How Christians can do well in the job-hunt.
(Part 2)
Job-hunting tips for Christians (Part�2)
If you have not read Part 1 of this article, you may like to do so before reading this second part.
Résumés
A résumé (curriculum vitae, or CV) lists your career history and/or educational background. The best résumés tell potential employers what you have accomplished rather than merely listing duties of previous jobs. Don't include personal details such as marital status, age, religion, and the number of children you have unless they are genuine requirements of the job. For example, your religion would be important if you apply for a position as church minister or church secretary, but not if you apply for a job with the government, the local shoe factory, or a supermarket.
Make sure your résumé is neatly typed and contains no errors. If you are unsure how résumés look these days, or what to put in yours, ask a few friends who are working, or ask your local bookstore or library for a recent book on the subject. Adjust your résumé to suit each job you apply for.
Make sure it has no spelling or grammar mistakes. Get someone else to check it if you need to. You are going to be judged on the first impression you make through your application. I have seen more than one résumé in which the applicant has not even spelled his or her own name correctly. Employers think that if you can't be careful with your own work, you won't be careful with theirs.
References
List two to five people who can vouch for your ability, honesty, or performance on the job. You could list previous supervisors, the most prominent people you know, or people working in the type of business you are applying for. For example, if you are after a job working with animals, try to include at least one person who is a vet, zoo worker, or animal-handler.
Make sure you get approval from the people you want to use as referees.
Appearance
Most Christians are fairly conservative. They don't go for tattoos, overdone body piercing, or fluoro hair. Most employers also lean towards conservative-looking applicants if it comes to a close choice.
Dress suitably for the interview. If you apply for a job as a gardener, an artist, or a tradesperson, you may be able to dress casually. If you apply for office work — men could wear to the interview a dark suit, white shirt and subdued tie, and women won't go wrong wearing a conservative outfit, moderate-length skirt or suit, and not too much make-up and jewelry. Hire a suitable outfit if you can't afford to buy one.
Oh, and there is one important thing to remember about the interview. When you are asked if you have any questions, you will completely blow your chance of landing the job if you start asking questions like “How long is my lunch break?”, “Do I get accumulated time off?”, “How long before I can take a vacation?”, and so on. This warns the employer that you are more interested in time away from the job than working at the job.
Your questions should show your interest in the job, so ask things like “How many people work in the company, department or section?”, “How many of their jobs relate directly to what this job does?”, “Would you outline your company structure for me?”, “Do you have an annual report I could buy [not borrow or take] to get more information?”. You may already have found out or been given some of this information, so don't show how stupid you are by asking for it again; just ask similar company-related questions that you haven't yet been told. Show an interest in the company and the people who work there, not in your own clock-watching shortcomings.
Personality
We don't all have movie-star personalities, but you can create a good impression by smiling, being friendly (but not gushy) with the interviewer, and giving the impression you are pleasant, respectful and ready to deal with whatever comes your way. Some teens have told us they found our article How to be popular helpful in developing their personality.
Your chances of winning a job may go up a notch if you shake hands with the interviewers, show that you remember their names, and appear confident without presuming that you will get the job. Never say things like “Who would I be working with?”, “Where's my office?”, and such until you get the job. This attitude that you have got the job before you have been told you have is a real turn-off to interviewers and is likely to lose you the job.
Screening
Interviewers try to screen out applicants they perceive as unsuited to the position, uninterested, lazy, arrogant, late for the interview, long-winded, evasive, lacking enthusiasm, whining, deceptive, lacking motivation, unable to back up claims, negative, pushy, prematurely acting as though they have landed the job, and unlikely to follow instructions.
Convince the interviewer you don't fall into such categories by your attitude, enthusiasm, and willingness to back up any claims you make.
Follow-up with a letter of thanks
If you manage to get an interview and you think you would like the job, send a letter or card of thanks to the people who interviewed you (that's why you have to remember their first names). In an equal contest, the applicant who sends a brief, friendly note of thanks will usually get the job. But send it the same day or night (this is vitally important). Decisions are being made as soon as you leave the interview room, even if you have been told it will be a week before an announcement is made. So get your “thank you” letter to them immediately.
All you have to say is something like: “Dear _____, thank you for putting me at ease at the interview today. It was nice to meet you, and I look forward to hearing from you about your decision. With best wishes, ___________.” Put it in your own words, but make it:
- brief
- friendly
- positive.
Gain an extra edge
Many (perhaps most) jobs are never advertised. Friends and acquaintances of those who work there fill them. This is a good way to avoid competition.
Let your friends, family, and people at your church know you are looking for a certain type of job, and ask them to tell you if they hear of anything suitable. Remind them regularly, and try to get a recommendation from them if they work for the company at which the vacancy occurs or they know someone who does.
Also, consider applying directly to a place you would like to work — even if no vacancy has been advertised (see the next point). This has a higher success rate than many people think.
Bonus tip: An important job-search secret
There is so much competition to get many jobs these days that you are better off using the Yellow Pages phone directory instead of a newspaper. Find your career category and write to the companies listed there.
Word guru Ted Nicholas suggests you write a short note or postcard to the employer and emphasize these words:
“Honest, hard working, experienced, immediately available, talented, competent, great references. ‘I'll help you build a more profitable business’.”
These are qualities employers want. Just convince them you have these qualities.
Christians often stand out in secular workplaces because of their high standards. Even though most employers may not be Christians, the things that impress them — like honesty, reliability, and a positive attitude toward work — are often highly developed in Christians (read Galatians 5:22-26).
And that's why many Christians have such a high success rate at landing jobs.
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