Can I Wear My Nose Ring to the Interview?: A Crash Course in Finding, Landing, and Keeping Your First Real Job by Ellen Gordon Reeves
Authors: Ellen Gordon Reeves
Tags: Self-Help, Non-Fiction
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won’t have time to proofread carefully. In the event that you do make a mistake, apologize and do what you can to redress the situation.
Intentional “Typos”
Q. I worked as an assistant brand-manager for a product whose name looks like a typo—Dr Pepper. I know perfectly well that there’s a period after “Dr” but in the brand name they don’t use the period. I can’t change the name of the product, but I don’t want it to look as if I have a typo on my résumé. What do I do?
A. Here’s where Latin comes in handy. Insert the italicized word “sic” (meaning “thus”) in parentheses after the offending word. This convention indicates that the phrasing or spelling is intentional and not a mistake on yourpart. Another option is to punctuate “Dr.” correctly for jobs outside the soft-drink world, and spell it “Dr Pepper” for positions within the industry.
The Stuff You Can’t Help …
T HE LAST ELEMENT OF THE FIRST CUT isn’t something you can control, at least at this stage: Where you have worked, and for how long. The reader will choose candidates with what he considers the best and most relevant experience. The only way you can protect yourself from being tossed on the basis of lack of experience is by doing as much research as possible before you apply.
One of the top mistakes job-seekers make is applying for jobs for which they are unqualified. Make sure you’re in the right bracket for the job; don’t waste your valuable time applying for positions well beyond your experience level. Of course, you don’t have to play by the book. If you express serious interest and show how your skills pertain, perhaps you’ll be considered for a position you don’t even know exists. You certainly won’t get a job you don’t apply for.
But be realistic. If you’re a recent grad or haven’t worked in a given field, you are not going to be hired as CEO. If the ad says MBA and you don’t have one but you ran your own business, apply. If it says PhD and you’re ABD (All But Dissertation), you might apply, but you have to figure out why they’re asking. To teach in some universities, a PhD is simply the minimum requirement. Outside of academia, though, the request for a PhD may simply indicate that the organization is looking for someone with a certain level of knowledge.
Many ads state a minimum number of years of experience. You can still apply if you’re shy of the stated mark, but not if you have no experience whatsoever. Here’s a guideline: If an ad says “two to three years experience required” and you have one year, apply. If it says “three to five years” and you have two, okay—the ads are trying to weed out people with no experience in the field.
Sometimes the ad is designed to recruit candidates of a certain age and maturity. If you can prove that you have enough experience and you present yourself professionally, you may be considered. If your family is in the business or industry, find a way to slip that in. Even though you had only summer internships in the business, you may have more concrete and practical knowledge than someone with two years of low-level experience.
The Skeletons in Your Closet
For many people, a major stumbling block to résumé writing is a fear of skeletons in the closet. First of all, don’t obsess about gaps in chronology and jobs that didn’t work out. Those happen to everyone. What matters is how you deal with your skeletons. A skillfully organized résumé can minimize them. Inevitably, though, someone will ask a question you don’t want to answer: why you left a job you were fired from, how you spent that unaccounted-for year between college and grad school.
The only solution is to practice answering questions about gaps and skeletons out loud. Try rehearsing in front of a mirror, and then practice with a friend. Though you’ll see a list of probable interview questions in chapter 6 , here’s a preliminary look at three skeletons that
Intentional “Typos”
Q. I worked as an assistant brand-manager for a product whose name looks like a typo—Dr Pepper. I know perfectly well that there’s a period after “Dr” but in the brand name they don’t use the period. I can’t change the name of the product, but I don’t want it to look as if I have a typo on my résumé. What do I do?
A. Here’s where Latin comes in handy. Insert the italicized word “sic” (meaning “thus”) in parentheses after the offending word. This convention indicates that the phrasing or spelling is intentional and not a mistake on yourpart. Another option is to punctuate “Dr.” correctly for jobs outside the soft-drink world, and spell it “Dr Pepper” for positions within the industry.
The Stuff You Can’t Help …
T HE LAST ELEMENT OF THE FIRST CUT isn’t something you can control, at least at this stage: Where you have worked, and for how long. The reader will choose candidates with what he considers the best and most relevant experience. The only way you can protect yourself from being tossed on the basis of lack of experience is by doing as much research as possible before you apply.
One of the top mistakes job-seekers make is applying for jobs for which they are unqualified. Make sure you’re in the right bracket for the job; don’t waste your valuable time applying for positions well beyond your experience level. Of course, you don’t have to play by the book. If you express serious interest and show how your skills pertain, perhaps you’ll be considered for a position you don’t even know exists. You certainly won’t get a job you don’t apply for.
But be realistic. If you’re a recent grad or haven’t worked in a given field, you are not going to be hired as CEO. If the ad says MBA and you don’t have one but you ran your own business, apply. If it says PhD and you’re ABD (All But Dissertation), you might apply, but you have to figure out why they’re asking. To teach in some universities, a PhD is simply the minimum requirement. Outside of academia, though, the request for a PhD may simply indicate that the organization is looking for someone with a certain level of knowledge.
Many ads state a minimum number of years of experience. You can still apply if you’re shy of the stated mark, but not if you have no experience whatsoever. Here’s a guideline: If an ad says “two to three years experience required” and you have one year, apply. If it says “three to five years” and you have two, okay—the ads are trying to weed out people with no experience in the field.
Sometimes the ad is designed to recruit candidates of a certain age and maturity. If you can prove that you have enough experience and you present yourself professionally, you may be considered. If your family is in the business or industry, find a way to slip that in. Even though you had only summer internships in the business, you may have more concrete and practical knowledge than someone with two years of low-level experience.
The Skeletons in Your Closet
For many people, a major stumbling block to résumé writing is a fear of skeletons in the closet. First of all, don’t obsess about gaps in chronology and jobs that didn’t work out. Those happen to everyone. What matters is how you deal with your skeletons. A skillfully organized résumé can minimize them. Inevitably, though, someone will ask a question you don’t want to answer: why you left a job you were fired from, how you spent that unaccounted-for year between college and grad school.
The only solution is to practice answering questions about gaps and skeletons out loud. Try rehearsing in front of a mirror, and then practice with a friend. Though you’ll see a list of probable interview questions in chapter 6 , here’s a preliminary look at three skeletons that
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