Tips for job applicants

• If you're not going to submit a cover letter, then you'd better tailor your resume to show me that you have the skills required to do the job. Submitting only a resume with only a listing of past jobs, with no description of what you did in those jobs, will not get you an interview.
  
• If you list a phone number, and you're hoping for an interview, it may be wise to have voicemail on that number. Hearing "The customer you are calling is unavailable at the moment..." doesn't give me an opportunity to talk to you about an interview, does it? I don't want to email you, as that may result in pestering questions or spam if I'm not interested in hiring you.
  
• 5 page resumes that are extremely wordy will not get read.
• I personally think the categories of "Profile", "Objective", and a generic description of skills & attributes, such as "a great listener", are pretty much useless bull. Your objective is to get a job and pay your bills. If you had higher aspirations, you wouldn't be applying for this position. Of course you're going to describe yourself as wonderful.
  
• If your name is Bart Simpson, and the email address on your resume is "thesimpson@gmail.com", then I just think you're a cocky moron. Use something more professional when communicating with employers. Save the "fun" email addresses for your friends.
  
• If your "objective" is to "seek employment related to your current field of study", then your current field of study had better match what field I am looking for. You may be the best IT guy in your engineering class, but your actions are not consistent with your words. Reword your resume to match what the job is looking for.
• Just because you've worked in my company's industry doesn't mean you know anything about IT. Are you sure you're even applying for the right job? Did you even read the requirements in the posting? Don't waste my time!
• I called one person's phone and got their voicemail. It started off with the generic "Your call has been forwarded to an automatic voice message system. [blank] is not available." In the [blank] should be a voice recording of the person's name. On this person's voicemail, it went something like this: "Your call has been forwarded to an automatic voice message system. [Hey, this is Bart. Leave a message and I'll get back to you as soon as I can"] is not available." This person can't even figure out how to properly set a voicemail message, and yet he wants a job that involves taking phone calls and answering messages? *shakes head*
  

It's been fun so far. I'm amazed at how many people just send out generic resumes with no tailoring toward the specific job, or who don't seem to realize how important their contact information is. I'd rather not hire anyone than someone who can't do the basics of what I need. I don't have time to extensively train someone. It's rapidly looking like I may not have an extra body in here this summer.