The Scotsman recently wrote that young people are losing hope of finding their dream job. A fifth of them have given up hope of finding a job in their chosen field, with many more expecting to wait at least 10 years.
We’ve all been there. You see a job post and your eyes light up, you think “That’s me, that’s my job”.
The silence that follows breaks your heart.
“But why?” you think – “This is my job, I’m perfect for it! Was it something I said?”
The truth is it’s not what you said… it’s the way that you said it.
Sometimes it’s not your skills that have been rejected, it’s the way you put them onto paper. So here are a couple of basic elements that your CV needs to have.
If you didn’t send a covering letter, you must not want the job.
You sent your CV of course, but did you send a covering letter?
There’s no point trying to justify not sending one, even more so if it’s a job that you really want. You should want to add additional information and experience that the hirer can see before they even reach your CV.
We recently accepted CVs for a Resourcer for which we received 187 CVs. 18 of these included a cover letter and only applicants from those 18 went on to be considered for an interview.
The employer needs to know exactly what you can do
… when you have done it and who you have done it for. For the edge, you should be able to pin point times when you have done it well and in a situation that directly relates to the challenges and projects that the employer is looking for.
“We need a chef.”
“Fantastic. I’m a chef.”
“We need a pastry chef.”
“I have five years pastry experience.”
“We need a pastry chef who makes pies in the shape of the Eiffel Tower to be sold exclusively in Australia.”
“I am a pastry chef who bakes pies in the shapes of global and cultural iconic monuments including the Eiffel Tower, Chrysler Building and The Sydney Opera House. I love to travel with my business and this year alone I have baked 250 pies across the world which was 30% above my pie baking target.”
(How amazing would that job be? Okay, I’ll get back to the point.)
The employer isn’t going to know anything that you don’t tell them. At the same time, if there’s anything that they don’t need to know, then don’t tell them.
“I’ve cooked pasta dishes all across Finland”
“Good for you. We don’t care.”
They don’t, and it will take up valuable space where you can tell them wonderful things about you that they will care about.
Understand the job. It is yours, after all.
Don’t just read the job spec, understand exactly what your job would be. Figure out what your most important tasks would be, be them day to day or overall, and focus on them. Is the description too vague to be sure? Then ask questions. This could be in an email or a preliminary phone call, showing your interest and if nothing else letting the employer know your name before they even see your CV.
Commit to the CV as you would to the job.
Spend as much time and put in as much effort to your CV as you would at the job itself.
You may feel like you couldn’t spend another minute working on your CV, but when you think about how long you could be at this job and how much you’ll enjoy it, it’s worth putting in as much commitment to it as possible. Just think, if you get this perfect job, you might never have to write a CV again!
Have you ever been silenced from what you thought was your perfect job?
We’d like to know, email us at christina@enigmapeople.com and tell us your best and worst CV experiences.
Enigma People Solutions 