Up until now, my experience of the hiring process has always been as the nervous candidate. It has been very interesting being on the other side of the table for a change.  Not too long ago, we set out to hire another IT support person. I found the process very interesting.

We started off with a job posting in the local paper. There was no shortage of responses, and paring the applicants down was a chore in and of itself. Some people were eliminated from contention easily; if they lived out of country, or if their skills were obviously not a match. Others were a bit tougher. We finally settled on a handful, and arranged for some interviews.

The interview process sure highlighted a number of things. First off, far too many people exaggerate or lie on their resume about skill sets. I am sure they put down every keyword, every tidbit of relevant experience as a hope of getting their foot in the door. However, once in the door, they are only wasting their time and ours. Unless you have an amazing personality, the fact that you are unfit for the position shows up immediately. If you are going to list keywords and experience, ensure it is clear how you used them in prior jobs.

The personality of an applicant counts just as much as the skills they bring to the table. We had one individual who truly had the skills we wanted. Unfortunately, he was too loud, too animated, and we could not picture him fitting in with some other key members of the company. In fact, he recanted a story of how his previous co-workers complained about him to his boss for being too brash and over confident.

Some lessons for job applicants:

– Do not use a Microsoft Word template to design your resume. Be original in your formatting and layout.

– In a concise manner, describe how you solved issues or used skills in previous experience. Do not simply list off numerous key words.

– Personalize the cover sheet. Use it to explain to us why you are worth our time.

– Do real research into the company, not just consisting of a visit to the corporate website.

– Use research to help devise questions for the employer, about the company. This is especially effective if your questions demonstrate your desire to produce results for the company.

– Do research on yourself! We did some quick web searches on potential candidates. It is really amazing what you may find! If there is any questionable content about you online, either remove it, or have an explanation ready for the employer.

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