Your job application is the first impression you make on a potential employer. In fact, the reason applications are required in most companies is precisely so that employers can test and judge you. We have compiled below the most common mistakes we are seeing among applicants when they email applications to us. Avoid these mistakes at all costs.
1. “I think your application requirements are such and such…”
Some applicants feel our application process is too tough and write us to complain about it. We disqualify these applicants immediately. Why? They fail to understand that the application process in itself is a test, a method of weeding out weak candidates. Applicants who complain show themselves not up to the task of working at our company or the companies we represent. A good interviewing process replicates the work conditions at a company. If you do not survive the application and interview process, you will not survive the job.
2. No Subject, No Email Body
Some applicants just send out CVs attached to blank emails. An employer then has to figure out which position the applicant is applying for and why they think they should be considered for that job. This is plain laziness. Since the applicant has not done any research or planning about their career path, they expects someone else to do it for them. Sadly, everyone else is too busy and no one has time to hand-hold recent graduates into a career
3. “Here is an application for a position that does not exist at your company”
Your application may be perfect, from cover letter to CV, but if your preferred position does not exist at the company to which you have just sent your documents, guess what…delete, delete, delete. Worse, it shows that you haven’t taken the time to research the company. Which company wants to hire someone without initiative? Stop job seeking by trial and error. Do your research.
4. One email to all potential employers
We have come to the conclusion that many job seekers do not understand that each application needs to be tailored to the company in question. And if you are too lazy to actually do the work required to impress employers, at least put all the recipients in bcc (black carbon copy), which hides recipients from each other. It’s still bad form. Why? Every employer wants to feel that you have picked the company for a very specific reason, that you feel you will fit there and nowhere else. Revealing where else you are applying simply signals that you are not serious about any one company.
5. Typos: misspellings, no capitals, wrong punctuations
When you present less than perfect writing to your potential employer, you raise quite a few questions; Do you simply not have a command of the English language? Should you, therefore, be trusted to communicate with clients? Or are you just careless? Therefore, should your supervisor trust you with anything at all? Or were you in a rush, too busy doing something else you consider more important than this application? After raising such questions in the employer’s mind, you can be sure you won’t be receiving an invitation to an interview.
