By Claire Klieger
One of the best ways to successfully survive OCR is simply by avoiding some of these common and often detrimental pitfalls:
Form/Generic Cover Letters. Yes, we understand the appeal of these as, naturally, it takes a lot less time to simply replace the name of the employer for each letter and included lots of phrases like “your company” or “this position” and “I’m really interested in working for _______ because it is a leader in the industry.” But guess what? Employers aren’t stupid and can spot these a mile away. Why would an employer want to hire someone who can’t even be bothered to take the time to write a letter specific to them or, worse, doesn’t understand why they want to work for them? If you choose to go that route, don’t be surprised if you don’t get many interviews.
Typos. This sounds obvious but I can’t tell you how often we see very blatant (and often embarrassing) typos on resumes and cover letters. I even once witnessed a recruiter cancel a scheduled interview with a student on the day of the interview when he noticed that the student had misspelled his major. What the employer gave as his explanation is the reason why this is such a detrimental mistake, “What this says to me is that this is someone who doesn’t have good attention to detail and is careless and I don’t want someone like that working for me.” So please, please, proofread (don’t just rely on spell check).
Applying to all the available positions at an organization. While it’s fine to apply to more than one position simultaneously at a single organization, applying to every open position simply sends the message that you don’t know what you want. Limit your applications to positions that are similar enough (in skill types) that it is reasonable for you to be interested in them.
