There are 4 job search myths that can prevent you from finding the perfect job.
Myth #1 Interview Skills
Let’s debunk the myth that interview skills are not important. If you believe that you only need to show that you are qualified to get a job offer, you are going to lose job offers to the competitive field of qualified applicants who also have job interview skills.
Interview skills are similar to negotiation skills. Effective negotiators know how to present their material. They know how to listen to and understand questions and objections from the buyer or hiring manager. They know how to ask for the order or the job offer.
Developing and practicing interview skills can help you get jobs offers that more qualified applicants may miss out on.
I have additional articles on developing interview skills under the topic heading Interviewing.
Developing and strengthening skills is important to becoming more effective at doing nearly anything. Developing mental skills strengthens the effectiveness of a person to learn and perform mental tasks (Scholarly Journals on Skills Development).
Myth #2 Job Boards and Job Search Websites
The belief that job boards and job search websites are useless is a myth. It is intuitively obvious that job boards and job search engines work. If they did not work, hiring companies would stop using them. If they did not work, job boards and search engines would have disappeared.
Some Statistics: People who say that there are no statistics to support the value of job website are not looking very hard.
- Indeed.com gets 150 million unique visitors a month, Alexa traffic rank: U.S. 80th, 23, 128 sites linking in.
- Monster.com gets 100 million unique visitors a month, Alexa traffic rank: U.S. 319th, 18669 sites linking in.
- CareerBuilding.com gets 100 million unique visitors a month, Alexa traffic rank: U.S. 458th, 15,003 sites linking in.
Myth #3 Resumes
The myth that resumes are no longer necessary is simply not true.
There is a popular notion that you can replace your resume with a case study of the business of each company for which you apply. A case study of a company’s business is terrific for a presentation at a job interview. However, if you want to get an interview, you need a resume. Hiring managers and recruiters do not want to deal with a nonconformist when they are trying to tie job experience and employment qualification.
Myth #4 Income
The myth that you should never disclose your income can ensure that you never get a job interview. Nearly every hiring manager in any company in the country has a pay range in mind before the manager posts a job. People who are going to try to be clever and not share their income are going to reduce the number of companies that will read their resume.
Does your company have a policy about your keeping your income private? That same company required that you disclose your income before they granted you an interview.
