Today’s job applicants often get a lot of bad advice from people who haven’t been in a job interview for decades. While our elders are full of nuggets of wisdom, the fact is the world today is far different from the one they lived in when they were looking for their first jobs.
We listed a few things that no longer impress today’s breed of employers. If someone tells you to flex these details, just nod politely and ignore their advice.
1.) Relationships with politicians
One odd thing many Filipino applicants do is list councilors, mayors, and congressmen on their references, or bring them up during job interviews. These relationships are only ever relevant if you actually work for or with those officials. Without that context, it may just seem desperate or clueless.
2.) Long resumes
We’re not sure if anyone was ever impressed by a resume that was more than two pages long. Even a CEO who has worked in their industry for twenty years can probably condense all of that experience into just two pages, so there’s really no reason anyone applying for a mid-level or entry-level position will need anything longer.
Perhaps the confusion comes from the Philippine-ism of using the words “CV” or “curriculum vitae” where the word “resume” is actually more appropriate. A CV should contain all your life’s major achievements and is not really meant for sharing to an employer. A resume, on the other hand, should only contain information relevant to the job opening and not much more.
3.) Working for a big company
Once upon a time, experience in a well-known company was all that it took to give an applicant a positive impression in a job interview. The hope was that the applicant would be able to give some insight into how the bigger company operates. Presumably, these larger companies have more sophisticated systems and practices that other businesses would like some insight to.
But in the years since, a lot of that special knowledge has become democratized and easier to come by. The success of many small startups has also changed the way Filipino business owners think about the application of their resources, and there is now a trend towards much leaner operations, favoring those who had more diverse responsibilities. Bigger firms tend towards more specialization, which means experience working for them is now less of an advantage.
4.) “Knowledge about computers”
Knowing your way around a PC is often in the absolute bare minimum of requirements today, even in jobs that were traditionally seen as blue-collar, such as security and construction. General computer knowledge no longer impresses any employer. The only way it would impress an employer is if you have very specialized knowledge in the use of commonly used but rarely-mastered apps, such as Adobe CS or Excel.
5.) Your alma mater
Alright, maybe your alma mater matters. But it does matter a lot less than it did in previous generations. Now that companies are striving to be more data-driven, much less of an emphasis is now given to the school where someone comes from and more to the achievements and capabilities of job applicants.
And as far as a growing number of Filipino employers are concerned, the school you come from only tells them how rich your parents are. It tells them little of your character or your actual ability to produce something worthwhile.
Now that you know how not to impress employers, you can land the perfect job in your own city with Mynimo. Mynimo.com makes it easy to find the right job listings, in the places you want to work in.
