When you read the story they have 5 mistakes listed…I am adding 2 more to their list. (link to original article)
Their story discusses:
1. Forgetting Manners – probably not the best title for the discussion, however, this section of the article revolves around what it “out there” about you on the web. Google yourself – clean up your act online. You should make sure the first 4 pages “about you” are what you want the world to see. That is about 40 websites.
You absolutely should be on on LinkedIn.com – if you aren’t sign up today. It is a must for business social media. It will be one of the first profiles listed on page 1!
2. Overkill – Don’t blanket the web with yourself – make sure you have a meaningful web image.
3. Not Getting the Word Out – the truth is that many jobs come from networking. GET THE WORD OUT! Let everyone you know – even family – know that you are job hunting.
4. Quality over Quantity – I know people that say they are open to all invitations on some social sites. I have never understood this – it should be someone you know, someone you have done business with or plan to in the near future. It is about who you know, not a numbers game.
5. Online Exclusivity – If you are only searching for jobs online you might be missing the jobs that aren’t posted. This is when your network kicks in. They might know about unposted jobs.
6. (my addition to the article) No Follow Up – Just because you sent in your job application via online doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try to follow up with a real person. Try to contact the department or person that might be in charge of that department. I often use my contacts on LinkedIn to secure a person’s name. You might want to send your résumé via FedEx directly to that person. FedEx gets attention and sometimes the computer program reading the résumé submissions might have excluded you and the person never saw your résumé or application.
7. (final addition to the article) Only Looking at the Large Job Boards – Monster, Yahoo Hot Jobs and sites like Indeed.com are great for job hunting, but don’t forget to know the area around where you live and the companies that are located there. They may not be posting jobs on large job boards or at all. If you get 1600 applications for one job that is a lot to shuffle through and some companies are opting to only list jobs on their web site and rely on word of mouth to find the right local candidate.
Job hunting on the internet is great – but there are issues you should keep in mind. I hope this article and additional two mistakes listed are of use to you.