Eric Koester is the VP of Operations and General Counsel at Appature, one of the largest marketing consulting companies for the Health Care industry. Eric has made hiring decisions on student interns throughout his career and in this post Eric offers novel advice on exactly what steps you NEED to take to get your foot in the door. There is no better place to get internship advice then directly from the mouth of an experienced hiring manager — enjoy these internship insights from Eric Koester!
How to Make Yourself EASY to Hire!
An internship can be an outstanding opportunity for you to learn more about a company AND for the company to learn more about you. But getting that internship is the first step…
When you are being hired, usually the person doing the hiring is busy. So remember that you’ve only got one shot to impress them and doing the “wrong” things can be an immediate turnoff. I’ve hired numerous interns over the last few years and have identified a few key things that intern candidates do that make my job of screening candidates more difficult. And whenever you make the job of the person looking to hire you difficult, you risk not getting the interview and ultimately the job.
So here’s my list of key things to do to make yourself easy to hire.
1. Always include your GPA.
There is lots of conflicting advice about putting your GPA on your resume. However, if you are applying for an internship, you should always list your GPA. There are only a few things we can evaluate an intern on and GPA is one of them. Just because it isn’t as high as you’d like, don’t hide from it. Instead, find ways to list your overall GPA and then highlight your GPA in specific courses or your major. But don’t hide your GPA – when I’ve got numerous candidates, I have automatically stricken anyone that didn’t list their GPA.
2. One Page Resume.
I’ll be honest, for an internship, I rarely (if ever) read what you’ve listed on the second or third page of a resume. Focus on what’s most important and cut out the rest so your resume fits on one page.
3. Misspellings are an automatic ‘no.’
You are putting your best foot forward in your resume and cover letter. And if that “best foot” has misspellings, then I can only imagine what the work will be like when you work for me. Don’t count on Spell Check either… it can’t catch things like the difference between ‘their’ and ‘there.’
4. Show you know something about my business/company.
No one likes form letters – whether they are from credit card companies or from job applicants. Candidates that tell me in the first paragraph of their resume/cover letter about why they want to work at our company go to the top of my list.
5. Be careful about what you say.
I’ve seen phrases like, “You’re making a big mistake if you don’t hire me;” “I’m the perfect candidate;” or “You won’t find a harder worker than me.” I appreciate confidence, but remember that phrases like that may backfire. Be confident, but not cocky.
While getting an internship may be a challenge, you can make the process much easier by making the job of the hiring manager simpler. Look to these key tips to help make my job simpler and get yourself one step closer to obtaining that internship.
So make yourself EASY to hire… that’s the first step to get hired!
Eric Koester is the Vice President of Operations for Appature (www.appatureinc.com), a software company providing leading marketing software solutions to the healthcare industry located in Seattle, Washington. You can read more at Eric’s blog at www.myhightechstartup.com. Follow @erickoester!
