Some great tips here from Helen Hambleton at People Untapped (www.peopleuntapped.com).

I’ve been recruiting recently for my company. As I’ve done in the past, after shortlisting over 40 applications and one of my team just having finished 13 initial interviews by Zoom, we’ve got some top tips for anyone applying for roles generally, which we hope is helpful for those applying for jobs.

During the application process:-

• • Send what you have been asked for e.g. a cover letter including all of the information requested not a short email
• • Ensure you proofread your cv and that all of the dates link up (detail matters especially if the company wants attention to detail!)
• • Outline what you did in any gaps with CV preferably no more than x 2 sides of A4
• • When sending files ensure that the file name includes your full name and that the file title is suitable (for a few people we had terrible trouble matching CVs and letters to names!)
• • Include your details on every page that you submit in case they become separated
• • Include where you are based i.e. either an address or area – weirdly hardly anyone said where they were based, and so it’s hard for us to know if you are local (useful for meetings) or 100 miles away!
• • If an application process asks for something specific… include it!
• • a good cover letter makes a big difference, it makes us excited to open your CV, but put the effort into personalising it, looking up the company, the role, values etc. (don’t copy & paste generic stuff!). One candidate this time had a terrible standard CV but got through to first stage interview because their cover letter was so good and specific, we wanted to hear more from them.
• • if you are totally changing career track… say why, otherwise it leaves us guessing
• • if you do other work on the side, make it clear if you are planning to ramp that down / quit, or do the job on top of other commitments
• • don’t forget we might look you up on LinkedIn – one candidate totally removed from their CV a business they have recently clearly set up on the side, didn’t even mention it as a hobby… it leads us to believe you are concealing something if you miss something out.

Initial interviews

• • Have your CV to hand, it’s common to be asked to share your background work history and be prepared to go through your CV in either date direction – current to past or the other way round
• • Ensure you are familiar with the technology that’s being used for the interview if virtual. Have a practice before hand if you are not familiar with it”

First published on 18th May 2021 by Helen on Facebook