Why Don’t Job Applicants Get Interview Calls?

Many people complain that they applied everywhere but no body called them for interviews. They conclude that for job hunting you need strong reference/parchi. It’s not the case.

Against one advertised position, organizations receive hundreds of resumes/CVs. The challenge for recruiter/selector is short-listing the potentially right candidates. I recruit people for my clients regularly and short-listing the right candidates for interview is a challenging task. What does recruiter do?

  1. A CV that looks cluttered, shabby, disorganized is deleted in 3-4 seconds.
  2. A CV that has more than 2-3 common grammatical/typo errors like carrier instead of career is deleted in 3-4 seconds.
  3. A CV that is irrelevant is deleted in less than 5 seconds. Company advertised a position of NSM and an administrative assistant sends you the CV.
  4. Job-hoppers’ CVs are deleted in less than 15 seconds. If you have 4 jobs in 5 years, and latest job is hardly 2 months old, you are out.
  5. Applicants applying from far off places are not invited for interviews. For example, if the job is Karachi based, two people of same education and experience apply, one is from Karachi, other from Lahore, Karachi’s candidate will be preferred.
  6. A CV that looks like a circular (is not customized) is on fast track to recycle bin.
  7. A CV that looks so shallow but position is strategic and company is looking for a thought leader, no chance of interview.
  8. Putting a picture on CV that looks like sign of pessimism will increase chances of your CV to go to recycle bin.

In the recruitment process, CV/resume is your brochure. It is the most important document. If you cannot write it, get it written by a professional. Many people say, CV is not reflection of competence. True. But a recruiter cannot call 100 people for interview. He/she has to call only 5 people. He/she will call only those who take interest in his/her own document, who are immaculate and write convincingly.

8 thoughts on “Why Don’t Job Applicants Get Interview Calls?

  • August 26, 2013 at 5:03 pm
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    why not a picture on cv ????

    Reply
    • October 30, 2013 at 1:20 am
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      dear naeem,
      there is one human nature observations that when we look someone live or in any picture we make a image for that person in our mind e.g when we see any picture we create an image for that person that i think this person should be like this nature or by face he is very attitude looking guy or many more imaginary observation. but in real life its not true some time pictures are totally different from real human nature. so that is why professionals suggest not to put pictures on cv. hope i explained you correctly. Good Day,

      Reagrds,
      Vicky ahmed
      [email protected]

      Reply
  • August 29, 2013 at 10:13 am
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    This is really the true case that most job applicants don’t know. But dear sir even in your book entitled “Craft of selling yourself” you haven’t given exact formats of resumes that are most acceptable in Pakistan. Every one writes and comments about drafting or crafting a CV, but is there anyone who can show a complete format of resume that Pakistani employers look for?? I think they themselves don’t know..!!!!

    Reply
  • October 17, 2013 at 4:52 pm
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    I’ve seen my friends getting job by having pic on CV.

    Reply
  • October 21, 2013 at 4:47 pm
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    If you have a picture on your resume, then it should be a professional one!

    Reply
  • June 24, 2015 at 6:59 pm
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    Thank You Sir. I got all the Reasons why not called to interview. I Feel happy that i found you very soon 🙂 After one year In shaa Allah CV will be my Need, then I will Prefer Your team In shaa Allah. jazakAllah Sir 🙂

    Reply

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