Over the past few months, we have been helping more and more job seekers with the development and update of their job hunting materials. Materials such as their elevator pitch (answer to “What do you do?” and “Tell me about yourself”), cover letter, resume, interviewing, and accomplishments/success stories.
My biggest tip, hint, suggestion, must-do, stomp-on-the-floor-with-my-foot-to-emphasize-point is…leave your personal information at home.
Leave Your Personal Information at Home
Prospective hiring managers want to know what you have to offer, your employment history, your track record, how you are going to help them.
Remember you have a very limited amount of time during networking or interviewing to demonstrate your knowledge, skills, and abilities. As such, any discussion of your personal situation 1) Takes away from the business objective of you getting the interview, invited back, or receiving the offer letter. And 2) Depending upon the nature of the discussion around personal matters, could end up disqualifying you.
Leave the personal stories of how you lost your job, been unemployed for x months, haven’t had much luck networking or interviewing, and so forth out of all of your conversations. It’s business, business, business.
It’s Business, Business, Business
Well after you get hired and have ample time to get settled in your new job is when you should evaluate sharing your personal information. In the end, sharing this type of information is what builds true bonds of trust and credibility.
Personal stories of triumph where you learned something or helped your business are the good business stories that hiring managers want to hear. Searching for a new job is a full-time job. It takes time, effort, strategy, stamina, and solid business stories around your accomplishments and goals.
Raise your right hand job seeker. Repeat after me, “I promise…to leave out my personal information…in ALL of my job seeking tools and experiences.”
Photography Source: Shutterstock
