Stop Taking Generic Career Advice. It Will Cost You.
By Erika | eSquared · April 2026
Generic career advice is everywhere: LinkedIn posts, career coaches, university career centres. Most of it is recycled, context-free, or was never accurate to begin with. Here is what I actually see from the hiring side, and what makes a difference.
Stop Sending Your Resume as a PDF (Unless Asked)
The logic behind PDFs used to make sense: formatting is preserved. But most organisations now use Applicant Tracking Systems that parse resume content automatically, and many of them struggle with PDFs.
Tables, columns, and non-standard fonts in a PDF can read as blank fields or garbled text in the system. Your keywords don't get picked up. Your experience doesn't read correctly.
Send Word unless the job posting specifically asks for PDF. If you're applying through an online portal, Word is almost always the safer choice.
Remove the Hobbies Section
Listing that you enjoy hiking, cooking, and spending time with family does not differentiate you. Recruiters spend an average of six seconds on an initial resume scan. That space needs to work harder.
The only exception is where a hobby is directly relevant to the role. A designer with strong personal creative projects has a reason to mention it. Most people don't.
Replace hobbies with a brief professional summary at the top, or expand your achievements section. Put something in that space that answers the question: why you over the next person.
Team Player, Passionate, Hard Worker — Recruiters Aren't Reading These
These phrases appear on almost every resume a recruiter sees. They're so common they've become invisible, and they signal that the candidate hasn't thought carefully about what actually makes them different.
"Passionate about customer service" means nothing without evidence. "Reduced average customer wait time by 22 percent through revised call routing procedures" means something.
Replace generic attributes with specific, evidence-based statements. What did you actually do, and what was the outcome?
Your Cover Letter Is Probably Hurting You
Most cover letters restate the resume, focus on what the candidate wants from the role, and use the same template language as everyone else. A cover letter should answer one question: why this role, at this organisation, right now.
Keep it to three paragraphs. First: what you're applying for and why this specific company. Second: what you bring that's directly relevant. Third: a short, confident close.
Don't start with "I am writing to express my interest in." Don't explain what you hope to gain. Employers want to know what you'll do for them.
If your cover letter could apply to any employer in any industry, it's not doing its job.
Interview Preparation That Actually Works
Most candidates prepare by rehearsing answers to generic questions. That's useful but not enough. Here's what actually separates the candidates who get offers from the ones who get close.
Research the organisation properly. Know their recent activity: new products, leadership changes, challenges in the sector. Referencing specific, current information in an interview signals genuine interest and sets you apart from everyone who read the About page and stopped there.
Treat the position description like a brief. Map your experience directly to each requirement. Have a clear, specific example ready for every key criterion.
Dress for the organisation's culture, not a generic idea of professional. A startup engineering team will be put off by a three-piece suit. A financial services firm will be put off by casual dress. Do the research.
Prepare real questions. Ask about the team, what success looks like in the first six months, what happened to the person who previously held the role. The questions you ask reveal as much as your answers.
The Bottom Line
Generic preparation gets generic results. The candidates who stand out are the ones who did the specific research, tailored the application, and walked into the room prepared for that conversation — not a hypothetical one.
Ready to stop guessing and start knowing? Job Market Mastery gives you the insider knowledge of how hiring actually works. Visit e-squared.com.au