When you’re job hunting, you can go mad if you think about the amount of factors beyond your control that affect your chances of getting hired. The economy, your location, industry trends – even the hiring manager’s mood – can influence whether or not you get a job. Still, as nice as it would be to blame your lack of offers on external factors, you can’t forget that the common denominator in your job hunt – from the résumé to the interview – is you.

Here are 25 ways you might be unknowingly sabotaging your own job search:

The first steps

1. Not keeping track of your accomplishments

When you’re happy with your job, it’s easy to forget about possible future job hunts. You never know when you’ll end up looking for new work, and if you don’t keep a running list of awards, promotions and accomplishments, you might not remember them when it’s time to update your résumé.

5. Searching only for the perfect job

Yes, your job search should be focused. After all, applying to every job posting that comes your way is a good way to waste time but not an effective way to find a job you want. However, if you approach your job hunt unwilling to accept anything less than the precise job title, pay, vacation time and hours you want, you’re setting yourself up for disappointment. 

The résumé and cover letter

7. Typos

Sending a cover letter or résumé filled with grammatical mistakes and typographical errors shows hiring managers you don’t care about the quality of your work and probably not about the job, either. 

8. Including your current work info as the best place to contact you

Making sure employers can get in touch with you is important, but they shouldn’t be contacting you at work. “Potential employers are going to question if these people will search for a new job on their time,” says Kathy Sweeney, résumé writer for the Write Résumé. 

9. Focusing on yourself and not on the company in the cover letter

“When ‘I’ is the predominant subject – and there are times when it is the only subject of all the sentences in the cover letter ? it indicates to me that they don’t understand my organization and its needs, and, in fact, says they don’t care to know,” says Dion McInnis, associate vice president for university advancement at University of Houston-Clear Lake. “And therefore, I don’t care to know them.” 

The interview

13. Not asking questions

When the interview comes to a close, the hiring manager will undoubtedly ask if you have any questions for him or her. Not asking anything is the equivalent of saying, “I don’t care all that much about the job.” 

After the interview

21. Not sending a thank-you note

Interview etiquette extends beyond the goodbye handshake. Follow up with the interviewer by sending a thank-you note, either by e-mail or in the mail. Not only is it standard business practice, it’s also common courtesy. 

23. Not learning from your mistakes

Not every interview goes off without a hitch, so don’t beat yourself up if you flubbed an answer or two. However, if you don’t…

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Winning an interview is a sales job finished successfully. Therefore, your cover letter to the resume becomes a sales letter for you. For a fresh college graduate this is the first assignment. Hence, a lot of attention is to be paid while writing a good cover letter.

Here are some secrets for writing a winning cover letter, which can take you to the interview table. These secrets are the keys to enter the interview cabin itself. Therefore due attention should be paid to these tips by all applicants including college graduates and PhD job seekers.

• Start the letter by highlighting your qualifications

Your academic and other extra circular qualifications are the basis of any job that you may be seeking. So give it the due importance by mentioning your qualifications and highlighting any special training or skills acquired. This should be mentioned in a bold format, so that it catches the eye of the reader. Therefore, start your cover letter with these bold announcements.

• Keep the reader absorbed

Make your cover letter an attractive piece of written information, where the reader would like to read more. This will enable the hirer to look at your CV also with interest and finally a call for the interview will come along. Highlight in bold format the skills or the qualifications, which precisely match with the specific job requirements.Do not hesitate to mention that your talent and capability matches with the expectation of the hirer.

• Communicate confidently and with enthusiasm

You may be excited about the job, but if you do not show your enhanced interest for the same in your cover letter, the hirer has no way to know it. Your cover letter should be bubbling with your self-confidence. Therefore, do not hesitate to exaggerate slightly about your talents and achievements Show your eagerness to join this job as you are the best candidate fitting the job requirements..

• Mention about your availability for interview

By the time you reach towards the end of your cover letter, the hirer should also be equally enthusiastic to meet you. Therefore, when you are writing the last paragraph of your cover letter, mention that you are available for the interview as per the convenience of the hirer. You must maintain your eagerness until the end of the cover letter and, as such, you may ask the hirer about the time and date when you can meet him, may be informally.

• Keep your cover letter brief and to the point.

Your aim is to convey as much information as possible, about yourself to the hirer. in the cover letter. However, a lengthy cover letter will prove boring to the reader and he may loose interest in your CV as such. Therefore, very careful use of words is required for writing the cover letter in a concise form. The words should be few, while conveying a lot to the reader.

A cover letter is a personalized form of communication, which you may like to send to the hirer, based on the requirements mentioned in the job advt. A CV without a covering letter, gives an impression that you are not paying that special attention to the job, while applying…

Therefore, a few reasons given here can help you to make your decision for sending a good cover letter with your CV

• Cover letter is your personal message to the hirer

You can mention in your covering letter all those attributes, which are not fully mentioned in your CV. This is more so when you are detailing your skills with reference to the specific job. While doing so, you can go bit further and add a little flattery to your writing style, for the prospective employer. This is not possible with your CV, which is a formal document.

• Most hirers look at the cover letter only

With little time at their disposal and large number of applications coming in, the hiring managers find it difficult to scan through all the resumes. The cover letter is one document that can make them interested to have a look at the detailed CV as well.

• Cover letter can be job specific

While your CV can be a formal document giving the details about your qualifications and work history, a cover letter can be written keeping in mind the specific job and its particular requirements. Your cover letter should mention the skills you have that match the job details. You can emphasize in the cover letter about any research projects or other work finished, that has relation to the particular job. This is more important for PhD students conducting research on various topics.

• Cover letter addresses to specific job query

Many employers put in the job advts.certain queries with regard to the job details and your particular skills matching it. The cover letter can reply to such specific points raised by the hirer. You have to mention in the cover letter many points, which show your capability and confidence to successfully undertake the job responsibilities, if hired.

• Absence of a cover letter may deem you a lazy person

And to some extent, it is true. If you are not making an effort to write a cover letter to your resume, how can you be expected to complete certain unfinished tasks, when hired, left by your predecessor?. Therefore, the absence of a cover letter with your CV can certainly convey the impression to the hirer that either you are not seriously interested in the job, or you are a lazy bum.

The cover letter is a must and it should be written with more care and attention. You have to be specific and precise in the cover letter, with reference to the points raised in the job advt. PhD students can devote more time to the cover letter writing as this is the chance for them to speak about various thesis finished by them.