The Biggest Mistakes 20-Something Job Seekers Make

Young job seekers need to get over their sense of entitlement.

There was the young job seeker who showed up at his interview 15 minutes late, failed to apologize, and thenasked if the interviewer had a garbage can so he couldthrow away his gum. There was also the 20-somethingapplicant whose call to the hiring manager went dead in the middle of the conversation. The young woman didn’t call back for two hours, only to explain, without apology, that she had dropped her phone in a tub of water while she was getting a manicure. Then there was the mother who called her son’s boss when he wasn’t hired at the end of his internship, and demanded to know why.

Dani Ticktin Koplik, 58, an executive and performance coach in Englewood, N.J. has lots of stories like these. For the last several years, half of Koplik’s coaching practice has been made up of so-called Generation Y, or Millennial, job seekers. This group, age 20-32, makes a series of job-searching mistakes that stem from their sense of entitlement, lack of deference to authority and over-involvement by their parents. Kopliksays in her own practice, parents frequently call and email, and try to micro-manage the coaching process. To run interference, Koplik schedules a monthly meeting with parents, mostly to tell them to stop meddling. She also coaches them to give their kids a consistent message. Too many parents tell their offspring that they have to earn a living, and then let them live at home indefinitely rent-free. Koplik recommends timetables and limits.

I asked Koplik for a list of mistakes her 20-something clients make, and she had plenty of ideas. Here is her list of the top ten.



1. Acting entitled
One of the consequences of over-involved parents is that young people feel as though they deserve an easyride. Koplik tells of an intern who, on the first day, informed his supervisor that he had to leave early that Thursday for a horseback riding lesson. “It didn’t dawnon this person that he was being totally inappropriate and sabotaging his career,” says Koplik.


2. Starting the process too late
Ideally, college students should start looking for meaningful internships for the summer after their freshman year. Students who assume that they will geta job without too much effort, wait too long to begin the process.


3. Under-utilizing the alumni network
Though parents and their friends can provide good contacts, the network of professionals that comes through a college or university should be one of the first places a young job seeker turns.



4. Using a résumé that’s sloppy and too self-centered
Young job seekers are often weak on résumé basics, like clear, tidy layout, careful proofreading for grammar and punctuation, and use of keywords from the job description. Another big problem: the “objective” section tends to be too much about what they want, and not enough about the potential employer. For example, young applicants often say, “entry level position where I can use my skills, ideas and enthusiasm and I can learn a lot.” Instead, the emphasis should be on what they can contribute to theemployer. Applicants should also leave off menial jobs like camp counselor, unless they can quantify their achievements, like saying they organized waterfront activities for a group of 150 campers.



5. Writing cover letters that repeat the résumé
Many young applicants regurgitate their résumé accomplishments in their cover letters. Instead, cover letters should be short and vivid, and say something particular about what the applicant can bring to the job.


6. Doing poor research
Young job seekers often just glance at a company website before an interview. Instead they should read everything on the site, search for news clippings aboutthe company, and track social media information, like Twitter feeds, on company managers.



7. Failing to clean up their social media profile
All of those drunken, bikini-clad pictures on Facebookshould be removed, or locked down with privacy settings. Everyone, including college students, needs apolished LinkedInprofile.


8. Not showing enough appreciation for the interviewer
Young applicants often fail to conclude an interview with an expression of gratitude for the interviewer’s time. Always thank the interviewer in person, make it clear you would consider it a privilege to work at the company and ask about the next step in the process. Then follow up with a handwritten thank-you note or email that references specifics discussed in the interview.



9. Failing to show generational deference
Koplik tells of the summer intern who, at the end of his time on the job, marched into the office of the chief diversity officer at a big company and said, “Could I give you some feedback on my internship?” Young people are so used to being included in conversations, they fail to grasp their position in the pecking order.


10. Relying too heavily on listings and job fairs
I write this in every article about job search mistakes, because it’s a chronic problem. Koplik says that young job seekers are just as guilty of spending too much time applying to online listings, and through anonymous job fairs, as their more senior peers. We say this over and over: People find jobs through people they know, rather than through advertisements.If you see a listing for a job, try to find a personal connection to the employer and use that as your entry point.
...


Sources: Forbes


To Get a job: [url=yolpe.com] Click Me![/url]

So nepotism and favoritism are being practiced abroad also?
smh
i don port to www.advenpix.tk then .......hahahaha
@op, u should have skipped the intro. Its n/a to us Nigerians.

big-t:
So nepotism and favoritism are being practiced abroad also?
smh

Hehe..

Most are not just applicable with the Nigerian Job environment

tai wo: Most are not just applicable with the Nigerian Job environment

Because once a Nigerian sees a Job, he's too scared to lose it?

tai wo: Most are not just applicable with the Nigerian Job environment

Very much applicable. Most of the points listed cannot be overemphasized.

anticent:

Very much applicable. Most of the points listed cannot be overemphasized.

In lots of ways

So man know man dey everywhere

big-t:
So nepotism and favoritism are being practiced abroad also?
smh

Dey there. Are dey robots?

Rub rub rub rubbish

Self employment is the way to go...

Really doesn't happen in Nigeria.Nigerians are too sensible for this rubbish. We've been hustling from birth...

These are not applicable to naija, beside there are no job in this God forsaken cesspit called Nigeria.

alienware: These are not applicable to naija, beside there are no job in this God forsaken cesspit called Nigeria.

Stop spending your precious time on NL. There are jobs everywhere. E.g House boy

alienware: These are not applicable to naija, beside there are no job in this God forsaken cesspit called Nigeria.

what class of degree did u graduate with? If u think there is no job in nigeria, then, it cud be from ur grade or u dont have anybody in gov't.

Dont call nigeria a cesspit cos u are still being housed in a 'cesspit'. how do u feel being in inhabitant of a 'cesspit'?

duplicate post

Vacancy! Vacancy!! Vacancy! Dis land is for sale, apply in person. Shud not be more dan 18 by december.

My candid advice to any 20- something old job
applicant out there in this tough economy called naija, promote ur God-given talents! Even if u can't find a job on time, use your natural skills and be self-employed. remember time waits for no one; if u r not careful, u will find urself in ur early-thirties still without a decent job.

@op, tnx 4 sharin. U'v already startd failin d 'tnk d interviewer' rule. It doesnt hv 2 start durin interviews, begin nw dogh nt all articles on NL re worth tankin, wen u find one worth it, say tnx
.......... 4 my kekere, rubber mind. *smiles nd steps out*

Damn.....

Now d thank you note after interview..

Wit d Nigerian Mentality, wudnt it seems as if u trying too hard 2 get da job, as if u are engaging in " indirect corporate begging or jst playing Politics"..

Really , some of dis things dont work in d Naija Terrain..

Abi is der any1 dat sends a Thank You note or mail after an Interview??

Did i just hear someone say there's no job in nigeria? Shine your eyes bro,there's job everywhere..or better still,something might not be too cool with the grade you came out with and might need some buttressing.

Wot do u mean by grade?
Cos der r Many 1st Class and Two 1 unemployed or under employed.
B4 u talk of Job availability, u calc d proportion of Population to Good Jobs.
By virtue of dat, THERES NO JOB IN NIGERIA.

Mckayzee: Did i just hear someone say there's no job in nigeria? Shine your eyes bro,there's job everywhere..or better still,something might not be too cool with the grade you came out with and might need some buttressing.

Mehn! afta d first 4 items, it was jst lik blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah.... neva d less, twas pointin at sumtin job seekers shud avoid. Althou its nt even an assurance of getn dat job, bt as human beins we hv 2 play our own part 1st.

To land a job in good time, in any country of the world, you have to know somebody that knows somebody that knows somebody. That is just the way the system works. The bigger your network, the more quickly you progress in your endeavors, be it business or career.

Is it in Nigeria here that u'll do all those ones.
Abeg next. Nonsense making FP

Nepotism is everywhere in the world but others strike a balance between their favoritism and merit. It is the same thing that happens in china, they practice nepotism too but it does not affect their drive for merit. We on the other hand do not care about merit or performance and just practice nepotism blatantly.

One more thing they try to balance in the western world, is the percentage of competent and semi competent people in the workforce and through training help to develop the semi competent people to higher standards. We on the other hand do not care about the balance but just practice nepotism by putting every tom dick and harry into the system. Fasola the governor of lagos state had to cry out recently that the workforce is not competent enough for the development of the state.

So nepotism is everywhere ( even worst than ours self) but they do it with sense without affecting the quality too much but we on the other hand . . we all know the productivity of Nigerian workers.

Other than marketing jobs sometimes I wonder if people still apply and get good jobs in Nigeria.

This all good but, I don't think it reflects the reality in Nigeria.
Just my opinion.

The write-up simply encouraged a smarter way to get a job. Learn and apply it.