Is there a word in the news business for those inane stories that get run year after year? For Thanksgiving, send a crew to film the crowd at the airport. First snow? Cameras to the pass, and advice about carrying chains. This time of year there are hundreds of articles with advice for new grads seeking their first jobs.
Some of the advice is likely good stuff. People say you should write a cover letter, proof read your resume, and my favorite: pick a mature ring tone.
Are these tips necessary? Are the people who don’t spell check their resumes out there reading career advice columns? Is telling someone to pick the right ring tone missing the opportunity to tell them to turn off the phone for the job interview?
More importantly, if the advice given to people with big red flags is “hide the big red flag,” doesn’t that make it harder for employers to identify the non-idiots? “Be yourself” is a perennial tip for job hunters, but it’s always number 5 after “take out the nose ring” or “don’t make sex jokes.” Maybe we’d all be better off if the advice was just be yourself, and don’t show up on time if you don’t feel like it.
Tags: career advice, career tips, job hunting
trovix.wordpress.com 
June 26, 2008 at 2:17 pm |
In all honesty, I do believe those tips are necessary. Most employers will be more impressed with someone who takes the time to spell-check their documents than someone who doesn’t care – it reflects on their behavior and how they might handle company assignments later on.
In regards to being yourself… You have a good point, but there is such a thing as letting people on to too much too fast. It’s good to be who you are in an interview, but at the same time, would you respond to said interviewer (essentially a stranger at this point) as you would your good friends?
-Segan