Let us imagine Mr. Unprepared who has a degree in Economics and wants to apply for a Controlling position at a big Internet Service Provider in the United Kingdom. See if you can spot his mistakes.

He starts off by starting up his word processor and copying the application he used to get his last job 3 years ago. After all, it worked then, it should work now. By using the “Find & Replace”-function of the software he quickly replaces the name of his former company with the name of the Internet Service Provider and adds his last job in his resume.

Mr. Unprepared does not believe in e-mail applications, he prefers the old fashioned way. Despite the application form on the company website he decides to print out his generic letter and resume and send it in by mail. Unfortunately he addresses it to a company branch in Birmingham instead of the HR-department at the London head-office.

However, a couple of days later his phone rings indeed and he gets an invitation for a job interview.

Having no fitting tie for his shirts he decides to ditch the business attire and go casual instead. Because of all the back and forth with his clothing he arrives 6 minutes late for the interview. He wonders if they will notice and starts to get a little bit nervous.

The interview begins. Mr. Unprepared realizes he has not researched the company well enough. Yes, he had skimmed the rough numbers like number of employees and yearly revenue, but for example he did not know the company also was doing very well with its web hosting branch in Eastern Europe. Or that they also produced hardware in China.

This is not good. Whenever things go like this, he starts showing nervousness. Fidgeting, biting the pencil, becoming defensive.

Oh there it is, one of the questions he had expected: “So, why did you leave your last job?”, the interviewer asks.

“Cause I did not feel like I could get anywhere there. Also, my boss was very incompetent. If you ask me, it’s a miracle that company is not broke yet.”

Eventually the interview ends and he shakes everyone’s hand.

Determined to improve his chances by befriending the interviewer he decides to wait outside and intercept him on his way to lunch.

Just to ask what he thinks his chances are.

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