Everybody wants to make a good impression on a resume or job interview, but you can’t believe everything you read on the internet. Job search advice comes free and easy to online job seekers, but it doesn’t guarantee you’ll get hired. Here’s a look at the 11 weirdest — and just plain worst — job search tips we’ve seen.
Follow Up Several Times During the Job Search
Feel free to follow up with the employer if you haven’t heard back within their projected reply time. Once. But until they get back to you, limit yourself to just one follow-up contact during the job search. Too many follow-ups get creepy fast, and if the employer is rude enough to ignore you, do you really want to work there anyway?
2. Accept the First Offer of Your Job Search
If the first offer of your job search is exactly what you want, then by all means accept it. But if you’re offered notably less than what you’re worth, saying yes devalues your experience and sets you up for incrementally lower salaries — because future raises are based on the rate you start at now.
3. Apply for All Open Jobs by One Employer
Maybe if you tilt your head and hold your mouth just right, this seems like the thorough approach, but in reality you just look desperate. Narrow your job search and find your ideal career path by taking a 16 personality types career test.
4. Tell Them How Much You Need It
No matter how true it may be, any inclination of desperation downgrades your appeal. Instead, focus on the skills and experience that make you a great fit for the job. Eagerness coveys emotion, and hiring managers prefer an employee who can keep cool under pressure. Watch these TED Talks for inspiration on how to prepare for an interview.
5. Talk About How Much Your Old Boss Loved You
Letters of recommendation can be helpful, but reminiscing about the good old days at your former company is not. (If those other managers loved you so much, why aren’t you still there?)
6. Drop a Thank-you Gift at the Office
This communicates manners in a social situation, but not necessarily a professional one. If you need to touch base, stick to an email, phone call or, in the most extreme cases, a handwritten card as your one appreciative follow-up.
7. Say Yes to Everything the Recruiter Wants
The recruiter isn’t there to look out for your best interests — they’re there to take care of the company. So just because they ask for salary records or an unpaid trial period, you don’t have to immediately say yes.
8. Put Everything in Your Resume
You can never have too much information on your resume, right? Wrong. Anything immediately and specifically unrelated to the job at hand takes attention away from the elements of your resume that really do matter. Browse resume examples and learn how to make a resume with a resume builder like this one.
9. Hide Your Personal Quirks
Your potential employer doesn’t need to know you bite your nails or put mustard on everything you eat. But if you’re too bland, you won’t be remembered. Find your balance by showcasing the unique elements of your personality that make you well-suited to the job and help answer the question, “Why should we hire you?”
10. Let Them Know You’re Wanted Elsewhere
Having other job prospects can be a valuable negotiating tool. But breezing in and declaring you can’t stay long, because you have three more interviews lined up shows you’re not taking the current interview seriously.
11. Just Fudge a Little
You never know when or how a potential employer will verify the information you’ve given them, and any sign of less-than-perfect honesty on your part is a huge red flag.
Yes, these job hunting tips are way over the top, but they’re not all bad. If you can limit yourself to their positive, root essence — showing confidence, but not arrogance; highlighting your desirable qualifications, but making sure they’re real; and being friendly and relatable, but not a pushover — you’re guaranteed to make a great impression.