When someone’s job hunting, there’s a plenty of pieces of advice you will receive and read which are exactly the opposite of what you should do. Some are so general to be banal and nearly inoffensive (things like “dress nice,” and “have a LinkedIn,” or “go to career fairs”): they could be fine, but they won’t get you the job. The problem is that a ton of young job applicants thinks that the “5 simple interview tips” you can read everywhere are all they need to do to get the job: then the popular advice, which really isn’t all that bad, becomes bad advice by default.
Today, then, we’d like to compile a list of the bad advice, the worst kind of job hunting tips you can receive, so you can be alert and aware…
- “Send out 50 applications a day“: Hiring managers accept a very small percentage of those who apply. You’d better turn cold emailing into an informational interview. Remember to always add value and to selectively apply where you could actually sustain your position with job satisfaction.
- “Don’t work for free/cheap“: It sounds crazy but there are actually are upsides to doing free work. I know it seems that offering to work for free is giving your employer permission to exploit you, but dozens of young college graduates keep missing out on opportunities because they’ve priced themselves out of the market. They have no skills, experiences, or track record yet, to be paid that much. Most of the best opportunities, instead, usually happen when you offer to work for free for a little while to prove the value you could create. It’s like a “free trial of you” during which time people can evaluate whether your services created more value than I would take out in compensation. For me, it wasn’t “working for free,” because I was gaining valuable experiences and a platform to prove what you’d be capable of in positions that you might be underqualified for. It always becomes a long-term financial win because there’s no risk when you come on board and they won’t let you work for free for long if you’re putting in the work.
- “Lie about your experience, none checks anyway“. There’s no need to even explain this: they always check!
- “Focus on one thing and never do anything else“: This is the fastest route to failure. We always change: if we don’t, we can just remain frozen and never grow, evolve.
- “You can’t get a reward without risk”. People have no clue what that means when they say that.
- “Under promise and over deliver” If you overpromise, you get the client. If you over-deliver, you get the client for life. A sophisticated client will know you are under promising and will look down on you for the rest of your life.
- “Focus on your passion”. This is not the worst advice but its a really dangerous advice if you’re not aware of the consequences. Before you really jump into “your passion”, you have to ask yourself one very key question. Are you willing to follow your passion and get paid nothing? A lot of people want to change the world but how many people want to change the world and is willing to make minimum wage? Is a high salary more important than the purpose of your passion or the other way around?
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