Dumb advice people gave to you regarding job hunting

I always see people giving advice on how to get the job you want, what you should do etc. Some of the stuff has worked pretty well.

This thread is for the dumb stuff people have actually told you.

So anyway a few years back I went to my university career counselor/consultant/whateverthetitleis in my final year. I already had internship experience mind you but I saw no harm in going to see what could be improved in my approach to jobhunting as well as my resume.

Well anyway after some discussion (which didn't help much) we got onto the resume discussion part. I spent some time listening to her essentially crapping on my resume and achievements. Basically a lot of "that's nothing special" and "why weren't you able to be like this other guy who achieved this?" I can endure. Whatever it takes to improve right? The problem was the advice she gave. She said I should include an entire section on the PRIMARY school I went to because it was in a different country and it would make me look more international even though that was a short stint. Not to mention my resume was already almost using all the space on the 1 page. She then said I shouldn't use a PDF format because many companies wouldn't be able to recognize the format. Keep in mind this was only a few years back and not the 90s where we were still using 56k modems.

At that point I realized I was wasting my time and tried to end the appointment as early as possible. I already interviewed with some really prestigious firms for summer internships so my resume couldn't be that bad and so I was foolish for expecting too much. I still sent her a thank you email out of courtesy. She asked if we could meet again. Naturally I declined.

I eventually did get something but it was definitely no thanks to her.

What dumb advice have people tried to give you?

 
Best Response

Aut vel aut natus eligendi aut nemo. A ut vel itaque. Assumenda sit qui eveniet mollitia temporibus sunt.

Sint dicta ullam veritatis nemo voluptate qui. Autem vel aliquam ea nulla. Ut corrupti enim voluptatem et deserunt officia laudantium. Error mollitia quis vero consequatur accusantium voluptatibus. Voluptatem placeat aut omnis assumenda alias.

"When you stop striving for perfection, you might as well be dead."

Career Advancement Opportunities

April 2024 Investment Banking

  • Jefferies & Company 02 99.4%
  • Goldman Sachs 19 98.8%
  • Harris Williams & Co. New 98.3%
  • Lazard Freres 02 97.7%
  • JPMorgan Chase 03 97.1%

Overall Employee Satisfaction

April 2024 Investment Banking

  • Harris Williams & Co. 18 99.4%
  • JPMorgan Chase 10 98.8%
  • Lazard Freres 05 98.3%
  • Morgan Stanley 07 97.7%
  • William Blair 03 97.1%

Professional Growth Opportunities

April 2024 Investment Banking

  • Lazard Freres 01 99.4%
  • Jefferies & Company 02 98.8%
  • Goldman Sachs 17 98.3%
  • Moelis & Company 07 97.7%
  • JPMorgan Chase 05 97.1%

Total Avg Compensation

April 2024 Investment Banking

  • Director/MD (5) $648
  • Vice President (19) $385
  • Associates (87) $260
  • 3rd+ Year Analyst (14) $181
  • Intern/Summer Associate (33) $170
  • 2nd Year Analyst (66) $168
  • 1st Year Analyst (205) $159
  • Intern/Summer Analyst (146) $101
notes
16 IB Interviews Notes

“... there’s no excuse to not take advantage of the resources out there available to you. Best value for your $ are the...”

Leaderboard

1
redever's picture
redever
99.2
2
BankonBanking's picture
BankonBanking
99.0
3
Secyh62's picture
Secyh62
99.0
4
Betsy Massar's picture
Betsy Massar
99.0
5
CompBanker's picture
CompBanker
98.9
6
GameTheory's picture
GameTheory
98.9
7
dosk17's picture
dosk17
98.9
8
kanon's picture
kanon
98.9
9
Linda Abraham's picture
Linda Abraham
98.8
10
DrApeman's picture
DrApeman
98.8
success
From 10 rejections to 1 dream investment banking internship

“... I believe it was the single biggest reason why I ended up with an offer...”