by Nayab Naseer

Created on: March 03, 2009

The number of job applicants has always been greater than the number of jobs available, and this has been the case throughout history. Even though you may be the most qualified and the most talented fit for the vacant position, the company will not hire you until your application is considered, and for this, your application should stand out from amongst the hundreds or even thousands that come in for the same position.

Some of the common mistakes made while sending in the job applications, mistakes that would invariably induce the company to place your application in the shredder are:

1. Typing or grammatical mistakes: Typographical errors, spelling mistakes and faulty grammar are signs of incompetence and carelessness, and most employees reject applications that contain such bloopers. You are marketing yourselves through the application, and just as you would not consider a training school that has spelling mistakes or grammar mistakes on their newspaper advertisement, companies would not consider someone who cannot get the basics right. If some companies do overlook such fundamental mistakes, understand they are desperate to consider anyone who happens to apply, since talent would have shunned them.

2. Illegible fonts or formatting: When you send your application by email or upload the same into the company's website, it is not necessary that the font you use is available in the company's server. Similarly, different versions of MS-Word would make the formatting go awry. You might send the file as an Open Office Document, and since the company would not be having Open Office, they would not be able to open your resume. It is imperative that you use common and popular font like Arial or Times New Roman, and keep formatting size simple and bare minimum. Always save the attachment in the specified format, or if nothing is specified, in MS-Word or PDF format.

You can take more liberties when printing out applications and submitting hard copies, but make sure to use easy to read fonts and font size, and be careful to ensure there are no formatting mistakes. Since there would be many applications, most companies do not waste time trying to decipher unreadable or hard to read applications.

3. Incomplete information, especially unexplained gaps between jobs or applications are sure to place your application in the shredder. If you were unemployed for some time, mention that, and mention what you did during that time. At times, the job advertisement would be specific

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