Well everybody, we’re finally here! The last step of the Job Application Diet! If you’ve noticed the name trend thing by now (and you should, because I’ve been telling you D.I.E.T. is an acronym since day 2 or so), then you should know that today is the “T” – Take your time.
In this case, I’m advocating a change from the mass-output, get-to-as-many-people-as-possible school of thought. Tae your time and make sure that your application is good! I mean, if you don’t spend much time on it, why will any hiring managers want to? Spend a little time looking over the companies you’re applying to – what is their mission statement? Who are their consumers, clients, and competitors? Why do you want to work there?
Make sure to spend time to check for typos, bad grammar, and other stuff that could make your application go right to the top of the trash heap. I have a friend who was applying for finance jobs, and in his rush to send out applications, he started with the following:
“Dear Sir or Madam:
I am interested in pursuing a financial analyst with Goldman Sachs…”
What’s wrong here?
He was sending the letter to J.P. Morgan!*
Sometimes, you just need to spend a little time on revision to double-check things that most of us don’t give a second thought to, like addresses (Google maps!), spelling (why bother when there’s spell check?), or names.
For the record, Cameron, Casey, Kelly, Lou, Sam, Alex, and many other names are pretty much unisex. Do your research on these people if you can, so you don’t end up calling a man “Ms.” or vice-versa.
The job hunt is just that – a hunt. Just like in hunting, you have to wait and plan carefully if you want to catch the big game, or else you’ll wind up having sat around upwind since 3 AM covered in deer urine (metaphorically speaking).
Diet Homework: Spend a little extra time going over your applications. You might not send off as many as usual, but try to go for quality, not quantity.
I hope you have a great weekend! There will be a brief wrap-up on the Diet tomorrow.
*Those aren’t the companies, but I don’t remember what they were. Nonetheless, my point stands, and I hope you get what I’m saying here.
