Job Hunting Blunders

Bob Weinstein is a journalist who covers technology, project management, the workplace and career development.

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Topics: Career Development

Even with the hundreds of career books published every year--not to mention the thousands of articles about how to write a perfect resume and ace interviews--job hunters keep making the same mistakes every year. That’s the opinion of Ann Arbor, Mich. career coach John G. Agno. Every job hunter fumbles parts of the tedious job-landing process, but Agno says the four following mistakes can add months to an already frustrating pursuit.

Mistake 1: Not recognizing blind spots.
Many job hunters refuse to heed sound advice offered from professional coaches or career experts. Mistakenly, they think they know exactly what to do. Not every career coach is the last word on job hunting strategy, but there are dozens of pros like Agno out there who’ve been in the trenches and know the inside skinny of the recruiting world.

Agno says that one of the deeply rooted myths in American culture shaping behavior is that success is contingent upon individual enterprise. The myth celebrates rugged individualism as the key ingredient for becoming self-made. However, the belief that everyone succeeds or fails based on effort and abilities isn’t true, Agno insists. Revering the “go it alone” frontier mentality “actually holds us back from achieving career goals,” he says.

Initially, the faster job hunters connect with the right people--advisors,…

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