully-controlled by the hiring manager. They have routine questions that they ask to evaluate each candidate, sort of like a standardized test. However, this approach is flawed as it often fails to bring out the information that could potentially make you a great fit for the position. Don't be shy about steering the interview in a direction that casts you in the best light possible while job hunting.

4. Not Doing Your Research

One of the biggest crimes that you can commit in your job hunting expedition is to not do your adequate research on the company that you’re applying with and interviewing for. When you fail to conduct research on the company, hospital, or healthcare facility — you’re leaving yourself at a disadvantage to separate yourself from other candidates. When you research the company before applying, you can then include details about the company in your application or resume that highlight how you’d be able to solve some of the challenges the company is facing moving forward.

Not only do you highlight how you’d be able to solve some of the challenges that the company might currently be facing or potentially face in the future, you’re also demonstrating that you’re taking an interest in the company. Companies, hospitals, and healthcare facilities all want to hire candidates that are interested in the company because it demonstrates that those candidates are willing to go the extra mile to learn on the job or deliver the most value to the organization.

Taking the time to research the company is the least you can do because it is often one of the most frequently asked questions during an interview.

Nearly every company has an extensive About Us page or About {Company} page that you can read up on before submitting your application or attending the interview. It’s always a good idea to know what the company’s mission is or what they value. Failing to demonstrate that you’ve done your research on the company or failing to demonstrate how you align with the company’s goals and values will leave you at a disadvantage in your job hunt.

For a comprehensive guide on how you can use research throughout the course of your interview, check out our Interview Guide.

5. Procrastinating

Job hunting can be a long process and gets even longer the more specialized your position is, so procrastination can be your worst enemy here if you underestimate the time it'll take you to secure a new job. While you can always find a reason not to do something, if you like having peace of mind about the future, it's best to buckle down and hit the ground running. That's not to say that you shouldn't take a little time off after leaving a position. Sure, a week or two may be easily manageable, but taking trips around the world or staying out of the job market for months at a time could land you in hot water.

Instead, be as proactive as possible with potential openings and networking opportunities. Lay out a game plan, create a list of companies or organizations you're interested in applying to, and contact any individuals you may know with solid connections to your field and let them know you're searching for employment.

6. Coming Off as Desperate

Just like with dating, desperation is unattractive to recruiters and hiring managers. One of the biggest mistakes job-seekers can make is to attempt to get the interviewer's pity for the position. While it may seem like a decent strategy in your head, in reality, it's definitely not. Recruiters don't want to take the risk of hiring candidates simply because they feel sorry for them when it could put their own job at risk and when there's a good chance that the candidate may not work out and they have to go through the hiring process again. This is a huge waste of time and money for the company and reflects poorly on the hiring manager, so don't bank on it working as a job hunting strategy.

Instead, avoid any further procrastination and put your nose to the grindstone. Highlight your achievements and skills, and go in prepared for anything they might throw your way. The hiring process can take a long time, so if you've found yourself in a bind, look to relatives and trusted friends for help while you get back on your feet.

7. Applying to Hail Mary Positions Only

A mistake many recent college graduates make when job hunting is to go straight for the higher positions that require years of experience in addition to the degree they just earned. Unfortunately, higher education lays only the groundwork for a competent employee, especially when it comes to healthcare positions. Although internships and residencies may have given you a fair amount of clinical experience, don't let hubris overcome reasoning.

Focus on the positions that you are a competitive candidate for, whether it's based on skill or experience. It's like advertising. Advertisers target specific audiences to get the best results possible and spend their money wisely, rather than blasting their ad out to everyone and spending a ton of money targeting individuals who will probably never buy what they're selling. Take the same approach when job hunting to save yourself a lot of time.

8. Bad Grammar or Typos

Before you submit your resume, cover letter, and application, you should take the time to ensure that there are no bad grammar issues or typos. All it takes is a little bit of time to proofread each piece and shouldn’t be ignored. You might be an expert typist or writer, but we’ve all been in a rush to submit an application or complete as many applications as we can because we think it’s a numbers game. When we’re in a rush, we might believe that we’re writing proficiently, only to realize on a second read-through that we made plenty of mistakes and in most cases, it’s even disjointed and things don’t make sense.

Take the time to re-read what you’ve written and ensure there are no typos. There are plenty of tools and software that can take out most of the labor if you don’t want to do all the manual hard work or you’re worried that you’ll miss something. For example, if you’re using a modern writing software like Microsoft Word or OpenOffice, there are spell check tools available and grammar tools that will check your document in a few seconds and ensure there are no mistakes. Another fantastic tool that you can use as an addon to common word processing software or as a browser extension is Grammarly. Grammarly will proofread your document and recommend any grammar changes based on the extensive library of grammar rules in their framework.

Checking for typos or grammar mistakes should also include checking any official correspondence that you send to recruiters, interviewers, hiring managers, and employers. The last thing you want to do is boast about your experience and education in an interview, and then submit an email with a ton of grammar mistakes and spelling errors to the future employer.

Demonstrating that you have limited grammar errors and typos is also a great way to highlight that you’re an effective communicator and you do everything that you can to communicate effectively.

9. Using an Unprofessional Email Address

Another way to automatically disqualify yourself from a position that you’re hoping to be considered for and make your job hunt even harder is to use an inappropriate or unprofessional email address. You might not think that it’s a big deal when you’re applying with an old or outdated email address, but it’s important to remember that employers and recruiters notice all of the little details. Which means that you shouldn’t avoid covering all of the little details as well. For instance, if you’re using an old email address that you thought was brilliant in high school like “doglover48@yahoo.com”, you are coming off as unprofessional.

Even if that email is the one that you use for all of your other correspondence, subscriptions, accounts, and more — it’s important to remember that you need to present the most professional image when you’re job hunting. The good news, is that it only takes a couple minutes to create a brand new email that is more professional and doesn’t work against you. This is one of the easiest job hunting mistakes to avoid, so take advantage of it!

The best way to create a professional email address is to use your first name and last name, or the first letter of each respective one in unique combinations. For instance, here are some combinations you can use to ensure that you secure a professional email address:

• firstname_lastname@email.com
• firstname.lastname@email.com
• firstnameletter.lastname@email.com
• firstname.lastnameletter@email.com

These different combinations ensure that you can find at least one potential professional email address that you can then use in your job hunting efforts and ensure that you don’t make this job hunting mistake that will automatically disqualify you from future consideration.

10. Messing Up The Cover Letter

Another job hunting mistake to avoid is to ensure that you avoid messing up the cover letter. The cover letter plays an important role in applicant consideration because it helps to elaborate on you and your credentials if your application or resume don’t provide enough information or are confusing. For instance, one of the problems that a job seeker faces and is often a job hunting mistake is to confuse the individual reviewing their application or resume. If you are applying to a job that is outside your normal career history, and you’re hoping to transition careers but don’t adequately state that in your resume or list a bunch of irrelevant jobs on your resume and application, the individual reviewing your application and resume are going to seek additional clarification in your cover letter.

Your cover letter gives you an opportunity to speak more about why you decided to apply for the job. If you’re trying to transition your career as we’ve mentioned, then your cover letter is going to be an important piece in determining whether or not you’re going to be considered for the job. In your cover letter, you want to detail why your resume is the way it is and highlight how you can use the experience and background on your resume can provide value to the company that you’re applying for.

If you send a cover letter that has a bunch of mistakes, doesn’t work for you, or has simple errors like the wrong names or titles, then you’re going to make your job hunt that much harder. Your cover letter should be personalized to the individual who is going to be reviewing your application and resume, and if you accidentally list the wrong position or address it to someone else, your job hunt is going to be an uphill battle.

Ensure that you use the proper company name and job title in your cover letter and proofread before attaching it with your application and resume to ensure that you don’t mess up the cover letter in your job hunt.

11. Failing To Network Properly

One of the biggest job hunting mistakes to avoid is failing to network properly. Increasingly, networking is playing the most important role in determining whether or not an individual can secure a job or not. Networking is when you know someone or interact with someone who can help mention your name and use the connection you have with them to secure a potential interview or job.

In the modern job search environment, networking is increasingly playing a large role in whether or not you’re going to be considered for the job because someone else can vouch for you and your work ethic. Not only can someone else vouch for your work ethic, they can also vouch for your character. One of the biggest concerns that a hiring manager or recruiter has when they are interviewing candidates is whether or not this particular candidate is going to be a good fit for the company structure or company dynamics. If a friend or connection you have can vouch for you and demonstrate that you’d be able to fit well in the existing company dynamics, then you’re making your job hunt a little bit easier.

If you’re not taking networking seriously, then you’re making one of the biggest job hunting mistakes and eliminating potential jobs before they even arise. Ensure that you’re networking properly and avoiding this job hunting mistake by following our extensive Networking Guide, which will help explain and walk you through how to network in every scenario to ensure that you get the job of your dreams and develop connections that will pay dividends throughout your career.

12. Having No Online Presence

Employers, recruiters, and hiring managers like conducting research on potential candidates before they request an interview or consider them for future steps in the applicant consideration process. If you don’t have an online presence, then you’re making it harder for recruiters and hiring managers to learn more about you. It is a guarantee that hiring managers, employers, and recruiters will dive into your social media accounts, personal websites, photos, and more to ensure that you are who you say you are, you have done what you’ve said you have done, and that you’re a good fit.

At the very least, you should ensure that you have a LinkedIn profile with several connections that detail your previous work experience, education, skills, and accomplishments. Avoid this job hunting mistake by ensuring that you have an online presence and that your online presence is appropriate with the proper information. The most important aspect of ensuring that you have an online presence is to make sure that the online presence you have is appropriate and works for you.

13. Having a Bad Attitude

One critical job hunting mistake to avoid is having a bad attitude at any stage of the job hunting process. You might think that having a bad attitude when you’re filling out applications doesn’t have any effect but it does. For instance, if you’re in a bad attitude when you’re applying for a hospital job at a large system that you don’t know about, you have far less incentive to conduct additional research on the company and use that research to your advantage when submitting your resume or application.

In addition, when you have a bad attitude it’s easy to get discouraged at any point in your job hunting efforts. When you have a negative attitude, it translates to every part of your job search process. It will translate into how much work you put into your applications, customized resumes, phone interviews, and face-to-face interviews.

One way to ensure that you don’t have a bad attitude or prevent a bad attitude from developing is to work on maintaining a positive attitude. Maintaining a positive attitude can be difficult when you’re filling out tens of applications or getting rejected on jobs that you were hoping to pursue, but you have to look at each rejection as a new opportunity.

When you look at rejection as a new opportunity to find a better fit, you can approach each challenge that you face in your job hunt as an exciting opportunity.

14. Dressing Inappropriately

The next job hunting mistake to avoid is to ensure that you don’t dress inappropriately for the interviews you have coming up. When you underdress or dress inappropriately you can come across as unprofessional or as a slob. One way to ensure that you dress appropriately for your upcoming job interview is to dress as if you’re applying for a job two tiers above the job you’re actually applying for.

One way to ensure that you dress appropriately for the job you’re interviewing for is to simply ask. In some cases, the interviewer will tell you what you should wear and the dress code that everyone has to follow, but in nearly every scenario you should always dress business professional.

If the employer or recruiter doesn’t inform you of how you should dress, you can also conduct your own research on whether or not employees are asked to follow a certain dress code. These documents are often hosted on the company or hospital’s website for other employees to look at when they need it, so a little bit of searching can go a long way in evaluating whether or not you need to dress up for the occasion. As we mentioned above, the best case scenario is to just dress business professional regardless.

The worst thing that can happen is the employer or recruiter will take a glance at your outfit and say that you didn’t need to dress up for the interview. Regardless, you will be creating a solid impression that will prove dividends in your job hunting efforts.

15. Having a Lack of Focus

One of the worst job hunting mistakes you can commit is to demonstrate a lack of focus. A lack of focus can come in a variety of ways — your resume, application, cover letter, and interview. It’s important to remember just how important maintaining your focus is in every step of the application and consideration process.

Your resume and application should detail from top to bottom how you would be a good fit for their needs based on your previous experience, education, and skills. Your cover letter should be able to speak on behalf of your application and resume and offer a little bit more insight as to why they should consider you for the position. Throughout the interview, you should be able to maintain your focus on the answer that you’re providing, and detail why you would be able to meet the demands of the position and solve the challenges that might arise each day.

If your resume, application, or cover letter lack focus, you could be applying for a position that you’re interested in, but your related documents make it seem as if your only experience came from being a waiter at a local restaurant. If your resume and application lack focus, it makes it seem as if you lack focus. The last thing impression that you want to create is that you lack focus.

A lack of focus can come up at the wrong time, like saying the wrong thing at a job interview. We’ve all been in a scenario where our attention lapses, and then the next thing we realize is that we’ve gone on a tangent that had nothing related to the initial discussion. This all stems from a lack of focus. If you find that you lack focus or focus is something that you have struggled with in the past, take corrective measures to work on keeping your focus and create quick tips to ensure that you don’t get lost in your thoughts or struggle with staying at attention.

Ensure that your resume, cover letter, and application are all focused on the immediate job that you are applying for and then transfer that focus to the interview once you have the opportunity available.

16. Lying or Boasting Too Much On Your Application

We’ve all been there before. You’re really interested in a position and you’ve done something similar in the past, but you aren’t an exact match for what they’re looking for. So you don’t think it’s too much of a big deal to elaborate a little on your application or tell a little white lie because the interviewer or recruiter who is reviewing your application “won’t really notice”. Well, the unfortunate news is that they do notice the little white lies and boasts, and it can get you in trouble in the long run.

In this competitive job market, it can seem like a necessity to boast about what you can actually do or lie about some of the experience, skills, or credentials you have. Exaggerating about what you can do might seem like no big deal, but we can promise you that you will get caught.

For instance, some people believe that they can boast about their education credentials. The problem with this is that almost every single employer will perform an extensive background check on the applicants they are considering. If something comes up or doesn’t come up that you’ve highlighted in your application, they’re going to automatically disqualify you from their consideration without a moment’s notice. They aren’t going to follow up with you and ask you about it or seek additional clarification.

You might be asking why. The reason they’re not going to follow up with you or seek additional clarification is that of two reasons, 1.) They expect you to be telling the whole truth when you’re submitting your application and you flat out lied to them, and 2.) When you submit the application, there is often a checkbox or form that indicates that you are submitting accurate information and understand there are consequences if the information you submit isn’t accurate.

It might also seem like a good idea to boast about some of the achievements you’ve had at other places of employment. The problem these little white lies don’t work is because every single employer or recruiter will ask you to elaborate upon those accomplishments, skills, and results at previous places of employment. The moment you begin to trip up or fail to explain what you’ve accomplished in previous positions, employers and recruiters will see right through it and move on.

If you’re worried that your qualifications, achievements, or skills don’t necessarily align exactly with what the employer is looking for, don’t worry there are other things that you can do to highlight why you should be considered. If you don’t have related accomplishments or skills, you need to demonstrate that you are a passionate learner, are willing to learn new skills, and pride yourself on working hard to accomplish things in any new role. If you can accurately convey that to the individual who reviews your application and attends your interview, you will be just fine!

17. Taking Rejection Personally

It can be extremely discouraging when companies, hospitals, or healthcare facilities constantly reject you. It can feel even worse when you’re constantly changing it up and trying to stand out as the best candidate possible. The problem is that it is extremely rare to find the perfect job and receive an offer on your first try. Rejection is a natural process of the job search and job hunting experience, so don’t get discouraged.

Rejection is one of the hardest things to get comfortable with when you’re job hunting, but getting comfortable with it is part of identifying areas that you can improve in and successfully finding a job in the future. One way to avoid taking rejection personally is to ensure that you’re constantly evaluating it as feedback, and using it as a tool to learn from each time.

18. Giving Away Too Much Information In Your Interview

The whole point of an interview is to provide an opportunity for the employer, hiring manager, or recruiter to get to know you a little bit more. Essentially, they are looking to determine whether or not you’re a good fit, learn a little bit more about your background, and see if you’re interested in the job and company.

In many cases, the individual you’re interviewing with will tell you a little bit about the job and the challenges you might face on a daily basis and how your role will be shaped moving forward by those challenges. Essentially, this open-ended discussion is designed to see whether or not you can accurately describe how you plan on bringing new ideas to the role and experience.

The thing you need to be careful with when answering these questions is to not give away the whole prize before you’re even hired. In other words, if they present a challenge to you and say that they can’t find the solution to something that they’ve been facing for years, and you recognize that you have solved that problem in a previous place of employment, the last thing you want to do is give them the solution in the interview.

Because once you give them the solution, what’s the purpose in hiring you? They might find a way to implement the solution with their current workforce or hire someone else who has more credentials and just explain the solution to them in the future. Instead, you want to highlight how you have solved that problem in the past and would use that experience to solve their problem and provide additional value to them in the future.

You clearly want to showcase that you’re experienced in solving the challenge and providing value, but you don’t want to give them all the answers. You have to make it clear that they have to hire you to get the answers without seeming rude.

Another thing you don’t want to do in an interview by giving away too much information is to provide unnecessary information. The employer, hiring manager, or recruiter don’t need to hear about some of your personal problems or things unprofessional things you’re dealing with. Talking about some of the complications you have and might bring to the workforce will automatically disqualify you or leave a sour taste in their mouth and make your job hunt that much harder.

19. Providing Too Much Information On Your Resume

It might seem like a good idea to create a resume that is twenty pages long and lists everything under the sun so the individual reviewing your resume can learn more about you. The reality is that you don’t want to provide too much information on your resume. Your resume should be tailored to the job posting, and provide the relevant information that the individual reviewing your resume needs to determine whether or not to move forward with your name in the candidate consideration process.

A good way to ensure that your resume doesn’t have too much information is to ensure that it focuses on the value that you can provide an employer, and doesn’t have irrelevant experience or bits of information that don’t directly apply to the job posting.

For more information on what info you should and should not include on your resume, check out our Resume Guide.

20. Accidentally Eliminating Yourself From Consideration

One critical job hunting mistake to avoid is accidentally eliminating yourself from consideration. This can happen when you demonstrate that you boasted about something and it turns out it wasn’t true, as we mentioned earlier, or by demonstrating that your qualifications and skills don’t align with the requirements listed on the job posting. Throughout the interview and application process, there are questions and evaluations designed to determine whether or not you would be a good match based on the required skills and achievements listed as part of the role.

If during the course of the interview, or the application process you make it clear that you don’t have the skills necessary to be a good fit for the position, you’re risking being eliminated from consideration immediately.

21. Not Following Up

Not following up with the interviewer or individual reviewing your application is one of the worst job hunting mistakes you can make. In today’s modern job search environment, it might seem like a waste of time to follow up with someone or believe that you’re being an inconvenience to them. The reality of the situation is that following up after the job interview is a great way to market yourself once again and make a good impression.

Part of the job hunting process is to ensure that you’re always making a good impression. If you had an average interview, you can also use the follow-up process as a way to stand out amongst your other candidates and highlight once again why you believe that you’d be the perfect candidate.

You might worry that you’re going to come across as annoying or a pest, but you need not worry. The reality of the situation is that there are so many individuals that no longer follow-up after an interview, that you will be the rare scenario. When you thank them for the consideration and provide them with some additional reasons as to why you believe you would be a good fit, you help your job hunting efforts ten-fold.

To learn more about how to properly follow-up after an interview, check out our Interview Follow-Up Guide.

22. Not Having an Elevator Pitch Ready

For those who don’t know what an elevator pitch is, an elevator pitch is essentially a short one-minute speech or breakdown of who you are and why the employer should consider hiring you. Elevator pitches are often used to provide a last-minute impression on the employer and leave them with some parting thoughts. Every job seeker has a chance to provide an elevator pitch at the end of an interview.

Now that you understand why it’s important, you might be asking yourself how you’ll know when to use it. The elevator pitch opportunity often sounds like this, “Is there anything else you feel I should know?” In some cases, the elevator pitch request will come at the beginning of an interview and sound something like this, “So tell me a little bit about yourself and why you feel you’d be a good fit for this role?”

Recognizing when you should use your elevator pitch and understanding the importance of it is critical to your job hunting efforts to ensure that you stand out amongst the crowd of applicants and highlight your expertise that you can bring to each job you apply to.

23. Sending an Outdated or Generic Resume

Another important job hunting mistake to avoid is to ensure that you’re not submitting a generic or outdated resume. You might realize that you have several different resumes on your computer that you’ve used over the years to apply to a host of jobs. If these resumes aren’t easily identifiable or labeled differently, you might accidentally submit the wrong ones.

Take the time to ensure that you’re not submitting outdated resumes by cleaning up some of the clutter you have in your files. Ensure that you’re not submitting a generic resume for every position you apply to by tailoring your resume to focus on the individual job you’re applying for and use your experience and education related to the job to stand out.

24. Showing Up Unprepared

The next job hunting mistake to avoid is to ensure that you don’t show up unprepared. You might be the best public speaker and feel quite confident going into an interview. The reality is that even though you might feel incredibly confident, you still need to prepare yourself for the interview by research the company and practicing your answers.

We’ve all been in the scenario where we feel incredibly confident, and then we end up getting anxiety as soon as the interview starts. In many cases, employers and hiring managers will ask that you bring additional paperwork or copies of your resume. Ensure that you show up prepared by figuring out all that you need to bring to the interview days before and setting them in a place where you will remember to bring them.

25. Not Having References

Nearly every employer or recruiter will do their due diligence before moving forward with your name in the consideration process. Part of this involves following-up with your references to hear what they have to say about you. It’s important to have a set of references that will speak on your behalf and will talk about your personality, work ethic, and offer some insight to employers from an outside perspective.

It’s always a good idea to have a minimum of three references. Make sure that you follow up with each reference and ask to make sure that they are comfortable with being a reference. If they’re not, that’s ok! Just find someone else who is willing to speak about you on your behalf.

26. Failing To Fully Read the Job Description or Job Requirements

In the modern job hunting world, it can be relatively easy applying for tens of jobs in one day. For instance, most job sites only provide the title of the job, location, and a brief two sentence snippet about what the job is about with an apply button. These modern trends make it easy for applicants to ignore the rest of the job posting and just apply to the job quickly.

The problem with this is that you could automatically be disqualifying yourself by not reading the entire job description or job requirements. An even worse scenario might be when you’re eventually offered to interview for the job, and you realize that you’re not even remotely qualified for the job, or that you applied to it believing the job and its responsibilities were something else.

Avoid this job hunting mistake by taking the time to fully read both the job description and the job requirements. You’ll be grateful you did.

27. Spamming Your Resume

It might seem like a good idea to submit your resume everywhere you can. The only problem with this is that you can potentially irritate employers or recruiters by wasting their time. You run the risk of putting a sour taste in their mouth when they come across your name in other job postings. In addition, you’re just wasting your time. Don't’ waste your time and avoid this easy job hunting mistake by making sure that every time you submit your resume, you can really see yourself working in that role with the necessary skills and job requirements and with that employer.

28. Showing Up Late To An Interview

One of the biggest job hunting mistakes to avoid is to show up late to an interview. There are some rare circumstances where you cannot control showing up late. But a good way to ensure that you show up on time is to make sure that you map your route and leave early. Showing up late is not only unprofessional, it’s also incredibly rude.

If the recruiter or employer made you wait, you would be extremely unhappy. Don’t do the same for them, and make sure that you show up on time. If you show up late, you might run the risk of being ignored for the position.

29. Not Confirming The Interview

Another job hunting mistake to avoid is to ensure that you always confirm the interview. Oftentimes recruiters, employers, and hiring managers will send some form of a follow-up invitation or calendar reminder for the interview time and appointment. If the interviewer calls you and you’re not available, they will often leave a voicemail asking for you to follow back up with them and go over some potential time as to when you’re available for a potential interview.

Don’t waste their time or leave them hanging. Follow-up and confirm the interview to ensure that you’re both on the same page as to when the interview is to be conducted and that it is set on your schedule.

30. Not Talking To Someone Who Works For the Employer

Another major job hunting mistake you should avoid is to always attempt to talk to someone who works for the hospital, healthcare facility, or employer. When you take the time to talk to someone who currently works for the employer, you get some insight as to whether or not they enjoy their job and enjoy working for the company. Ideally, you’d like to talk and connect with someone who has the same role or set of responsibilities as the job you’re applying for.

This way, you can evaluate from an outside perspective about whether or not you’re going to potentially enjoy the job or if you’re going to dislike certain aspects.

If you don’t have someone you know that works for the employer or hospital, take the time to reach out to some connections on LinkedIn and send them a quick message. You can avoid wasting time applying to jobs that others don’t recommend by reaching out and talking to someone who currently works for the employer.

Summary

We've all probably made the above mistakes before when job hunting, but it's never too late to learn from out mistakes and avoid them in the future. Most people get terribly stressed out when searching for a new position, particularly during the first interview, and it can ultimately lead to making errors that can cost you the job offer. Instead of buying into the high-pressure idea that the job you're applying to is the only one out there and you'd be lucky to have it, inducing a lot of pressure into the situation, practice confidently selling yourself and your skills to see better long-term results.

( Article / Content Updated 2018 )