Are you a dilligent, hard worker?

By Stacie Maier • October 7, 2009 • Filed in: Career rants and rambles

I should hope so. And even if you’re not, I know damn well that you’re going to tell your potential new employer that you are. And guess what, so did the other 200 people who just applied for that job.

Do you have a phrase that just sets your teeth on edge? I do – I absolutely HATE ‘moving forward’. An old boss of mine would say it all the time. Now, when recruiters are reading your resumes and cover letters, do you think perhaps they have some phrases that they hate too? Maybe the ones that are vague, don’t impart any real information, are incredibly overused, or are just lame? The answer is yes, they do.

These poor people are bombarded with piles of resumes and cover letters everyday that just parrot back the same overused phrases again and again. Do you think that’s going to make you stand out? Think again.

Are you a team player? Really? Because I was hoping to hire a crotchety little bastard who would constantly try to undermine and sabotage their coworkers.

Do you have excellent communication skills? OK. Fine. You are communicating with me right now – so don’t say it, prove it! (My favorite is that usually, this statement tends to be in a sentence that is grammatically incorrect. I don’t know why – Murphy’s law? Must collect stats on this.

“I am currently seeking employment in the <insert desired industry here> field.” Really? Is that why you just sent me an application for a job in that industry? I NEVER would have guessed. Thank you, captain obvious.

Be sure to go through all of your application documents, (or better yet, have some one else, with an objective eye) and look for these traps. They are incredibly easy to fall in to.

Remember, you have 5 to 20 seconds to grab a recruiters attention – make sure that every single line, word and syllable is achieving something.

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