Once Bitten, Twice Shy, Third Time Stupid

Over the years in recruitment, I have seen many job applicants make the same mistake again and again. This is a fatal mistake that I feel need to be addressed. These are the list of things that you should not do in the event of applying for jobs.

Do not spam the HR executives

A lot of desperate job seekers had been committing this same mistake. If you visit the yahoo groups, you will realize that some of the members are so helpful that they list out all the email addresses of the HR executives and headhunting/recruitment firms. It is really scary as the list comes in hundreds and thousands. Not surprisingly, my email was included in it as we're in the headhunting business as well.

Guess what happens when the hr executives receive your email. Count yourself really lucky if they don't list your email in the spam folder. What have you achieved? Nothing, but you have probably pissed people off. If you are one of those that enjoy broadcasting your resume, you would probably ban yourself from applying for jobs. Most of the established companies have got spam filters installed and even if your email doesn’t get picked up by spam filters, your resume is likely banned from their database. Word get around fast and all HR executives normal share a common pull of blacklist resumes.

Do not submit your resume to job portals where anybody can assess

I always receive calls from a lot of jobseekers asking me why they are not able to find job opportunities with large MNCs. It's not as if they do not qualify as some of them do have pretty good credentials. As all these queries piled up, I decided to do some cross reference with some of my clients to find out what was the main problem. Guess what was the reply?

Oh...they have been banned. Why have they been banned, I asked? Well by submitting their resumes to job portals that all employers have full access to (e.g Monster.com), you have just flooded the market with their resumes. You might think it might be a good thing but this should be done only on a last resort. Why is it so? Basically all the recruitment firms accessing that has access to the portal will pick your resume up as well. Imagine 30 or 40 recruitment firms submitting your resume to companies like Microsoft and Accenture. What happens? Your name gets strike off even if you apply directly to the company later.

Do Not Submit Your Resume More Than Once

By submitting your resume more than once you're really getting on people's nerves. A lot of people do not know that. What do you think I do when I receive the same resume 3 or 4 times a day? I delete his email and go to the spam filter and block his email address. That's what most HR executives do as well. Remember, your job is to send a neat & professional resume to make sure that the HR executives can do their job easily. You help them by helping yourself.

Always Indicate The Job Title/Code

Imagine a large MNC who has got 50 different openings. Out comes a resume that does not indicate any intention. What do you think the HR executive will do? Your resume will probably end up in the deleted mail folder. Do you think the HR executive has time to call all the candidates? They might do so if your resume is really well written. Imagine 50 X 100 resumes. The likely chance is that your resume will end up being deleted.

Now you understand the meaning of Once Bitten, Twice Shy, Third Time Stupid. There are so many people who continue to make these glaring mistakes day after day and that is going to impact on their career if they are choosing to join a large and reputable firm. More importantly, you need a good solid resume that bring you far in your career.

To sum it up, these are the things that you shouldn't do to avoid losing the opportunity of joining an MNC.

1 - Do not Spam the HR executives if there are no genuine opportunities advertised.

2 - Do not submit your resume to job portals where anybody can assess.

3 - Do not submit your resume more than once.

4 - Always indicate the job code.

Follow these steps and you stand a better chance of securing a good job.