A new study of chief financial officers (CFOs) by the accounting and finance staffing firm Accountemps has revealed where most candidacies go off the rails in the job application process.

For this report, the CFOs were asked their opinion of at which step along the way most candidates ruin their own chances of being hired. By far the most common answer (43%) was that it is the jobs interview that trips up candidates. Resumes mistakes were the second most likely blunders (19%) to hurt a job seeker’s chances.

Apparently we’ve either become more skilled at resume writing in the past few years, or our job interview savvy has gone downhill. When a similar group was asked that same question back in 2010, they were much more evenly split on viewing job interview (32%) or resume (28%) mistakes as the biggest problem for most candidacies.

2,100 CFO’s answered: “In which of the following job application areas do you feel candidates make the most mistakes?”

  • Interview – 43%
  • Resume – 19%
  • Interview follow-up – 11%
  • Cover letter – 10%
  • Phone interview/screen – 7%
  • Reference check – 5%
  • Don’t know – 5%



Full report and job interview tips from Accountemps.

See also:

  • The biggest mistake at a job interview (and the one question you will always be asked)
  • Job interview tips you never heard before
  • Only 2% of applicants actually get interviews: Here’s how to be one of them

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    Peter Harris
    – Peter Harris on Twitter

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