8 Errors You Must Stop Making in Your Job Search

8 Errors You Must Stop Making in Your Job Search8 Errors You Must Stop Making in Your Job SearchEvery job searcher faces different challenges, but hiring managers see some of the same mistakes over and over again. Chances are good that if youre looking for a job, youre making some of these errors and you might have an easier search if you resolve to change your ways.Here are eight job-search missteps to put an end to today.1. Trying to read into every word or action from your einstellungsgesprcher. Because job searching can be so stressful, many job seekers try to find clues about their chances in everything an employer says and does. This leads to frustrating and generally fruitless attempts to parse every word from an interviewer Was she signaling I didnt get the job when she said they had more candidates to interview? Is it a good sign that he shook my hand and said hed be in touch? More often than not, these signals dont mean anything at all, and just drive candidates crazy try ing to read between the lines.2. Stressing out over elements of your job applications that really dont matter. Employers really dont care whether you spend time tracking down the hiring managers name or just address your titelblatt letter to dear hiring manager, so dont put time into that. Similarly, most hiring managers really dont care what your rsum entwurf looks like as long as its organized and easy to skim, or whether your post-interview thank-you note is handwritten or emailed. Dont sweat the little stuff put your energy into showing your qualifications and why youd excel at the job.3. Scrimping on the cover letter. If youre applying for jobs without including a compelling cover letter, one thats customized to this specific job, youre missing out on one of the most effective ways to get a hiring managers attention. A cover letter is your opportunity to make a compelling case for yourself as a candidate, totally aside from whats in your rsum. Youre doing yourself a disservice if you dont write one tailored to each job for which you apply.4. Thinking that you have the job before you have an offer. Too often, candidates see good signs from an employer and think it means that theyre going to get an offer only to be crushed when the offer never comes. And not only does this regularly lead to disappointment, it can also lead you to make bad decisions for yourself like not continuing to apply for other jobs or even turning down interviews because you think your search is over. Never assume that youre getting the job until you have a formal offer.5. Not explaining why youd excel at the job. If youre simply submitting a rsum that runs down where youve worked and what your job duties were, its no wonder if youre not getting interviews. Hiring managers arent nearly as concerned about what jobs youve held as they are about what you accomplished in those jobs. Your rsum needs to list specific accomplishments (like increased Web traffic by 25 percent over 12 months or regularly recognized for highest number of customer compliments), and your cover letter needs to explicitly address how your track record shows that youd excel if hired.6. Taking advice from people with no experience hiring. Theres tons of advice on job searching out there from your friends, your relatives and plenty of self-styled experts on the Internet much of it contradictory. Before you take any job searching advice, think critically about the source. Is it someone with significant experience hiring people? And recent experience, at that? If not, that advice might not be worth much.7. Taking it personally. Its easy to become personally invested in a job you think you really want and then be devastated when you end up not getting it. Many job seekers start to question whats wrong with them and what they were lacking but most of the time, these decisions arent personal at all. Often candidates get rejected not because they werent well qualified but because someone else was simply a better fit. When theres one open slot and multiple qualified candidates, lots of great people will get rejected. You cant take it personally.8. Forgetting to evaluate potential employers just as much as theyre evaluating you. In the anxiety of an interview, it can be easy to focus only on whether youre impressing your interviewer, but its crucial to remember that you should be thinking about whether you even want the job. The interview process isnt one-way you should use the time to think about whether youre the right fit for the work, the manager and the workplace culture. Otherwise, you can end up in a job where you dont excel or arent happy. So interview that employer right back before you make any decisions.Alison Green writes the popular Ask a Manager blog, where she dispenses advice on career, job search, and management issues. Shes also the co-author of Managing to Change the World The Nonprofit Managers Guide to Getting Results, and former chief of staff of a succe ssful nonprofit organization, where she oversaw day-to-day staff management, hiring, firing, and employee development.