Last week Angus Marshall posted a very good blog aimed at students looking for work placements and pointing out the basic errors made by students. As a specialist recruiter, I would say that most of the points pointed out by Angus also apply to jobseekers - and surprisingly, not just jobseekers looking for their first position.
Although it seems trivial, the primary issue for me is not addressing your email to the correct person. I rarely bother to read an email which doesn't come to my direct email address and certainly won't take the time to open a CV attachment when the effort hasn't been made to find out my direct address. Why rule yourself out of contention for a position for the sake of a tiny bit of research?
Some jobseekers go to amazing lengths effectively utilising social media and other rich sources and yet this is often a complete waste of time if you don't get the basics right. Surely if you were searching for a placement/new position, you would never fall down on the simple stuff, would you?
