Soon a member of the Unleashed family will be leaving us and I’m in the process of finding a replacement. I have received quite a few applicants and many of them eliminated themselves quickly. I thought I’d pass along some of their mistakes as these are mistakes that can happen in many areas.

I am as guilty as anyone of making the occasional spelling mistake. A resume should be proofread numerous times to avoid spelling mistakes. The same is true of printed materials for your business. When I saw a resume that spelled the city (Phoenix) wrong, that certainly raised red flags. There were other mistakes on headings and plenty of mistakes in the body text of resumes. It certainly doesn’t give me positive thoughts about an applicant.

My printer once printed the wrong phone number on a promotional postcard. Yes, his own phone number was wrong on a postcard promoting the business. Luckily the number printed wasn’t in use. It was less expensive to get an extra line with that number for a few months than it was to reprint the postcards. Proofread everything!

We are located in Cave Creek which is on the far north side of Phoenix. The open position is for a few hours a day. Yet there have been a number of resumes from people who would have at least a 45 minute commute each way. Some of them are almost twice that far. I ask each of them about the distance and whether it would be a problem. None of them even answered the question. This can also be true of customers. Sometimes they are just too far away to be profitable for your business.

One of my biggest pet peeves can be people who don’t read information that is provided. In addition to the geography mentioned already, a number of applicants clearly didn’t read the ad (and it wasn’t that long). I hope this isn’t you, but there are a lot of people who don’t read basic information before asking a question or taking an action. If you take just a little more time and read what is provided, your question will most likely be answered and it takes less time.