10 Common Job Search Mistakes

And How To Avoid Them

Written by: Jo Mills

1. Underestimating The Time It Takes To Find A New Job

People often ask me how long it will take to find a new job. They have spent 4 weeks searching and have had only a couple of interviews and responses to their applications and have become despondent. They have either given up, or start to feel depressed.

Well, the job search process can take several months – in fact the more experienced you are in your field, the longer your job search will take!

Overcome this obstacle, by getting realistic. Plan for your job search to take at least 3-6 months and be prepared for how long the recruitment process can be.

A short recruitment cycle for a business could be considered 4 weeks from beginning to end! And remember you have applied for lots of jobs at different times, so the responses are going to be staggered as they come in.

2. Sending Out An Unprofessional CV

I am amazed at the poor quality CVs (Resumes) I see coming across my desk. Badly formatted, spelling mistakes, job explanations that don’t give me any decent information.

Your CV is a marketing tool and you need to treat it as such. It is like an advertisement for you and you want to make it a good advertisement, not a shoddy one.

Think about what a stranger would think about you if they saw your CV for the first time.

What would be the main impression they would they get?

What kind of worker would they think you were?

What skills, abilities or talents would they think you have?

Would they think you could do the job you have applied for?

Make sure your CV look like a professional document. It is a demonstration of your work and should be a document to be proud of. Get it checked by a friend, make sure the spelling is right and that it sells your skills.

The purpose of the CV is to get you an interview – so make sure it is up to the job!

If you really want to make a great first impression, then your CV and Cover Letter is essential. You would be surprised at how many people get this wrong.

It is that important to get it right!

3. Not Preparing For Interviews

This is a biggie. The interview is your one chance to make a great impression and you don’t want to mess it up.

I have interviewed people (experienced and new to employment) who have obviously not prepared for their interview. They have no answers to fairly standard questions and give answers which are negative and make them difficult to employ.

Don’t fall into this trap!

Always prepare for your interview. Make a list of possible questions the interviewer will ask and practice your responses! Make sure you sell your past experience well – have the ability to tell your background clearly focusing on what is important to that interviewer.

4. Putting All Your Eggs In One Basket

A common mistake made by job searchers is by stopping their search once they have found the ideal job to apply for.

They wait at home for an answer and stop looking in the newspapers, stop networking and they stop searching the internet for opportunities.

Your job search is like a sales process – you wouldn’t stop selling just because you had a potential buyer. You would continue to look for potential buyers just in case you current buyer fell through.

Like a sales person, you want to keep selling (sending out your CV, going for interviews) until you have a definite yes.

5. Not Negotiating Your Salary

I have offered jobs to 100s of people and it is amazing how few negotiate their salary. Some salary offers are not going to increase, but some employers have room left to give you a bit more or may be able to offer you additional benefits.

If you don’t ask, you don’t get.

Always think about how you can add value to your remuneration package. Be sensible and professional in your requests, but don’t undervalue what you can offer to an employer.

Practice what you are going to say before hand so you won’t be caught off guard, and if money is a tricky topic for you, make sure you practice until you feel comfortable with your request.

6. Expecting The Wrong Things From Recruitment Agencies

People often expect a lot from their recruitment agencies, getting this service mixed up with a career advisor. They are very different. The majority recruitment consultants are lovely professional people (there are a few out there who give the others a bad name though!). But most of the time they are not there to help you find out a job. Their role is to match people to jobs they already have.

However, the relationship you have with your recruitment consultant can help you find a job.

Have realistic expectations, be very clear about the type of job you are looking for, don’t take anything personally and follow up with your recruitment agent appropriately.

It is up to you to create a great relationship with your agent.

7. Not Asking For Help

For some reason people don’t like to ask for help with their job search. We ask for help to find a plumber (referrals are great!), a restaurant for Saturday night, or we even get set up on blind dates to find a partner. But we balk at asking for help finding a job.

Your friends, colleagues, ex bosses, university teachers, high school teachers, family friends, family, neighbors, suppliers, shop owners, church congregation, and sports clubs.. (the list goes on) are all great sources of information about jobs.

To get you started right now, try writing a script of what you could say when asking for help – a script that you feel comfortable and confidant saying. Try this on a close contact first and see how it feels. You will be surprised how open and happy people are to help you in your job search!

8. Taking Any Job

It is very tempting to take the first job you are offered. And people do this all the time – they take a job just because someone asked them if they wanted it. People get trapped in jobs and careers they hate, just because they didn’t make an informed decision and just went with what was available.

Now, I am not suggesting your reject a job when you really need one. We all need to pay the bills. But don’t stop your career exploration there. Your career journey is an ongoing exploration of opportunities – you don’t want to wake up in 5, 10, or 40 years wondering “Why did I waste that time doing something that I didn’t love?”

Know what you love to do and focus your job search in that area!

9. Leaving Their Old Job On Bad Terms

How we exit a job is just as important as how we started it. The world is an increasingly small place and your reputation and how your character is viewed is very important.

Leave a job behaving in the way that you would like to be remembered. You may need a reference from that business in the future. So work hard until your last day, leave a great hand over for the people left behind, thank the people in the business who have helped you, and wish the business well.

10. Not Spending Enough Time On Career Planning

There is a common saying that we spend more time planning holidays than we do planning our careers. And then we spend our careers dreaming about our holidays!

Like anything in life, you have to put in some effort to get results. If you want to enjoy your work, then you have to spend time thinking about what it is that you want to do.

I recommend you have a regular period of review (monthly is ideal) where you reflect on what you have achieved, what your purpose is, what your values are and how they all come together in your current role.