3 ms·

You hit on the second biggest flaw that I spot in job seekers (and startup founders). They focus too much on their own wants/needs and not enough on the needs o

• knowtheory 16y ago
  What's the biggest flaw? :)
  • WillyF 16y ago
    Unwillingness to invest in themselves or work towards improving themselves (or a lack of realization that they need to do these things). Most job seekers have a "take me as I am" attitude. Even new grads who should be all pumped up about learning new things seem to think that their degree alone will guarantee a job. Even the grads (and other job seekers) who are eager to learn expect to have a company invest in training them. Why would I invest in training you if you spent 6 months job searching without once doing something that actually made you a better candidate for the job?
    • Hubbert 16y ago
      In fairness to the grads, they have just "invested in themselves" for 4 years plus a direct cost of possibly $200k or so, and really have nothing left to give at that point. Seriously: if 4 years of expensive, official, organized training didn't produce results (other than "come back in 3 years when you have PAID PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE in exactly this industry and geographic region and in exactly the domain that I'm looking for at that time, and I'll let you compete with 300 other resumes"), what should they reasonably expect from self-study? I'm very pro self-study and self-improvement. But I don't see it as a realistic solution to unemployment, particularly when the overwhelming majority of employers insist on an exquisitely precise blend of paid experience (often with equipment or information that is not available to a layperson).