This Is How to Get Your Next Job

#10: Don’t Say “I Just Want to Learn”

You’ll recall I mentioned this briefly in Chapter 3, #1: Don’t Act Clueless and Unprepared. It may seem like a perfectly natural response to explain why you want the job you’re interviewing for when you’re a recent graduate, a younger worker, or moving into an area in which you’ve never worked. But it doesn’t fare well.

Again, it may make you sound eager—which isn’t bad. But that’s not enough to make an employer want to hire you. Yes, employers know you need to learn. Even seasoned folks will need to get up to speed on certain things. But you won’t get hired because of that.

According to the 2011 MetLife Survey of the American Teacher: Preparing Students for College and Careers, 97 percent of executives ...