What's in a name?

Pronexia's Director of Candidate Relations - Marina Byezhanova - blogged recently about the frustration she found as a jobseeker on the market*; her CV was not being retained because of her not-local last name. Marina found instead that she got a much better response when she followed up with a call to the recruiter - who would then realize that despite her name, she was fluent and clear spoken and more than capable of the job!

 It may seem ridiculous to state, but names are important. 

If you are a job seeker on the market, you should make sure to apply to jobs using your full name, not some pseudonym that for some reason you thought would help keep you secure - the only thing this will achieve is not secure you an interview.

You should also make sure your name is spelled correctly - and I'm not presuming to know exactly how you spell your name, but when your name is inconsistently spelled in your email, CV and other correspondence - then clearly there's an issue.

 (If your email address is ilovecatsnotdogsnorsnails@hotmail.com rather than firstnamelastname@provider.com, this is also disconcerting to the recruiter and it might be wise to create a new email especially for your search).

One of the most telling mistakes a candidate can make is to misspell their interviewer's name. When you are looking for a job and trying to make a great impression, this good impression is unfortunately very easily let down by that initial email greeting. 

 To be fair, autocorrect can be sneaky and inconvenient in these circumstances; it may be that on sending the email, the spelling was corrected automatically. In which case, candidates are forgiven when the same version of misspelling is used throughout. However, if you misspell a name 3 different ways in either the same correspondence or over a series of emails, there's a problem here. Especially when you have the correct spelling in the very email address you are emailing.

Attention to detail, professionalism, and common sense are traits that all our clients consider important. 

Failing to notice this simple mistake unfortunately shows you are lacking in these areas.

As such, I would highly recommend that when emailing, always, always ensure you've spelled your contact's name correctly. You don't want your lovely thank-you email undone by this simple mistake. And we certainly wouldn't want to worry that this is a mistake you might make with our client as well.

As a bonus, I would also suggest being completely sure of the name of the person who called you when returning a call: if you've heard from us, it means we saw something in your profile and we were excited to speak with you! Don't let us be disappointed! Check your emails and job applications so you know exactly how to impress us once you do get us on the phone.

P.S:
(Showing up for an interview but not remembering who you are there to meet is not a sign of maturity)

* http://pronexia.blogspot.ca/2012/12/are-you-not-getting-calls-from-hiring.html