The 9 Reasons Why You Don’t Get Job Interview Calls?

This morning, a young man asked me a question at our Whatsapp Group [AshrafChaudhrySalesForum] that “Why most of the time HR does not call you (for interview) even having basic criteria mentioned in the job post?”

Being a headhunter myself, I will highlight the following reasons that why recruiters and headhunters don’t call people for interviews.

  1. Your CV is your brand ambassador. Its sole objective is to make you short-listed in the first round. Your CV has less than 10 seconds to sell you. So, your brand ambassador has to be immaculate and should highlight your “Elevator’s Pitch” in a compelling way. If your brand ambassador is lousy in presentation and shallow in substance, you have no chance for the interview.
  2. A single spelling mistake and grammatical error can put off the recruiter and you will be ignored. While scanning through the CVs, recruiter’s one finger is always on Delete button.
  3. Your CV is irrelevant or is not customized. CV is not One-Size-Fits-All document. You have to do 20-25% customization for each job posting to make it relevant. Guerrilla job hunters read the job advertisement carefully and embed all the keywords in the CV to make it appear relevant.
  4. You have not followed instructions. If instructions say “Write name of position in the subject” and you did not, why recruiter should bother to take extra pain and download and open your CV and then decide where to save it. If instructions say “Explain the reasons in favor of your candidature” while you write only one sentence “My CV is attached”, your chances of being called for interview will shrink.
  5. If address at your CV is of another city, your chances of initial selection are minimum. Why a recruiter sitting in Karachi and having position in Karachi should call a person from Islamabad for the job interview unless his/her skill-set is absolutely unique? In such cases, you can use guerrilla job hunting tactics to dodge the recruiters.
  6. People from village are mostly discriminated. I have faced this discrimination many times in my executive life. Never write address of smaller city/village at your CV. It is advisable to write address of your current city. If you are based in Karachi but your permanent address is from Toba Tek Singh, no need to write permanent address unless you are applying for positions in nearby big city like Faisalabad.
  7. Some companies are snobbish. They have preconceived favorable judgement for people belonging to posh areas and prejudice against people having address not so glamorous. In case of Karachi, if there is position of Brand Manager with some reasonably successful company, addresses of Laloo Khait, Liaquatabad, Sohrab Goth, Golimar will be discriminated. Guerrilla job hunters play the trick of showing addresses of posh areas.
  8. Business organizations don’t hire insurgents, revolutionaries and disruptionists. Extremists, both religious and libtards, are discriminated. Companies mind their own business. These days, recruiters scan your social media before calling you for interview. Recently, a CEO of big company personally talked to me on this topic that his company has no place for militants, either religious fanatic or bayghairat brigade. Keep your Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter free from extremism.
  9. Being architect of Guerrilla CV, I always advise job hunters to put professional picture on CV in case you are hunting job in Pakistan. (No picture at CVs in case of job hunting in Europe, Americas). If your picture is non-professional, you will be discriminated. We guide our clients of Guerrilla CV with sample pictures.

Ashraf Chaudhry is Pakistan’s #1 Sales Trainer and author of The Craft of Selling “YOURSELF”. He is founder of Guerrilla CV, a killer CV that dodges all the barriers and lands you on the interview table. Want to get your CV evaluated FREE OF CHARGE? Send your CV at [email protected]; you will pay only if you hire our services.

To book Ashraf Chaudhry for sales trainings, please write to [email protected].

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