by Ruth Harries, Content Editor, INALJ Alaska

How Not to Impress a Hiring Manager:
Lessons I’ve Learned from Hiring Student Assistants

I’ve been supervising student employees in academic libraries for around five years, during which time I’ve had to hire one or more employees almost every semester. Going through this process on a regular basis has taught me some lessons about job searching that I might not have learned otherwise, including what hiring managers (including me) find irritating.

Here are some surefire ways to get your resume tossed in the “no” pile.

• Don’t read the instructions on the job posting. At my previous library, I asked applicants for professional references such as a professor or previous supervisor so that I could ask questions about work performance, but I still received applications that listed only personal references. This sent up a red flag for me – did the student not read the directions, or did they really not have any professional references? Either way, I didn’t usually interview applicants who did this unless the overall applicant pool wasn’t very strong. Employers have reasons for asking for asking you to include things in your application packet and for submitting your application a certain way, and it reflects poorly on you if you don’t follow the directions.

• Use the same resume and cover letter every time you apply for a job. Student job openings at my previous institution frequently attracted engineering and computer science students; those departments were too large to offer assistantships to every graduate student, and competition for the assistantships that did exist was fierce. I saw plenty of resumes that had objectives* relating to someone’s area of study, but that told me nothing about the candidate’s customer service or library experience. Maybe the applicants who did this had relevant experience, but since I based my interview offers on what showed up on candidates’ application and resume, I didn’t usually find out. Likewise, being a branch manager requires different skills than being a reference librarian, and you should tailor your cover letter and resume accordingly.

• Send e-mails/cover letters/resumes without proofreading them first. This advice appears in every resource for job seekers, and it should be common sense, but it bears repeating. I am not impressed when candidates send me e-mails that are riddled with typos and grammatical errors, and the jobs I hire for do not require written communication; I imagine that employers who hire for jobs that do require written communication would be even less impressed.

• Pester the hiring manager for updates. One request for an update a week or two after the application deadline or interview is fine, but contacting the hiring manager daily (or even every few days) is a huge turn-off.

• Try to convince the employer that they should have hired you after you’re rejected. It’s incredibly disappointing to be rejected from a job you really wanted, and the repeated rejections that come with job searching can be downright soul-crushing. However, trying to argue or bargain with an employer after they’ve rejected you can sink your chances for future opportunities at that library; it can make you come across as demanding and entitled, and I don’t know any managers who want to hire someone with those traits. It’s fine to ask for feedback about why you weren’t hired, but don’t use your request as a pretext to argue with the hiring manager.

• Be rude when you ask for feedback. When I post a job opening, I typically receive 50 to 100 applications. I send a form letter to the people who I don’t select, as I simply don’t have time to give individualized feedback to everyone. I’m typically willing to give feedback if someone requests it, especially since a lot of my applicants are new to the job-seeking process, but it leaves a bad taste in my mouth when someone acts as though they’re entitled to feedback or gets defensive about what I say. If you do request feedback about how you could improve, remember that you’re asking the employer for a favor, so be polite.

*Lots of people who do hiring (including me) think that objectives shouldn’t be included on a resume, although not everyone agrees.

Ruth Harries was previously the Evening Circulation Supervisor at Wichita State University; she is now the Access & Instruction Librarian at Butler Community College. She holds a BA in art history from Wichita State University and an MLS from Emporia State University. In her spare time, she plays Euro-style board games and reads a lot of science fiction and fantasy. She tweets occasionally.