Cosmopolitan magazine, the best-selling young women’s magazine, and the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), the world’s largest human resource management organization, have teamed up on a new survey about what it takes to land a job in today’s challenging environment. For the study, Cosmopolitan anonymously polled 500 SHRM members to discover what makes or breaks a job applicant’s chances. Select survey results are below:

Those Pictures on Facebook

Respondents repeatedly indicated that smart use of technology was a key factor in landing a position. An 86 percent majority said that evidence of unprofessional behavior—such as drunken party photos, sexually suggestive content, and indiscreet comments about a former employer—on sites like Facebook and MySpace would make them less likely to hire a candidate. However, organizations are not always using technology themselves: Seventy percent reported their companies do not use Google or social-networking sites to research candidates before an interview.

E-mail Versus Snail Mail

Technology can also help get the interview in the first place. A 61 percent majority said that submitting a cover letter and résumé via an organization’s career Website was the best way to apply for an open position; 20 percent said e-mailing a cover letter and résumé was preferred. Half of those polled also said that e-mail was the preferred way to receive a thank-you note after an interview.

Interview Deal Breakers

Dressing too provocatively was respondents’ number one deal breaker, with 67 percent calling it a major problem. Other interview behaviors considered deal breakers included being late for an interview (57 percent), talking negatively about a previous boss (48 percent), and having a cell phone ring during an interview (40 percent).

Standing Out From the Crowd

According to the survey, internships are key: Seventy percent of those polled said that an unpaid internship in the candidate’s field would make them stand out, versus 30 percent who would give preference to a candidate with a paid job outside the career field. Fifty-six percent of respondents selected skills directly applicable to the job as the factor that would make a person stand out most positively during the interview process. Chemistry is also an important component: More than half said it accounted for 50 percent or more of their final decision to hire once qualifications like education and experience were taken into account. One way not to stand out? Telling interviewers that the position is your dream job. When asked what common interview phrase they would tell candidates not to use in a job interview, 65 percent of respondents chose this phrase. Thirty percent recommended against saying “I think outside the box.”

Methodology

Society for Human Resource Management survey division—The survey fielded September 15 to September 23. The number of respondents is 499. Response rate is 499/2302 = 22%

Cosmopolitan

Cosmopolitan (www.cosmopolitan.com) is the best-selling young women's magazine in the U.S., a bible for fun, fearless females that reaches more than 18 million readers a month, and one of Advertising Age’s A-List Top Ten magazines of 2009. Cosmopolitan delivers the latest news on men and love, fashion and beauty, women's health and self-improvement, and entertainment. Readers can also interact with the brand on the digital front, with Cosmopolitan mobile (m.cosmopolitan.com). In addition to its U.S. flagship, Cosmopolitan publishes 58 editions around the world. Hearst Magazines is a unit of Hearst Corporation (www.hearst.com) and one of the world’s largest publishers of monthly magazines, with nearly 200 editions around the world, including 15 U.S. titles and 19 magazines in the United Kingdom, published through its wholly owned subsidiary, The National Magazine Company Limited. Hearst reaches more adults than any other publisher of monthly magazines (75.6 million total adults, according to MRI, Spring 2008).