Are you applying for a job, internship, or teaching assistant (TA) position? We’ve got five easy job application and interview tips that you can use when applying to just about anything.
Tuck these tips under your belt, and you’ll be strutting your way into a new job—not just an interview—before you can say, hired!
1. Professionalism in all things virtual
Your virtual interactions—and that largely means emails when applying for an internship, TA position, or similar job—need to be strong reflections of your professionalism and support your candidacy for a position. Contemporary communication tends to be casual, and it’s easy to let that slip into your emails.
For starters, think of your email greeting, and let the rest of your correspondence follow in a similar tone. Avoid opening an email to a hiring manager with anything as casual as “Hey,” or even “Hi.” You don’t have be overly formal or always use “Dear,” but a nice “Hello” could be a good middle ground. How you address hiring managers can impact their initial impressions of you and can even influence the way you act around them in the future … say, if you land an interview.
2. Research the position before applying
As a job candidate, it’s common to fall back on the strategy of applying to several positions at once just for the sake of increasing your chances at securing a position—not necessarily thinking about how suited you are for the job. There are plenty of flaws in this logic, but let’s just look at a couple
While applying all over the place and putting your metaphorical eggs in multiple baskets can get you considered as a candidate for several jobs at once, the quantity-over-quality approach is often counterproductive. For one reason, a semi-customized job application is more likely to get thrown out of a review pile than a carefully tailored one.
You may hear it constantly, but it’s true: take the time to fully understand a position before you apply to it. A well-customized application is more likely to catch a hiring manager’s eye, and acquiring a comprehensive understanding of an internship, TA, or job position is less likely to waste everyone’s time.
Ask yourself the following questions before taking the time to fill out that job application and tailor that resume and cover letter:
- Is this the position or company for you?
- Do you truly know what the position entails?
You might find that a position you thought would be appealing based on title alone may not be what you expected. Alternatively, you could discover that a position you didn’t even previously consider might have a lot to offer. In either case, it’s best to be fully informed about the job—no matter what it is—before you apply.
Keep in mind that you will also be tremendous glad you did so much research when you are called in for an interview. Half of your interview prep will be already done!
3. Dig a little deeper for opportunities
There are many opportunities out there if you really look for them, and you may find an interesting option that’s not directly related to what your degree is in.
Perhaps you completed your MBA program, but find that you enjoy teaching. Keep an open mind—there could be numerous appealing opportunities available just outside your traditional field of study. For example, at Kaplan Test Prep, we are always hiring candidates who have a love of teaching and standardized testing to teach our prep courses.
4. Proofread, proofread, proofread!
This may seem obvious, but it bears repeating: proofreading can make or break a job application. It happens all the time.
Want to avoid the embarrassment of addressing an application to a company’s competitor because you forgot to update your cover letter, spelling his or her name wrong, flubbing up the job title, or making another classic “attention to detail” mistake?
It takes just a few minutes to carefully proofread a resume or cover letter—and the time you put behind each customized application (see tip #2) should make these extra minutes well worth it.
If the position has particular importance to you, don’t be afraid to send your application to a friend (and return the favor when they ask you for similar help). A second set of eyes can pick up mistakes that you might gloss right over as the writer of the text.
If you’re on a timeline and nobody’s available, try proofreading backward, from the bottom up! You’re less likely to overlook small errors if you’re focused on reading what you actually wrote, instead of inadvertently reciting to yourself what you intended to write.
5. Be positive about your job applications!
You may be sending in job applications for multiple positions, and it can get quite tiring if you’re going on interview after interview, or—worse—not yet receiving responses.
However, this can be par for the course—most of us go through it at some point or another. It’s important to maintain your positivity and drive, as doing so will set the tone for your interviews. Managers can sense when a candidate is truly invested in a position, and it can lead to more insightful conversations about the role.
We weren’t kidding when we said these are 5 easy tips to remember—but it’s still fairly common for candidates to overlook or gloss over one or more of them. Stay a step ahead of your competition by bookmarking this page and reading over these 5 tips every time you submit a new job application!
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