Why Youre Not Getting Good Job Search Advice - The Muse

Why Youre Not Getting Good Job Search Advice - The MuseWhy Youre Not Getting Good Job Search Advice Im just going to go ahead and admit it Sometimes when my husband gives me advice I dont like or wasnt expecting, instead of embracing it, I tell him he doesnt understand, he doesnt know what hes talking about, he just doesnt get it. This leads to exactly nowhere as he attempts to get me to explain myself better, and I shut down. My excuses for claiming his advice isnt good are just that- excuses.Sound familiar? If youve ever dismissed someones advice as bad and bemoaned the fact that none of your friends dont have anything worthwhile to say when it comes to your career, you may want to take a moment to look at yourself. Of course, elend all the advice you get is going to be great, but often the problem isnt with the information youre getting, its with how you internalize it. Read on for three situations where its not the advice that isnt good, its your refusal to embrace it as legit. 1 . Your Best Friend Advises You to Tailor Your Resume and Cover LetterIts not your best friends first rodeo. He recently snagged a new job at a company hed been eyeing for months. After weeks of sending out his standard resume and a basic, generic cover letter and not getting any responses, he did some research and discovered that personalized application materials were what he needed to get an edge. Once he created a resume and letter of interest tailored to the companies he was applying to, the interview invitations came fast and furious, and before long, he had an offer. He attributes it to revamping his professional documents, and advises you to do the same. But, instead of digesting this information and seeing the validity in it, you grow annoyed and decide that Your Skills Speak for ThemselvesAt this point, youre applying to several jobs a day, and you cant even imagine sending out different versions of your cover letter. You know your friends story, but yours isnt identical, w hich means you dont need to follow his advice, right? Wrong. If your generic resume were getting you interviews and offers, you probably wouldnt be getting this feedback in the first place, but since what youre doing isnt working, its clearly time to try something else. 2. Your Brother Suggests Cleaning up Your Social Media AccountsAs your older brother and one of the people closest to you, hes read all of your distasteful tweets, and he knows you leise have those ridiculous spring break photos up on your public Facebook account. You dont have a professional LinkedIn photo, and you dont have a summary either. So, what youve got is a huge presence on Instagram (pictures of hamburgers and not much else featured prominently) and FB (see above, re rowdy spring break photos), but youve got nearly nothing to show on LinkedIn, the site that nearly all hiring professionals look at when theyre hiring, and, whats more, your Twitter page doesnt really give any insight into your character and d epth. In spite of that reality, when your brother tells you to take an afternoon to get your social media presence hiring-manager ready, you balk. The advice is worthless, you think, because You Think the Right Employer Wont CareOK, first of all, you dont think the spring break shots are that bad. Youre only holding a beer in a few of them- its not like youre tossing back shots or are participating in a wet T-shirt contest. Just because you want to tweet out all of your customer service complaints, it doesnt mean you should be penalized. Youre on LinkedIn- what does it matter how active you are? Once the recruiter sees your work history and experience, shell know youre the best person for the job. Um, not exactly. No doubt your skill set would make you an immediate asset to the role, but hiring managers are getting dozens of applications, and if and when they look into your zugreifbar presence and are bombarded with unflattering images and unprofessional language, youll be moved to the bottom of the pile. Change your privacy settings and be as clear as day that your future boss would be happy with what he might come across. THINK YOU HAVE ENOUGH ADVICE TO GET STARTED ON YOUR SEARCH?Great, your new job is right around the corner.Start applying today 3. Your Mentor Tells You to Brush up on Your Interviewing SkillsShe offers to role-play with you, encourages you to ask questions, suggests that you put more of an effort into researching the company before you go in for an interview. In her position, she interviews candidates often and can point out the mistakes made in the process. Shes not claiming to have all the answers, and, no, she wasnt with you in any of your interviews, but she has a lot of thoughts on how you can ace this part of your job search. Its nothing you havent heard before, and so you brush it aside and refuse to believe that you actually need help in this area. Youre doing everything right, you say and You Respond That Its Not You Whos the Prob lem, Its ThemAdmittedly, your last couple of in-person meetings werent so great. You didnt always have the answer to the questions you were asked, but hey, not your fault, there were some hardballs, and you were honest when you explained why your last job didnt work out- your boss, you know, wasnt a good manager and made it difficult for you to get anything done. But, no one has a perfect interview. No one has the answer to all the questions. Theres only so much you can learn about the company unless youre working there. While there may be some truth to these things, theres probably plenty of truth to the fact that youre, well, getting to the interview process and bombing it. Your mentor is looking out for you, trying to help you succeed. Dont shun the advice because your ichs getting in the way. Typically, if youre finding advice hard to swallow, its because theres something you dont want to face. Like I said, Ive been there. Coming to terms with our shortcomings and the ways we ne ed to improve is challenging and can make us feel vulnerable. But, instead of risking relationships and losing friendships simply because you want to chalk up all the advice as no-good, take a long, hard look at yourself and what it is that you could be doing differently to get the results you want. Photo of man having a serious conversation courtesy of Nikada/Getty Images.