I thought this was interesting from the StarTribune’s Old-Time Job Search:
In 1937, Elmer Wheeler published the advertising classic, “Tested Sentences That Sell.” He wrote it after testing 105,000 word combinations on 19 million people over 10 years, to find the phrases and communications techniques that sold the most goods and services.
Wheeler included a chapter on tested ways to get hired, and here’s his number one rule for getting a job: “Watch your ten-second approach. Our case histories showed that many employers judge the applicant during the first ten seconds. He catches a flash of the man’s appearance, his personality, and is or is not impressed by his first ten words. Snap judgments still rule the world, unfortunately!”
…
Wheeler explains how: “The successful job-hunter will watch his opening statements €¦ [because] your first ten words are more important than your next ten thousand.”
Better to run a hiring process than to rely on snap judgments!