A lot of times when you tell a story to a friend, it often gets distorted as the story is passed along. Rarely does it happen that the last person who hears the story will hear the same story as the one that you told. This is where false beliefs start. Most of the time, the person who is telling you about something has no ill intent, but things tend to get misunderstood.
The job search is no different; there are a lot of beliefs that affect job seekers negatively because of their beliefs. Here are a few examples:
You need gimmicks to catch the attention of a hiring manager – When applying for a job at a big company with hundreds of applicants, it might indeed be harder to get the attention of a hiring manager. Still, you don’t need come up with special gimmicks just to impress them. Use your resume and experience to do that for you. If you really have what it takes to do the job, you just need to have faith in the work you’ve done and make your resume as good as possible.
A degree will guarantee you a job – A degree does have its perks, as it will give you formal training that non-degree holders don’t have, but this doesn’t guarantee you a job. Everyone starts at the bottom, including degree holders.
You can only get hired with a connection – Having someone inside to help you won’t do much good unless the person inside is the hiring manager or your parents own the company. A connection might give you a heads-up as to what’s available, but if you don’t have the necessary qualifications, the connection will be useless.
You can’t show weaknesses in the interview – In the interview, you certainly want to show your strengths and prove that you are fit for the job, but this shouldn’t stop you from showing your weaknesses. What happens if you don’t? You get hired but end up getting fired because you failed to live up to who you said you are.
In the job hunt and in life, take everything you hear and see with a grain of salt. Don’t give credence to everything that people tell you. If you do, it’ll only do you more harm than good.
