Why I Won’t Hire You – or Even Interview You

That title may sound a bit rough for some of you, but if you’re looking for a job – or you know someone who is – pay attention. Let me share some insights from an employer’s perspective as to why you may not be able to land that job – or even the interview – for which you think you’re well qualified.

As a bit of background, I’ve been looking to hire a part-time, marketing assistant to support me and my team with brand management, social media, and general in-office admin tasks. I’ve also made it very clear, the person needs to be organized, professional, able to multi-task, and regularly “bring something to the table.” Asking a lot? Maybe for some, but if you want to succeed in my small company where we each do a variety of things, I’m telling you up-front, you better be willing to work and contribute. If you understand that and do it, we’ll have tons of fun as we do incredible things together.

So back to the topic as to why I won’t interview or hire you…

  1. You didn’t follow the instructions in the ad to apply.

    It said: Email your resume and a short cover letter detailing your qualifications that match our needs. No phone calls. No drop ins. So far, not a single applicant has done just that. Either there’s no cover letter (or cover email), or there’s no detail that aligns to our needs. We’ve had a few phone calls; no drop ins so far, but I won’t be surprised if we have an “assertive” applicant pop in unannounced one day.
    Why does this matter?

    • If you can’t or won’t follow these basic instructions, why on earth would I ever trust you to manage my company’s brand that I’ve worked 20 years to build?
    • I’m asking for a cover letter – or heck – even a nice, coherent cover note in your email so I can gauge your writing skills. If you can’t write a coherent cover email or note, again, why would I ever trust you with my company’s social media work or marketing pieces?
    • I don’t want phone calls or drop-ins. They interrupt our day; I’m often out with clients and then I or another staff person has to play telephone tag, etc. with you. No phone calls. I’ll call you IF we want to schedule an interview.
  2. You didn’t learn anything about my company before you applied – even though I supplied the website address in the ad.

    Why does this matter?

    • I want to see if you’ll take the time to learn something about my company to see if it’s even the type of service business within which you’d like to work.
    • I’m again testing you to see if, as a marketing and branding person, you’ll take the time to look at my site, assess my brand, and then comment on it in your (non-existent) cover letter or email. I’m trying to get a sense of your skills as a marketing/branding person.
    • I want to see if you are looking for a paycheck or if you truly want to contribute. If you want to contribute, you’ll take the time to find out about my company so you can get some idea of how you could contribute given your skills and experience.
  3. You didn’t customize your resume (forget customizing the cover letter as you didn’t include one..) to the position advertised.

    Why does this matter?

    •  The typical rule of thumb for time spent “reading” resumes is about 30 seconds each. Why? Employers (myself included) open the resumes, quickly skim them to see where there are matches. If we immediately see items on your resume that meet our requirements and needs, we slow down and read for detail. If we don’t see matches, we move on to the next applicant. 30 seconds. So, if you haven’t taken the time to format and align your resume to the stated job posting requirements, most employers won’t take the time to work through your resume.
    • I’m looking for a part-time person, so why do you send me a resume that states you’re “…seeking a fulfilling full-time position”?
    • I’m looking to hire someone with marketing skills, so immediately – and I do mean immediately – show me you’ve got some marketing skills that would contribute to my company. Instead of having your stated career objective as: Seeking a position that will enable me to contribute my skills in a challenging and rewarding environment, which is a bunch of fluff that means nothing, write something that gives me an immediate sense of your ability to contribute to my team and its needs. Seeking the marketing and brand management position with Weber Business Services that will allow me to…( pull some of the specific tasks, etc I outlined in the job posting).
    • You didn’t list your experience with the various marketing, brand management, social media, etc requirements I requested in the ad. You didn’t customize and align your resume with my team’s needs. You sent me your boilerplate resume, so I don’t know what you really do or don’t know. If you do have the skills but they’re not listed, I have no way of knowing that so I’m going to assume you don’t have them and will “file” your resume.
  4. Your resume lists no, zero, nadda, zip, zilch relevant experience to the position we’re looking to fill.

    • I don’t like wasting my time or my staff’s time reviewing resumes that are sent only to meet your requirement to apply for X number of positions so you can stay on Unemployment.
    • If you can’t market yourself to me, why would I trust you to market my company and brand?
    • However, if you are seriously looking for a job and you think this one sounds great, but you don’t have any relevant work experience, show me what you have done in your personal life, volunteer roles, etc that do align with my team’s needs. I honestly don’t care if you have a degree (none was specified in the ad). What I do care about is your willingness and ability to learn and bring something to the table. So again, align your skills and experience to the job requirements. If you’re an avid Tweeter, Facebooker, LinkedIn user and have done really cool things in those worlds in your personal life (all clean and legal of course), let me know that. If you’ve volunteered for your church, community groups, etc to help with their marketing and outreach efforts in the past, let me know that. If you don’t have any volunteer experience, what classes have you taken on your own that align with my team’s needs? Show me you are willing to take some individual initiative and that you’ve got something to bring to the table to help my team. What skills or characteristics DO you possess that will be attractive? I wanted to hire a waitress in a bagel restaurant years ago for a customer service job because she was amazing with the customers. However, she didn’t want to relocate to Pennsylvania so she didn’t join the team.
    • Honestly, I’ll be more impressed with someone who has managed to hold down a part-time job or started free-lancing, while taking classes to improve him/herself that align with my team’s needs, than someone who has done nothing, and I mean nothing, since s/he lost a full-time marketing job 12+ months ago that had good skills at that time.

So with all that said, be smart when you apply for a job. If you cause me (or any employer) to “work” this hard just to understand what you COULD bring to the team, you’re sending an image of yourself as someone who doesn’t care enough to put in 15 minutes worth of work to customize a resume for a really cool job. And with that impression in my mind, I don’t want you on my team. If you’re not willing to put in 15 minutes worth of work to follow the instructions, do a bit of research, share some ideas, and refine your resume to get a job, I won’t add you to my team.

So no interview. No job.

 

 

Copyright MMXII – Liz Weber, CMC, CSP – Weber Business Services, LLC – www.WBSLLC.com +1.717.597.8890

Liz supports clients with strategic and succession planning, as well as leadership training and executive coaching.

Liz Weber CMC CSP

Liz Weber CMC

Liz Weber coaches, consults, and trains leadership teams. She specializes in strategic and succession planning, and leadership development.

Liz is one of fewer than 100 people in the U.S. to hold both the Certified Management Consultant (CMC) and Certified Speaking Professional (CSP) designations.

Contact Liz’s office at +1.717.597.8890 for more info on how Liz can help you, or click here to have Liz’s office contact you.

 

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