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You’ve been sending out resumes and completing applications and you’re starting to ask yourself, “Why can’t I get a job interview?” You know that if you could just get the chance to present yourself at an interview, you’d do well.
The answer could be fairly simple. As a hiring manager, below are things that I run into all the time. They are easy to remedy and could make a big difference in whether or not you get the interview.
Please establish a professional email address before beginning your job search
A new email address through gmail or yahoo will cost you absolutely nothing.
If you already have an email address that is some combination of your name or your name and a number, that should be fine.
But, if your personal email is HotMama or MsThing or DaddyDoesDonuts, that gives the wrong impression. These email addresses, which are fine for your friends, say to a hiring manager:
- I’m not taking my job search seriously and I won’t take the job seriously
- I can’t take the time to establish a professional identity
- I don’t use very good judgment
Check your email daily
I have on numerous occasions emailed an invitation for a job interview to have the recipient fail to respond at all or respond a week later. I’ve already filled the position by then.
Even if you’re not interested, respond with a thank you and decline the interview gracefully. You never know when you will cross paths with that hiring manager again. I promise you will not be given any consideration if you failed to respond.
PHONE
I cannot stress this enough:
- answer your phone and speak professionally to whoever is on the line OR
- let your phone go to voicemail whenever it rings
You know you’re looking for a job. The hiring manager is not cold calling you.
When the hiring manager calls and says, “May I speak with John Smith?” say, “Yes, speaking.”
If it’s a spam call, so what? Just say, “No thank you” and hang up.
When you sound suspicious on the phone, or refuse to identify yourself until the other person does, you are giving the wrong impression to the hiring manager.
Basically, you’re saying:
- I have something to hide and
- I’m willing to lie
I called a woman for an interview. She was very suspicious over the phone and finally said that she hadn’t recognized the number.
I asked her if, since she was looking for a job, wouldn’t she be thrilled to be getting calls from unfamiliar numbers?
She finally acknowledged that I had a point. I did not, however, set an interview with her. I hope our conversation helped her for the next person who called her, but she had already displayed her poor judgment, making anything else she said irrelevant to me.
If you absolutely can’t answer your phone enthusiastically every time it rings during your job search, then don’t answer your phone at all.
- Let it go to voicemail
- Check your messages
- Call back in a timely fashion if it was a call about an interview
Be sure to wait for the voicemail
DO NOT call the number right back and say, “I just got a call from this number.” It might be a switchboard and they will not know who called you. Even if it’s the direct number for the hiring manager, you will sound very unprofessional. Listen to the message and follow the instructions for calling back.
If the call came near 5:00 pm, call back the next morning just after 9:00 unless there is some other instruction. Don’t call at 7:00 pm (unless invited to) and don’t call three days later.
DO NOT call back a week later saying that you were on vacation.
If you’re looking for a job, you have your phone with you and can return a call. If you are going to be somewhere without any access to your phone or email, don’t begin the job search until you return.
Of course, this means you have to have your voicemail set up before starting the job search
The hiring manager is not going to keep calling if there is no answer and no voicemail. Your application is just going into the NO category.
When setting up your voice mail, just say, “You have reached [your full name]. Please leave me a message and I will get back to you as soon as I can.”
DO NOT say “I will get back to you at my earliest convenience.” That is an appropriate term when asking someone to call you back, but not for saying when you will call back.
“I’ll get back to you at my earliest convenience” is exactly the same as saying “I’ll get back to you when I’m good and ready.”
This is not the impression you want to give to a potential employer.
Do not have music or anything else in the background. Once you get the job, you can go back to whatever fun message your friends are used to.
Sometimes you can miss a payment on your phone, especially if you are between jobs
However, the two days you go without a working phone are the days that potential employers are going to call you, get a message about the subscriber not receiving calls, and cross you off the list. You know it’s true.
One solution is to buy a cheap prepaid phone before you start looking for a job, put a minimal number of minutes on it, and do not use it for any other reason. Use that phone number on your job applications and you’ll have the added benefit of knowing that any calls coming to that phone pertain to your job search.
When you are invited for an interview:
- Make every effort to be available on the date and time that the interviewer requests
- Do not tell the interviewer that you have a 10:00 doctor’s appointment and therefore can’t make a 2:00 interview. I’ve heard this several times and I wonder about people who seem unable to do more than one thing during a day. What will they be like at work?
An interview is not about your convenience. It’s about you showing enthusiasm for the job.
DO NOT call and ask to reschedule because of the weather. The interviewer is at work. If you show up in a downpour, it makes it even more apparent that you want the job. If you don’t, it looks like you don’t really want to work.
If it’s snowing, plan to get to the interview on time. If it is that bad, the interviewer will call you to reschedule.
DO NOT show up forty minutes early and make it the interviewer’s responsibility to see you early or find someplace for you to sit. Arrive five to ten minutes before the scheduled interview time. If you get there early to find the location, go get a cup of coffee, or sit in your car, or take a walk.
Do not mention this to the interviewer. When asked if you had any trouble finding us, say “No, the commute was fine.” Do not give the impression that you will have trouble getting to work or that you will make your personal issues your employer’s problem.
DO NOT fail to show up for an interview. If it’s a phone or virtual interview through Zoom or Teams, answer the phone or log on to the platform. It is amazing how many people simply don’t show up, in person or virtually, with no communication of any kind.
If you get a job in the meantime, that’s great! Call and thank the hiring manager and cancel the interview. You might cross paths again and you don’t want to be remembered as someone who didn’t show up.
If you are given instructions as to how to find the building (go through the red door, look for the number 1200 on the awning, etc.), take notes, bring them with you and follow them.
I have had many situations when people have called to say they weren’t sure where to go or how to get into the building and I have responded, “Remember how we talked about…”
Failure to follow the instructions you were given to get to the location makes a bad impression and has more weight than anything you will say during the actual interview. It doesn’t matter what you say if you have already shown yourself to be someone who can’t or won’t follow instructions.
Read more about presenting yourself at an interview here.
For a checklist of all the things mentioned in this post, download the free Job Readiness Checklist here.
If you would like to be walked through the entire job search process, straight through to acing your first day at work, share this link with someone who wants to buy you a gift – Get Your First job: 90-minute online course
Good luck with your job hunt!
