THE PROCESS
When you see that perfect job what is the first thing you do?
Is the answer ‘apply immediately’? Probably not!!
The process of applying for a new position is often a lot longer than people imagine it will be. Which is why we often need support.
If we are looking for work there is normally a good reason. Either we can no longer work for our current employer and need to get out (more often than not we leave a person and not a job) or we are unemployed and need to get back into the workplace.
Either way, the point of the exercise is to become employed again!
As an HR professional with experience in recruitment, I have found that people seem not to have given the process any thought whatsoever. Often it seems that people just send the same CV to every available job on whatever website they are looking for. (Seems unbelievable…… you would think so, but no so).
If you are serious about applying for a position with any company the first step is to learn about the organisation. This is not just to make our application a little more readable for the recruiter, but it is also for us to better understand if this is the right company for us and just as important are we the right person for this company.
The next step is to align your experience and skill set with the job description in the advertisement. Easier said than done I hear you say.
A small tip is to draft the CV template with every single skill and piece of experience we ever had. Make sure there are no gaps and when finished don’t be tempted to use it for any application.
Once the template is complete then we can think about what each application needs. With some applications, we will flesh out a specific skill or previous position to allow the CV to speak to the recruiter. With other applications, we will focus on other parts of our skill set or other positions.
What’s the moral of this story. Give each application the time it deserves and give yourself the best chance of being invited to interview.
