It simply amazes me that we are not taught certain basic life lessons in school. How did you learn how to write a check? How did you learn how to balance your checkbook? How did you learn how to go about buying a house? How did you learn how to interview correctly? Most of us have the learned the answers to these common questions through experience or we haven’t learned the answers yet. In a perfect world you would learn these lessons no later than high school, but these topics are overlooked by most educational programs. So we go out there on our own and learn from our mistakes, and sometimes these mistakes cost us money and jobs.

I do not have any advanced degrees in the field of human resources, nor do I teach résumé writing at the local university. I have however conducted hundreds of interviews with potential candidates for jobs. I also mentor other business owners on how to hire people. Both have opened my eyes as to just how uneducated and sometimes even clueless people are when trying to obtain employment. And I am compelled.

I am compelled to pass on my experience and knowledge to you. I want to give you a fighting chance to obtain employment.

Over the years I have read cover letters, reviewed resumes and interviewed hundreds of candidates for potential positions with my company. For the last four years I have cataloged the positives and negatives offered by these job-seekers.

Currently, as Practice Manager of a small Financial Planning firm, I have the sole responsibility of hiring or passing on potential candidates for employment. As the people I hire are a direct reflection of me, I take this responsibility very seriously. When I started as the Practice Manager I had no mentor nor any guidelines for selecting candidates. Not only did I have to learn many Federal and State regulations regarding employment law to protect myself and my company, I had to also teach myself how to select a quality person to work for me.

Through trial and error I developed processes and procedures to make my job of hiring individuals consistent and legal as well as to weed out candidates that were not up to our standards. I learned that there is no such thing as a “bad” candidate. There are only those of you out there that are either not qualified for a position or do not present yourself well. The more common is the latter.

You have to realize that when you are trying to get a job you are one thing – a salesperson. Your product is YOU. You have to do everything in your control to present your product so that you can get a buyer. Some things will not be in your control. If you didn’t attend a college or university, you can’t wave a magic wand and get a degree. You can’t wave that same wand and obtain advance degrees or experience. You could eventually obtain these, but you’re dealing with the here and now. You’re presenting your current product. You don’t want to lie about your product by embellishing. You are going to only focus on those things in your control. The encouraging fact for you is that an advanced degree or experience is less important on a job interview than how you are presenting yourself.

I have interviewed people who were extremely qualified with advanced degrees and experience that I’ve passed over simply because they did not present themselves well. I didn’t reject these people because they were shy or nervous. That’s the human condition and is to be expected. They are factors out of their control. I did reject these “qualified” individuals because of factors that were in their control. The interviewee who shows up late or is not dressed appropriately will not be hired. On the flip-side one of the best employees our company hired was a gentleman who had absolutely no experience in our industry, but followed up with us so persistently and professionally that his passion shined through and landed him the job.

The lesson is to control what you can control and ignore the things you can’t. You’ll see that theme reoccurring throughout the following chapters.

My hope this that by reading this book, you will avoid many common mistakes. Present yourself in the most positive light to your potential employer and gain employment at the company and position of your dreams.