resume “tricks” that will backfire on you

by Alison Green on January 26, 2015

When you’re putting together a resume, you might find yourself looking for ways to disguise a spotty job history, get around resume-screening software, or even avoid showing your age. And if you go looking for help, you might be encourage to employ some resume “tricks” to bypass these challenges. The problem? Hiring managers can see right through the most common resume tricks, and using them will usually backfire on you.

Here are five resume tricks that you should pass up.

1. Using a functional resume instead of a chronological resume to hide weaknesses in your work history. If you’re trying to hide gaps between jobs, disguise several short-term stays, or downplay the fact that you’ve been out of the workforce for a while, you might have been advised that you should use a functional resume instead of a chronological one. Rather than a traditional resume, which would be in reverse-chronological order, functional resumes simply list skills and abilities without tying them to specific jobs and dates.

The problem with this format? Employers know that they’re generally used to disguise limited or outdated work experience or job-hopping, and so they’re generally taken as a red flag that the candidate is trying to cover something up. Moreover, employers hate this format since it makes it hard to understand what the candidate’s career progression has been, and how recent (or old) those listed accomplishments are. If your skills are strong, a employer might contact you anyway and ask you to clarify the chronology of your work history – but when they have plenty of other good candidates to choose from, it will make them more likely to simply pass you up.

2. Shortening your resume by shrinking the margins and font instead of by cutting content. Sometimes a candidate who has heard that their resume shouldn’t be more than one or two pages tries to hit that limit by using a tiny font and narrowing page margins to cram more text in. But it’s pretty obvious to people who read a lot of resumes when you’ve done this, and you’ll come across as someone who can’t or won’t edit and who doesn’t know what’s most important. Worse, you’ll dilute your resume’s impact, because small, crowded text with no white space is hard to read and even harder to scan., which means that hiring managers’ eyes are likely to glaze over when they turn to your resume – the exact opposite of the reaction you want.

3. Leaving dates off your resume to avoid age discrimination. Older candidates are sometimes advised to leave dates of employment off their resumes altogether, so that employers don’t draw conclusions about their age and assume that they’re too old, too expensive, or too set in their ways. The problem with this advice is that dates of employment are such a standard part of a resume that leaving them off looks bizarre – like leaving the house without your pants. Moreover, it’s not just convention; dates of employment are relevant. Employers want to know if your experience managing that team that achieved such great results was recent if it was 20 years ago, as well as whether you did it for six months or three years.

However, if you’re concerned about age discrimination, one thing you can to is to remove from your resume jobs that are older than 15-20 years ago. They’re unlikely to  strengthen your candidacy at this point anyway, and your more recent accomplishments are probably more impressive.

4. Littering your resume with “keywords” to get by resume-screening software. Many job seekers have become convinced that the only way that their resumes will actually be seen by human eyes is to figure out some magical combination of keywords to make it past resume-screening software. In reality, many companies (especially smaller ones) don’t use resume-screening software at all, and those that don’t do screen using obscure keywords. Any halfway competent resume-screener is going to run expansive and varied enough searches that your resume should get seen if you’re a qualified candidate. You don’t need to stumble on some esoteric combination of words to get spotted.

Plus, tailoring your resume to what you think a computer program wants to see is a good way to make it unappealing to human eyes – and it’s a human who will ultimately decide whether or not to call you in for an interview.

5. Using a fancy or unusual resume design to stand out and catch the hiring manager’s eye. When you know that you’re competing against a sea of similarly qualified candidates, it can be tempting to think that you need to find creative ways to stand out, like using an unusual resume design with graphics and colors. But often a fancy design backfires, by making it harder for employers to quickly find the information they’re looking for on your resume. In fact, fancy resume designs tend to minimize the amount of information you can include, sacrificing content for flash. That’s at odds with what hiring managers want from your resume, which is quite simple: a clean, uncluttered document that’s easy to quickly scan and which puts information in the places they expect to find it. Designs that emphasize appearance over those characteristics will make your job search harder, not easier.

I originally published this at U.S. News & World Report.

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my manager likes our competitor’s idea — the same one she rejected from me last year

by Alison Green on January 26, 2015

A reader writes:

Recently, senior management has been trying to improve the morale of our office. One of their efforts was to collect anonymous feedback from staff about what their beefs are, and how they’d like to see processes and culture improve. I took the opportunity to air my frustrations with ideas/creativity being shot down because “we’ve never done that before,” outdated processes, and a general “no is the answer, what is the question” attitude from my manager.

Since then, management has rolled out many improvements from the feedback, which I am pleased with. In particular, they have been talking the talk about encouraging new ideas, telling us all to bring any frustrations to our managers so processes and morale can be improved, and even hired new staff to balance workloads.

A year ago, I wrote a large proposal on my own time for an idea I had. My manager very quickly said no, there was no budget for this idea that would not bring much value.

This week, a competitor rolled out my EXACT idea/proposal, and my manager sent me an email to ask me to research the idea and come up with a proposal to roll out something similar. My blood is boiling, and I feel devalued as I don’t think she remembers my proposal at all – proving that “no” culture.

I have a good relationship with my manager (personally and professionally) and usually let my gripes only be heard by my partner at home.

In order to not stir the pot, I could simply update my original proposal and send her that, saving myself doing the work again. But I am very tempted to use this opportunity to show her directly the kinds of behaviours that are causing the negative culture. For example, even if the idea wasn’t practical at that time, her response could have acknowledged my extra work and desire to be innovative.

Given the timing of management’s attempts to improve morale, is it appropriate for me to forward the email chain from just over a year ago that had my proposal and her immediate “no” response? I don’t want her to feel as if I am trying to say “I told you so” or rub salt in the wound after the negative anonymous feedback.

Or is there a better way for me to approach this, if at all? Maybe I should just appreciate the current attempts by management to improve culture and let this one go.

It’s totally reasonable to point out to your manager that you had this exact idea last year — not to imply she’s to blame for shooting it down then (things change, and she could have had good reasons then that don’t exist now), but because it’s relevant info that your manager should have, especially since it’s bugging you.

If I was in your manager’s shoes, I’d want to be reminded that you’d proposed the same idea a year ago and that I’d shot it down. I’d want to know because I’d want to give you credit for it, wouldn’t want you feeling the way you’re currently feeling, and would want the opportunity to explain why my thinking had changed.

But I wouldn’t recommend just forwarding the email exchange from last year; that’ll look a little weird and a little passive-aggressive. Instead, reply to her email and say something like, “I don’t know if you remember, but I’d actually made a proposal for exactly this last year! I’ll forward you the exchange we had about it so you have the context I’m thinking of.”

Then forward her that older exchange, and add a note at the top saying something like, “When we talked about this last year, your call at the time was not to move forward with it. I’d be excited to be able to implement it now though.”

The wording here matters, because you want it to come across as “this would be cool to move forward now and here’s some context on what I’d been thinking when it came up earlier” and not as “you suck for not remembering this.”

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my boss won’t let me use a mouse, my horrible old boss may become my new boss, and more

by Alison Green on January 26, 2015

It’s five answers to five questions. Here we go…

1. My boss won’t let me use a mouse

I work at a very small nonprofit and my boss forbids the use of the mouse for routine computer functions. He wants us to use key commands except for the rare occasion where the mouse is the only way it can be done. He considers it “annoying” and slower/less efficient than key commands. I am the bookkeeper/admin, and was open to getting on board to a more efficient practice, but I have found almost no validity to it being better, but merely a personal preference. However, there have been quite a lot of days where he sits next to me for hours while orienting me to the business, and I believe his obsession lies there–he can’t stand to sit there watching me “click click click” around with my mouse for hours on end. It’s one of many overbearing and controlling behaviors he exhibits.

I have been there 3 months and fell in line with the other 2 employees who use the mouse when he’s not around and keys when he is. But he recently brought it up to me again that I needed “more practice” without the mouse, and has threatened to remove the mouse in the past.

Well, you can try telling him directly that you prefer to use a mouse and find it easier for you personally, and that you’re not saying it’s the best way for the whole world, but since you prefer it, you’d like to use it if it’s okay with him pretty please thank you.

But if it turns out that this is his crazy pet peeve and he cannot tolerate a mouse in his line of vision, then you might just need to accept that sometimes bosses force their weird preferences on you, like making you write everything in a horrible font or requiring you to double space all documents, which is not a thing that should happen in offices. Sometimes you have to suck it up and deal when it’s just an annoying but not outrageous/offensive/unsafe thing.

2. My horrible old boss may become my new boss

I have just found a new wonderful job after having been at my old one for almost 10 years. One of the main reasons I left was because my direct boss was a terrible manager and professionally selfish. Our assistant manager ran everything in the department and everyone knew it.

Now at my new job, after only two months my wonderful boss left for an amazing project and now my old boss is going for that position. Not good. Also, I am basically running the department until we find a new person.

I have been made a part of the search committee and specifically said to pass my old boss’ application over for 10 years of reasons. The boss above this position has now asked me twice exactly why I am so adamantly against this person coming into the organization (since they look nearly perfect on paper), and I get so emotional that I am not eloquent in my explanation (also I was asked at times when I didn’t have much time to gather my thoughts, i.e. running to catch my bus, on my way to another meeting, etc.). And to add a further complication, I was given the green light to go ahead and apply for the position if I wanted to. So complicated. Should I email my boss with more articulate information about this old boss, or should I forget about that and just go for the position? My worry is that if I’m not successful, my old boss could be successful.

Well, you can’t take a strong position on not hiring someone without explaining why that is; it sort of demands an accompanying explanation. So organize your thoughts, figure out how to talk calmly and professionally about why your old boss is wrong for the job, and go talk to the hiring manager. Keep it unemotional and concise — for instance, “I worked with Jenson for 10 years and while he’s good at X and Y, he really struggled with A, B, and C. Most of what our team accomplished was because others stepped in to work around him. He was also very difficult to work with on a personal level and I’d have real concerns about his ability to work cooperatively here.”

And do it quickly, before the danger increases that they’ll move your old boss further along in the hiring process.

3. Slowing down an interview process while I wait to hear from med school

I’m working in a field completely unrelated to what I did in college and for my masters. I decided to apply to medical school back in August. Last week, I received an interview invite (only about 10% of the applicants get interviews so I was ecstatic). Unbelievably, the next day I received a call from a colleague in my current field. He has a position that he wants me to apply for. The problem is, it’s across the country from my current location. After speaking with him, I’m under the impression that I’m his top choice. It would be a really, really great career move for me – if I don’t get into medical school. My colleague wants to move very quickly with this (they’re understaffed), but I need a way to slow it down. My med school interview is in 2 weeks; I should get an answer 2 weeks after that. If I get in, I’m going to med school, but if I don’t, I definitely want this job (wait listed…I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it). I’m concerned that I’ll get and have to respond to an offer before then. I don’t want to lose this opportunity, but can’t really ask for an extension, if the offer comes, because I’m considering a complete career change…help?

You might wait just a bit longer to see if their process slows down on its own; often employers sound like they intend to move really quickly but it doesn’t end up happening. But if things are indeed moving along and it’s looking like they really might make an offer well before the four weeks you need to get through, you could say something like this: “I want to be candid with you about my situation. I’m very, very interested in this. Under any other circumstances, I’d be champing at the bit for this position. However, I have something else in motion that was started before I heard from you, and I won’t be able to respond to a job offer with certainty until X. Is that totally prohibitive on your side?”

4. Can I lie to my boss so I can get Valentine’s Day off?

I’m 17 years old I work in an ice cream shop and I only work Saturday and Sunday. Valentine’s Day is next month and so is my one-year anniversary with my boyfriend. I’ve been at the ice cream shop almost a month now, but I was wondering if I could lie to my boss saying my dad is getting throat surgery on Valentine’s Day and I want to be there with him. My dad does have throat cancer and isn’t in the same state. But can tell my boss that? I also tried talking to my mom about what I should say, and at first she was good with the idea but now she completely turned around and I don’t know what I should do.

No, you should not lie to your boss and say that your dad is having surgery. Lying is a bad idea in all kinds of situations, but lying about a family member having surgery when they’re really not — it crosses a whole different line. It’s not okay to do, not at work and not in the world in general.

You can ask your boss for the day off, but you can’t make up this kind of reason. If it turns out that you can’t have the day off — which is the case for many, many people with jobs — then see your boyfriend before or after work or on a different day. In general, though, it’s smart to get used to the fact that you will probably have many inconvenient work commitments in your life, and it’s just part of having a job and getting a paycheck.

5. Asking for an exception after missing an application deadline

I recently applied for a job that had a “midnight on x date” deadline, and got confused about what that meant and submitted the materials a day late. (I know, I should have played it safer on this one.) The hiring person immediately emailed back to let me know that I’d missed the deadline and encouraged me to apply again if they have another opening. I sent back a quick response to thank her for informing me that I’d missed it and let her know that I’m still interested in the organization, so I’ll keep an eye out for future openings.

Now, I’m second guessing myself a little bit. Would something along the lines of “I misinterpreted the posting’s deadline, and I would appreciate if you’d still look over my application materials, although I’d completely understand if you’ve already moved forward in the interview process” have been a good idea, or would it have been inappropriate?

That’s fine. You don’t really have anything to lose in this situation, and it’s not an outrage to ask something like that, even if the answer is no.

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weekend free-for-all – January 24-25, 2015

by Alison Green on January 24, 2015

Olive LucyThis comment section is open for any non-work-related discussion you’d like to have with other readers, by popular demand. (This one is truly non-work only; if you have a work question, you can email it to me or post it in the work-related open thread on Fridays.)

Have at it.

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telling family members to stop showing up at our store while my husband and I are working

by Alison Green on January 24, 2015

A reader writes:

Is it reasonable to ask our family members to NOT visit us during working hours ? My husband and I have a shop, and at present family members come and go as they wish, which I find very disruptive. My husband is uncomfortable about telling them to stay out of our business life. I was taught to keep business and family separate.

It’s absolutely reasonable to ask family members not to drop by your store to visit while you’re working, just like you’d expect them not to randomly show up at your workplace for social time if you worked in an office.

People who work from home sometimes have a similar complaint about friends and family assuming they’re free for calls, visits, or running errands just because they’re not in an office all day.

But in both cases, this is your workplace and your work day, and you’re working. It’s completely reasonable to say something like, “We love seeing you, but we can’t have visitors at the store when we’re working.” If you want to soften this, you could follow it up with, “How about getting together next weekend instead?”

And if people don’t listen to that and continue showing up, you can reinforce it by not rewarding that behavior — meaning that if they show up at your store to socialize again, you’d say, “I’m sorry but since we’re working right now, we can’t visit with you. Should we give you a call when we’re back at home?” Do that a few times and people will realize it’s not worth their while to keep showing up.

But I see two other issues here, possibly bigger ones: First, your husband sees this differently than you do — and ideally you’d find a way to both get on the same page about this. (Although if it comes down to it, you can each set your own separate boundaries with family members. Maybe he’s okay with socializing with them during the work day, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t draw boundaries for yourself, by explaining that you have your hands full then and can’t talk.)

But second, if you’re thinking of this as telling family members to “stay out of our business life” (the words you used in your letter), you might be approaching this in a more adversarial way than is needed. I mean, certainly if they’re nosing around in your business decisions and prying into your finances or something, that would be a reasonable sentiment (although you’d ideally find a less heated way to say it), but if they’re just showing up wanting to visit, a less prickly approach will probably get you better results. But I may be reading more into your wording choice than is warranted.

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hostile workplace: it’s not what you think

by Alison Green on January 23, 2015

If ever we needed a better name for a legal concept, “hostile workplace” is it.

“Hostile workplace” law isn’t at all what it sounds like: It’s not about your boss or your coworkers creating a hostile environment for you by being jerks.

To be illegal, jerky conduct must be based on race, religion, sex, national origin, age (40 or older), disability, or genetic information.

Moreover, to violate the law, the EEOC says that this conduct — which, again, must be based on race, religion, sex, or other protected characteristics — “must be severe or pervasive enough to create a work environment that a reasonable person would consider intimidating, hostile, or abusive.” They also explain, “Petty slights, annoyances, and isolated incidents (unless extremely serious) will not rise to the level of illegality.”

In other words, if your boss or your coworkers are just jerks but it’s not based on your race, religion, sex, or other protected characteristic, that’s not illegal. Unwise and unkind, but not illegal.

Unfortunately, the term “hostile workplace” doesn’t make this clear on its face, and the wrong interpretation gets reinforced by things like this Wikipedia entry, which is flat-out wrong. (Really, Wikipedia?)

Go forth and stamp out its misuse wherever you find it.

Update: Since this post was published, a reader has fixed the Wikipedia entry. Thank you!

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open thread – January 23, 2015

by Alison Green on January 23, 2015

It’s the Friday open thread!

The comment section on this post is open for discussion with other readers on anything work-related that you want to talk about. If you want an answer from me, emailing me is still your best bet*, but this is a chance to talk to other readers.

* If you submitted a question to me recently, please don’t repost it here, as it may be in the to-be-answered queue :)

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my coworker is using the wrong title, I don’t want to tell my employer where I’ll be working next, and more

by Alison Green on January 23, 2015

It’s five answers to five questions. Here we go…

1. My coworker is using a more senior title than her real one

I have a coworker who has “senior manager” on her email signature line. She is NOT a senior manager and is only a manager. This disturbs the other coworkers who have been promoted to senior manager. What can we do? I work for a very large health care company. We don’t want to seem petty and tell our directors. Thoughts?

Well, it’s really between her and her manager, isn’t it? Is it really anyone else’s business what title she’s using? (Also, can you be sure the title isn’t accurate? Isn’t it possible she’s been formally given the title and you weren’t in the loop about it?)

That said, there’s no reason you can’t just ask about it outright (and really, that’s preferably to talking amongst yourselves about it). You could just say to her, “Hey, Jane, did your title change to senior manager?” Or if you have an opening to ask your boss the same thing, you could ask, “Did Jane get promoted to senior manager? I saw her title in her email signature and wondered.”

But I think you’ve got to either be straightforward about asking her or your own boss, or you need to let it go.

2. When I resign, I don’t want to tell my employer where I’m going next

My company culture has become almost toxic over the last few months. I have been persuing other options. One of these options is with an old colleague of mine with whom I got along well. If I do get the job, do I have to tell my current employer where I’m going? It’s within the same industry. I don’t want them to ask me a bunch of questions or, frankly, get me involved in drama. I want to keep it to myself. How do I gracefully say this without sounding coy or paranoid?

It’s very hard to leave a job without saying something about where you’re going, because most people will ask and responding with “I’d rather not say” will sound really odd. However, you can certainly be vague; rather than naming the specific company, you can say something like, “I’ll be doing some ___ research with a small firm” or anything else that gives the basics without the specifics you’d rather keep private.

3. Should I ask about my larger-than-expected raise?

I feel ridiculous for asking about this, but I have a happy-but-puzzling situation. I’ve been at my job for almost two years now. Every year, everyone gets a 2.5% raise (as far as I know). Last year, a few weeks after that raise (on the actual anniversary of my start), I got an additional 7.5% increase on the original salary, so a 10% raise (which I was, obviously, thrilled about).

This year, when I was expecting the 2.5% increase on my first paycheck after the New Year, I actually got a 10% increase again (and I’ve done the math so, so many times to make sure I’m getting that right) – but without the weird conversation with the owner that I had last year. No one has said anything to me about increasing everyone’s annual raises, or a personal raise, etc. Should I ask what’s up, or thank the owners? (I report directly to the two co-owners; it’s a small family-run business but I am not a family member). Or just go on being happy about my raise but confused as to the reason for it?

I think acknowledging a raise is a gracious and reasonable thing to do. I’d just send your two managers a quick email saying something like, “I saw the raise in my paycheck this month and just wanted to tell you how much I appreciate it! Thanks for recognizing me like that and being a great place to work.”

(Obviously, you could leave out that last part if it’s not true and you can’t stomach saying it.)

4. When do I contact my references?

I’m a student working on the job search process, and though I’ve not had much luck so far, I’m curious how to handle requesting references. I read on your blog that most jobs will only request references when you get to the interview stage, so should I ask/notify them before I get an interview?

My worry is that after an interview, I’ll be asked to e-mail a list of references, and I’ll have to wait to hear back from the professors I’d like to list if they happen to be busy. On the other hand, I don’t want to ask so early that if I don’t end up a final candidate that they end up hearing nothing at all for months.

So, how should I be timing my reference requests? First when I get an interview? Should I do periodic reminders if I get new interviews? I don’t want to bother my references too often, but if I have a string of bad luck, I don’t want them to just forget about me either.

You should check with your references at the start of your job search — and then you don’t need to check with them for each specific job you apply for. They’ll give you a blanket yes that will cover your whole search. (There are some references who like to know details about the job you’re applying for, but the majority of people would rather just get a heads-up that you’re giving out their name and that they might get called at some point.)

5. On snow days, some of us are required to work while others get the day off

My office has closed a few times for snow but requires me and a few other non-exempt employees to still work. So some staff (both exempt and non-exempt) are allowed to stay home and receive pay, but we still have to work, for the same regular pay. We are in Michigan, in case that makes a difference. Could you tell me if what is happening is legal or not?

Yes, that’s legal. Some jobs just require people to continue working even when others have the day off. (In D.C., this is highlighted all the time when the federal government closes for snow “except for essential workers.”)

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do we have to pay new hires for training time?

by Alison Green on January 22, 2015

A reader writes:

So here’s the sitch: I’m a new-ish office assistant at a small business and was tasked with creating a job posting for one of our in-store entry level positions. I discovered that new entry-level hires are not paid for any training until they have been on the job 90 days. “Training” as defined by my company includes orientation and job shadowing, as well as closely monitored shift work (usually around 2 shifts). I’m not sure if this is legal under current wage laws (our business is located in Michigan, by the way) or if it is considered work without wage. The owner is well-intentioned and enacted the policy because of high trainee turnover, but I don’t want him to get in trouble with the state. Any idea if this is okay or not? Is “training pay” (i.e. sub minimum wage) also illegal? I’m looking for any possibilities that might make this a less difficult transition for him, financially.

I’ll still be recommending he overhaul the hiring process to decrease turnover. He has a tendency to hire on a handshake and “gut feeling” without doing any further digging.

Ah yes, gut feelings — a great way to go wrong in hiring and employment law.

Not paying your new hires during their training is nearly always illegal. Employees must be paid for all time they spent working, which generally includes training time. The only time where training would not count as working time is when all four of these criteria are met: (1) attendance is outside normal hours, (2) attendance is voluntary, (3) the training is not job-related, and (4) no other work is concurrently performed. The situation you described sounds like it fails all four of these. That means that it needs to be paid, and that your employer is setting himself up for some major penalties and back-pay awards if he doesn’t remedy this ASAP.

Nor is paying a training wage that’s below minimum wage legal, although Michigan makes an exception for new employees aged 16-19 for the first 90 days of their employment.

That said, I wonder if your boss is thinking of pre-employment training. There’s a weird thing in the law where pre-employment training programs are regulated differently. If all six of these criteria apply, an employer actually isn’t required to pay for pre-employment training:

* The training, even though it includes actual operation of the employer’s facilities, is similar to training that would be given in a vocational school (this means the training is “fungible,” or interchangeable, and can be used by the employee in another position with another employer)
* The training is for the benefit of the trainee
* The trainees do not displace regular employees but work under close observation
* The employer that provides the training derives no immediate advantage from the trainees’ activities and at least on occasion, its operations may actually be impeded
* The trainees are not necessarily entitled to a job at the completion of the training period
* Both the employer and the trainees have an understanding that the trainees are not entitled to wages for the time spent in training

It doesn’t sound like your training program meets this test, and so the time would still need to be paid … but it’s possible that this is what your boss is thinking of.

But totally aside from the law, this practice is crazy, since your boss is really unlikely to be able to hire good people this way. Good people have options, and they rarely want to work for free for three months.

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is there any advantage to interviewing first or last?

by Alison Green on January 22, 2015

A reader writes:

When given a few options for interview times, is there any value in going first, last or in the middle? I know that the most important part is being prepared for the interview, but do you think that there is some advantage to going first and “setting the bar” or going last and “being the easiest to remember” so to speak?

Not enough to care about, no.

There is indeed research that shows that people tend to remember the first and last in a series better than those in the middle — but a good interviewer evaluates each candidate individually and doesn’t forget an excellent candidate just because they were interviewed second or third.

And really, there’s just no point in trying to game this kind of thing. For every interviewer who sees a good first interview as “setting the bar,” there will be another who thinks, “Well, we’re just getting warmed up here.”

Moreover, you can’t control this anyway. If you’re offered a range of days and times to interview, that doesn’t mean that someone else hasn’t already been scheduled for a time before or after those. What you’re hearing about may be the remaining slots. Plus, things change — interview slots are all set and then a great candidate shows up at the last minute and is interviewed after everyone else, or whatever. There’s just really no way to try to game this, even if it was worthwhile to try, which I don’t think it is.

Stand out by being an awesome candidate and giving a great interview. That’s way more reliable than thinking about where you fall in the interview schedule.

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