Over the years that I have been writing editorials, I have devoted a lot of time to discussing the basics of job search. Why? Because I often can’t believe what folks send in for opportunities in which they have interest.

In a world of more candidates than there are jobs, people who screen resumes often develop arbitrary rules to eliminate candidates. By arbitrary, I mean to imply that they often don’t take the time to look beyond embarrassing errors in spelling, grammar and resume formats or fonts that make your opus hard to read to seek out your “true value.”

As I have said many times, the burden of communication is on you.

Let me be clear. Your sloppiness or lack of discipline and precision in your submissions helps out the competition. Do you want to be considered for the job or not? If it is one worth competing for, I would suggest to you that the responses from others will be significant. A great job may cause 500 others to write in, or more.

If you were faced with a pile of resumes that high, what would you do? Well, let’s see. If there are any obvious spelling errors – out it goes. If it is not very readable – out it goes. I asked for a brief cover letter – no cover letter or brief explanation – out it goes.

Gosh, that’s much better. Now instead of 500 resumes I only have 50. I might actually be able to get through them.

If you are one of those folks who doesn’t really care about what it looks like on the other end, take a moment to walk in the other person’s shoes. When faced with an insurmountable task, what would you do?

Is this approach fair? Perhaps not. But then life is not often fair. You get the breaks you deserve, but only sometimes.

Go ahead and help out your competition for these golden opportunities by being sloppy in any element of the presentation of your credentials. After all, those others can use all the help they can get. And, they probably really want the job, so why not let them have it?

Regards, Matt