why little things matter in your job search

I’ve been thinking lately about the nature of candidate mistakes in the hiring process. The fact is, everyone makes mistakes. A single mistake generally says very little about you. It's patterns of mistakes that matter. But when you're on a job search, a small blunder can take on far greater importance than it would in most contexts. This is hard on job seekers, who can't possibly attain a superhuman level of perfection. It can seem unfair to be judged so harshly for mistakes everyone makes--typos, stupid comments, the occasional late arrival.

Over at U.S. News & World Report today, I talk about why these little things matter so much. Please check it out and leave your own thoughts over there!