If you are looking for a job, forget these words!

I asked a few women restarter-friends in various forums what they wanted to do and most of them said – Anything that offers flexibility and good pay! 

I despise that word ‘Anything’! Particularly when the same person would not go for ‘Anything’ when choosing her wedding dress or child’s birthday dress! How can you think that your recruiter will buy that word ‘Anything’? It shows that you are not much bothered about what you do. It shows a lack of focus.

If you are serious about getting back to work, you have to Focus. Find out what you want to do with life. 

Invest some time to think and list down what you would like to do. List down jobs that interest you. If you don’t understand it, search the internet to learn more about it. Use your time wisely to learn. But be clear about what you want to do. Anything will not get you anything or anywhere!

If you cannot travel, state that clearly. If you love client servicing, go for it. If you love interacting with people, find out what jobs can suit your interest. Skills can be acquired. But you cannot grow an interest on something one fine morning or force it on you.

The next word that I hate to hear from a candidate would be ‘I think’! It’s about confidence. ‘I think‘ breaks that confidence aspect. “I think I can do it” and “I can do it” give totally different impressions. One shows that you are not 100% sure and the other says you are confident. Whether you ultimately do it or not is another matter altogether.

Be confident of whatever you are talking about. If you are not confident, it is better not to talk about it! ‘I think’ puts you in a space in between which doesn’t sound good. So change your ‘I think’ to ‘I can’ or ‘I cannot’! A firm answer is always better than sounding doubtful.

Then comes ‘Maybe’. I will put it in the same situation or category as ‘I think’. Though it is ok to express that you are not sure of something, a ‘Maybe’ may put the recruiter in a dilemma too. Come up with a clear answer instead.

So What else can help you?

Quite a few words can impress your recruiter. Using terms like I am confident, I am sure, Sorry, I have no clue or I don’t know instead of I thinks and Maybes will definitely make more sense to your recruiter.

I just wanted to share it with everyone so that you can reconsider your choice of words used during your interviews or interactions with your recruiter.