Recruiter's Guide to the Universe: The Little Things Matter

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When looking for a job most seekers spend
the majority of their time focusing on the major things - résumés,
networking, updating that all important LinkedIn profile, etc. when in
fact it really is the little things that really need to be looked at
first.

It truly is the little things that can have the biggest impact on
your personal brand and your job-search. Here are a few things that
often get overlooked that require your immediate
attention -

Phone and voicemail etiguette - People make
huge mistakes on the phone and when they are setting up their own
voicemail and leaving messages for others. Here is what I would
consider:

• When you leave a message for someone else start off with your name
  and phone number (said SLOWLY),
  your brief message, and then your name and phone number again (again
  said SLOWLY).


• When you set up your voicemail make sure YOU leave the outgoing
  message. Not your kids, not your grandkids, not your favorite musical
  selection.


• When you call someone ask them if they have a minute to speak before
  you go into conversation.


• Always tell the person who is calling who you are and say your name
  SLOWLY. Don't just assume that they recognize your voice.

Your ‘off the clock' stage presence - When
looking for a job how you present yourself at all times is super
important. Everyone knows the importance of being ‘on' during an
interview but how you act outside of that encounter can also have a big
impact on your search. Consider the following:

• You are running a little bit late to your latest interview so you
  blow by the two stop signs in the parking lot. The HR person (who also
  handles safety) is looking out their office window, sees the whole
  thing, watches you walk in the building, and then puts on a fake smile
  when he shakes your hand as your first stop of the day. Guess how this
  one is going to turn out?


• You go to the grocery store in your nastiest sweats without brushing
  your hair or your teeth or you are looking at an inappropriate magazine
  at the bookstore and the person who interviewed you yesterday walks by.
  What do you think is going to happen with that opportunity?


• You go out to the local watering hole and have about five too many
  and a recruiter you have been working with shows up. Not a good
  situation.


• You teach the guy that allegedly cut you off how to count
  to one on both hands and blow on the horn to make  sure he sees you. The
  next day you walk in to an interview with your dream company and he is
  the hiring manager. Not good.

Email address- Its fine to have a cutesy
email address to use with your friends but they definitly don't fly when
you are looking for a job. Here are some of the most common types
of email address mistakes I see:

• johndoe1966@yahoo.com -
  Age discrimination does exist in the business place today and you don't
  want to advertise something that can be used to weed you out. DO NOT (I
  repeat DO NOT)
  put your birthyear in your email address.


• hotlegs97@aol.com - This one
  is self-explanitory and shouldn't need to be mentioned but I still see
  ‘that' person pretty regularly


• kimsmom@hotmail.com - Some
  people don't like kids or people who have them.


• vandyfan100@comcast.net -
  What if the person reveiwing your resume or information hates your
  favorite sports team? I have seen people not move forward in the process
  for less.

What you name your job search documents counts
- You can name the documents you create anything that you want and what
you name your résumé and other job-search documents can count against
you. The vast majority of job-seekers name their resume ‘resume',
reference sheet ‘references', etc. which does not help you stand out as a
professional candidate. Here's what to do:

• First step - give your document your name. Some recruiters prefer
  first name last, last name first and others prefer the opposite.  Either
  way you look at it, it is a much better start than giving your
  job-search document the same-old, same-old that every one else does.


• Second step - describe what the document is. If it a reference sheet
  put ‘reference' in in parenthesis (References), if it is a résumé put
  ‘résumé' in parenthesis (Résumé), etc.


• Third step - put it all together.  John Doe (Résumé) and John Doe
  (References), etc looks so much better.


• Also - pay attention to the spelling of résumé (it is not spelled
  resume). Everything in your job-search documents needs to be spelled
  correctly, including the names of those documents.

I know I am just scratching the surface with the things listed here
and will add to it as time goes by. Good luck and good searching!