It’s pretty safe to say that looking for a new job is rarely easy, and for a lot of people, just one misstep can cause them to miss out on an opportunity they may have been perfect for. There are plenty of resume and interview mistakes people make daily and now some executives are revealing the deal breakers they see all too often.
A new Robert Half survey questioned folks who do IT hiring about mistakes they often see that would cause them not to consider a candidate, and most of the responses certainly seem to translate to other departments. Overall, CIOs note that the thing they see on resumes that would most likely cause them to skip over a client is frequent job hopping (21%), but other mistakes include:
- Bad formatting, sloppiness or typos (17%)
- Too long or too much unnecessary information (17%)
- Not highlighting strategic thinking and business knowledge (13%)
- Overly complicated (11%)
- No context around prior experience (9%)
And then there are the mistakes people make during face-to-face interviews, with talking negatively about past employers or managers (20%) being the biggest blunder, according to CIOs. Other interview deal-breakers include:
- Poor body language, such as no eye contact or a weak handshake (19%)
- Unprepared for technical questions (16%)
- No clear understanding of the business (15%)
- Ineffective explanation of career history (15%)
- Unprofessional dress (13%)
- No "thank you" or follow-up after the interview (1%)
Source: Robert Half