bad advice

“Looking for a job is a full-time job.”

No, it’s not.

I don’t know why people say stuff like this. It’s one of those simplistic cliches that have ended up getting repeated over and over without being true.

It’s a great way to mislead job-seekers about what an effective job search is really about.

If anyone is really spending 40 hours a week on a job search, stop and regroup. Focus on the essentials instead: applying only for jobs that are truly a strong match, writing great cover letters, having a resume that focuses on your achievements rather than just responsibilities, and making sure you’re tapping into your network.

Go for quality over quantity, and laugh at anyone who tells you it should be a full-time job.

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A reader writes:

When I go on job hunting journeys to my local mall, department store, etc., I at times know which places I want to work for and which places I don’t. For example, two years ago I really wanted to work for a gaming store due to my love of video games, I figured I’d be a good fit, though of course I didn’t think automatically that I was the best fit nor would definitely get hired, I just felt I’d enjoy it, and would be able to do the job well due to my knowledge of video games and systems. The manager and employees all knew my by name but I knew they were always the type of store which had very brief hiring periods, and I never could be sure when they were or weren’t hiring.

My mother advised me that the best way to get a job is by coming by and dropping off a resume every few days, that way I’d be kept fresh in their mind and at the top of the pile. Close to the end of the summer when I was dropping off another resume, the manager kindly let me know that there still weren’t openings but he’d keep me in mind and there was definitely no chance of my resume getting lost in the shuffle….as he had an entire file folder of my resumes by then…..

Am I wrong, or was my mother’s idea basically what cost me ever getting hired? I mean wouldn’t applying every couple of days be better every like two or three months? or just once a month or something? I feel the idea of hers might have been because of this company’s short and sporadic hiring period, but I honestly don’t see how handing in a resume every other day for two months is going to give them any indication that I’m a good employee, but more just a pest. They never told me off for doing it, but I still kind of think, yeah this wasn’t the best idea.

Yes, it was a bad idea. What is to be gained by turning in a resume every few days?  It’s bizarre, it implies they don’t recall who applied just a few days ago, and yes, it’s overly aggressive.

Stop listening to your mother on this topic. In fact, stop listening to any job advice that sounds intuitively wrong to you, can’t offer you a logical explanation for why it would be effective, requires that you annoy others, or makes you uncomfortable to enact.

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A reader writes:

I have recently found your blog and really appreciate the advice that you offer. You have written many times that the job search/hiring process has changed in the past times and to generally ignore the out-of-touch advice parents are offering.

As a recent grad, one of my relatives offered to help me with my job search, write my resume and even assist in writing cover letters. My relative is a former and very successful hiring manager… from about ten years ago. Since they left the workforce to raise their children, they have been doing freelance resume writing and job-finding services from home. I was very grateful that they were willing to help and offer their services, until I started reading your advice. I think my relative may be slightly misguided or of touch with current resume trends, etc. I fear the resume they crafted for me may be hurting my applications, not helping.

While I can certainly edit my resume with your advice and write my own stellar cover letters, I’m concerned for my relative’s clients. What is the best way (or is there even a way) to address this topic? I really don’t want to stir up family conflict, but this is bad advice.

Oh, gosh. I mean, I obviously think my advice is right on target, and I get enough letters from people who report that it worked for them when nothing else did that I feel confident that I’m not delusional about that, but it’s tough for me to say that you should create awkwardness with your relative over this.

The one thing I think you could do is to start a conversation with her about some of the advice you’ve found that differs from hers and ask her opinion. For instance, if she’s telling you to use a resume objective, send her a link to an article explaining why they suck, and say something like, “I found this article and was wondering what you think about it.” But of course, you can only do this a couple of times before it becomes obnoxious, so I’d pick your battles.

What do other people think?

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A reader writes:

I wanted to know what you think of the advice in this blog post: 3 Steps To Network Your Way Into An Interview.

I find it weird that the writer basically advises cold-calling and calls it “networking.” Then there’s the other suggestion: “Call anyone the hiring authority has recommended.” Wouldn’t you find it creepy if someone you didn’t know called you to congratulate you on receiving a LinkedIn recommendation?

I’d love to know your thoughts, if you’d like to share them.

My thoughts can best be summed up as:  WTF?

Okay, here’s a longer version.

It is terrible advice to call some random person at the company you’re applying to — someone who has nothing to do with hiring for that position — and ask them to “personally refer me to HR.”  People don’t “personally refer” random strangers, particularly ones who resort to overly aggressive tactics like this.

(And note the author’s caveat that this might not work, “but at least you feel you have accomplished something by leaving a message.”  Seriously?)

And the advice to call anyone who the hiring manager has written a LinkedIn recommendation for?  I don’t even know where to begin with this one, so here’s his suggested script for this creepy, inappropriate call:

“John, I see you have been given a glowing recommendation by Mr. Hiring Authority’

“Yes.”

“Congratulations! I understand he doesn’t share recommendations lightly, so you must have done a fantastic job with him.”

“Sure…what do you want?”

“I could use your help. I am very interested in working with Mr. Hiring Authority and see he currently needs someone with my skills. I am trying to get to him directly – have been caught up in HR before and wondered if you could help me out?”

The sentence “I understand he doesn’t share recommendations lightly, so you must have done a fantastic job with him” is possibly one of the most transparent, obsequious, ineffective, and obviously false sentences I’ve ever had the displeasure of reading. You don’t know that he doesn’t share recommendations lightly because you don’t know him at all. And the person you’re calling is going to quickly figure that out, because after all, that’s why you’re asking him to connect you.  And now you’re the crazy, lying, inappropriate guy who will never get an interview.

Terrible, terrible advice. And unfortunately, it epitomizes a certain breed of job search advice that’s out there — one that says that you need to become the stereotype of a bad salesman in order to get a job. If you’re applying for a job as a bad salesman, these might be exactly the right tactics for you — but otherwise, if you talk to anyone who recommends this kind of thing, slap them for me.

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I’ve ranted before about how some of the worst career advice seems to come from the places where it’s most important that they have the best — college career centers and state unemployment offices. Not all of them, of course — but enough that there’s a trend, and it’s troubling.

And now comes this story from a job-seeker whose state unemployment office required her to attend a state-run job-finding seminar. Over at workcoachcafe.com, she writes:

“I’ve had a mandatory Unemployment Office job-finding seminar, where the instructor made me super nervous — he was telling us about how we needed to call every company after submitting a resume and even gave us tips on how to get past the receptionist and call other people in the company that might transfer us!”

Now, the advice to make application follow-up calls happens to be wrong, but that’s not the really egregious part here. Calling around to find other people in the company who might transfer you to the person who the company is specifically attempting to keep you from reaching? That’s a really good way to get yourself kicked out of the running. (It’s also precisely the kind of BS advice that we hear from people who have done little to no hiring themselves in the last decade.)

So we have a state government requiring job-seekers to listen to bad advice in order to continue receiving unemployment benefits. Let me just restate that, because I’m so outraged about it:  If you want to continue receiving unemployment checks in this state, you are required to attend a class where you’ll be told to do things that will decrease your chances of finding a job.

If this state agency can’t be bothered to ensure that they’re actually giving out good advice from people who know what they’re talking about — advice that will actually help the people they’re supposed to be serving — then they need to get out of the advice-giving business altogether and stick to sending out checks.

My sympathies to the job seekers in this state (and any other) who are subjected to this kind of insulting, unhelpful treatment.

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A reader writes:

Since I came home from my first year of college in May, I’ve been looking for a new job to no success. I haven’t even gotten so far as to be interviewed, despite having been on a job hunt since May. Finally, in mid-July, I’m getting a glimmer of hope! The bakery department at the supermarket where I’ve been a part-time cashier/bagger for over two years now is seeking help. Not only would I enjoy working at the bakery, but I would receive more hours. I’m very hopeful that I will get this job, because I have always “exceeded expectations” in every performance review, and am overall a very good employee.

However, I worry that the advice my parents are giving me might screw up my chances of getting this job. My parents, who have both not had to worry about getting a job since the earlier 90s, tell me to visit the manager and check in on the application at least once a day, or call to check in on it. I feel like this would be very annoying for the manager, and I don’t want to come off as annoying.

Earlier this summer, I was applying to a coffee shop and took their advice. I went in every day, asked for the manager and explained who I was, that I had applied and that I just wanted to check in on the application. My parents even told me to call later in the day too, which I refused to do, thinking it would just be nagging. I apparently made an impact there, because the third time I came into the coffee shop, the head barista looked at me, sighed very loudly and said, “I’ll go get him.” Five minutes later, I was being interviewed by the manager… For one minute, literally. I was asked three questions, which were just to verify information on the application, and then told to stop calling them.

They never called back. (My parents still tell me to call them… I feel like it’s beating a dead horse at this point…)

I’m worried that the advice my parents are giving me is one of the reasons why I seem to struggle to get a job. They tell me that nothing has changed in the almost twenty years since they’ve gotten their jobs, and that what worked for them will work for me.

I really want to get this position in the bakery. What advice would you give me, or are my parents’ strategy correct?

Stop listening to your parents on any matter related to job searching (and maybe your career in general) right now.

Check on your application in person once a day? And then call too? And keep calling that coffee shop after they directly told you to stop calling and indirectly told you that you were being a pain in the ass? And nothing has changed in 20 years?

Frankly, I highly doubt that these tactics were effective 20 years ago since most people don’t want to work with people who are inappropriately aggressive and annoying. And moreover, plenty has changed about job-searching in the last 20 years. Conventions are different (see: objectives and one-page resumes, among many other things), the job market is different, and the Internet has changed everything.

Your parents are hereby barred from giving you any job search advice, and — more importantly — you are barred from listening to them. They are destroying your job search efforts.

Read the following:

Calling to follow up after applying for a job
(Note that in food service and retail, you can tone this advice down a bit. While for office jobs you shouldn’t call to follow up on your application more than once — and preferably not at all — in food service and retail you can do it a couple of times. But certainly not daily. Please also read Kerry Scott’s advice on this.)

Should you show up without an appointment?
Again, food service and retail are different and unscheduled visits aren’t seen as crazy there, but I want you to read this so that you’re armed against your parents’ advice if they tell you to do this when you’re applying for other jobs — where it absolutely will be seen as crazy.

When does persistence becoming stalking?
Read this.

Don’t stalk the hiring manager
And this.

10 outdated pieces of job advice
Consider  printing this out and handing it to your parents. Actually, don’t, because I don’t even want you engaging in a dialogue with them on this because there’s no point. Just ignore them and do your own research about how this stuff works today.

I’m sure your parents give good advice on some topics … but job searching is officially not one of them. The good news, though, is that your own instincts seem pretty sound. Trust your gut, and supplement it with a little online research (from good sources, not inexperienced/outdated ones), and you’ll do fine.

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