To Ask for Advice on How to Get My Dream Job!

[Banthafodder]

I’m hoping that the great and the good of MN can give me some good pointers on how to sell myself on an application form…

An amazing opportunity has come up in my field of expertise - it’s a step up but my skills match the Job Description perfectly and it’s with an organisation that I have a huge personal affinity with - working for them would mean so much to me, not to mention it would be a great opportunity for me to provide properly for my children as a single parent.

I’ve never been good at selling myself, though, and have been with my current company for over ten years - I’m completely rusty with completing job applications!

Does anyone have any tips for making sure I make the most of this opportunity, please?

If it’s a generic application process, try and find out who your boss would be in that position and email them directly with your CV and cover letter.

(In addition to applying via the generic application process)

Go through each point on the job/person spec and make sure that you highlight the skills in each area that they list as best you can. Let your passion for the organisation shine through in your covering letter or relevant part of the application process.

@TheSnugglyDuckling you don’t think that’s too pushy? Not being hoary, just not something I would think to do!
@karmaisacat thank you - I’ve started doing this but didn’t want it to seem too ‘rigid’ - or is that a good thing? What sort of detail should I go into - targets hit, etc or just basic information?
Thanks, both!

This is a terrible suggestion! It makes you look arrogant and as if you feel you are far too important to go through the proper process. It also waste the line manager's time as they will then have to pass your application to the people leading the recruitment. Please don't do this, it just pisses people off and will automatically put a black mark against your name whether you fit the spec or not.

So this was me a few months ago, well almost, as it was an internal job, in a different Dept.

I'd say @TheSnugglyDuckling is on to something. I did contact the recruiting manager beforehand and asked a but more about the role. This generated a lot of conversation, and useful "tit bits" for the application.

For the application itself, I made sure that I covered ever point in the application using the same words eg: application asks for "understanding of secondary medieval basketweaving methods" I put "6 years experience of undertaking secondary medieval basketweaving methods; 3 years experience as team manager of historical basketweaving techniques team". Do this for everything they ask for as best you can. (obvs, if you are missing vital experience, it may not be the job for you yet).

Find out a bit about the company ethos. Do they have a carbon reduction target? Add a bit of info about how you've been involved in similar in past roles/understand the importance of this in xxxx business and would like to develop competency in this area. Are they a Stonewall employer? Is it a traditionally make industry? - can you say something about the value of diversity? Have they won any industry prizes recentjy ? What are their big projects, main clients?

At this star you are applying for an interview - get those keywords in! Leave the wider discussion for the interview.

The key to an application is evidence. I don't care that you'd love the job or that you think you'd be great at it, (that's your opinion), I need the hard cold evidence as to whether you actually match the spec. So, as the previous poster said, work your way through the spec and provide evidence that you match each point. The examples you use should be fact based and therefore, yes, figures are a very good way to get it across.

I like a structured covering letter. It demonstrates that you have read the spec properly and have understood the criteria. If you have bullet points or headings then it makes it much easier to read. Remember your application will be in a pile of many many others so an easy to read, well structured, clearly evidenced application is ideal, (as opposed to a long piece of prose).

I see a lot of application forms that pick bits out of the person spec./job description and say, 'I have a lot of skills and experience in medieval basket weaving/writing business cases/fundraising/sheep shearing', but then don't provide any examples or outcomes. So do say what you personally have achieved.

I’m a hiring manager.

For the love of god don’t email me outside the recruitment process. At best it’s a waste of my time, at worst it looks like you’ve not read what the actual process is.

Internal recruitment is different, as I might already know you or be physically around for a chat.

Agree with PP that you need evidence. List what they want, and against that list how you’ve achieved it and the difference it made.

Don’t be afraid to be honest and enthusiastic in your cover letter, and it can be a bit less formal than the CV.

Depends on the job type I suppose (arts vs accountancy probably have slightly different expectations) but nothing stands out more to me than a cover letter with some personality - I read those first and when I get a good one I read the CV as a checklist of the needed qualifications/experience, but I’m much more lenient on them exactly matching the criteria. It CAN be the other way - if there’s an average letter but the CV is stunning I’ll probably still interview, but I tend to get the ‘good feeling’ about a candidate from the letter.

Maybe this is a dumb question, but I haven't yet seemed to crack this in my own job hunt lately-

When posters say 'go through and highlight exactly' where should this be done? I can use the phrases and examples across my CV, but some of the experience is in earlier jobs on the second page. Is it worth it to pull forward into bullet points at the top of the CV under a Key Achievements section to show how it outlines exactly with the job description? Or is this a cover letter thing?

I do some recruitment at work and I have seen some truly terrible CVs come through lately, so I have no idea exactly what is the problem with mine given I have key skills/words (aligned with job postings), use numbers to denote size of accomplishment, took out extraneous words and components, and tailor each CV (within reason) to the job description.

When I’ve hired I’ve invariably shortlisted the few people that bothered to call (there’s always an open invitation on the job pack) I know more about them than just the paper, can sometimes see a passion for the tile and getting in the phone masters in my role. Fully agree with going though the JD and PS highlighting how you meet at least the major ones and also why this job/organisation in the cover letter but also look at your CV, what can you add to previous roles that weren’t central to them but you did and need for this one, add it in.

I would probably look at an email direct from a candidate as long as it didn’t sound too desperate. It’s not a terrible idea.

@CocktailNapkin you can do this in your cover letter, but when you write a generic cv you write the key areas/accomplishments of that job. But if the new job requires something that was 1% of that job you need to add it in to show you’ve done it and give it equal weight on your cv to something that was 50% of your old job but fairly irrelevant to this new job.

Mine has headings like Employment (in columns of dates - job title - place), Qualifications (columns of year - diploma etc name - institution), Additional training, Communication & Leadership, Research, Publications, Personal interests, with bullet points where I give examples from each previous job. I tailor it depending on the job and, yes, absolutely use the wording from the job ad. With all this, my CV is only 2 pages long as I think more than that would be boring. I have the publications as an additional page. The covering letter is a 2-3 paragraph summary, again hitting those words in the ad. Good luck!

Thank you all so much - lots of information and ideas to take in!

For the ‘work experience’ section, I’ve started by giving a brief explanation of each role then bullet pointed main duties / responsibilities, etc. Does that sound the right thing to do, or is the ‘introduction’ surplus to requirements?

Also, how far back should I go in my educational history? Listing GCSEs and A-Levels seems a bit juvenile? Will recruiters assume I have these to have been able to do a degree?

Some tips

Update your CV so that it looks modern (look online for contemporary examples.) Don't write it as a general CV, tailor it precisely to this job. Highlight all the relevant stuff and play down the less relevant. Keep it short.

On the application and your CV - make sure you use the exact same wording they use in their job advert and job spec. Applications are often sifted by people who have nothing to do with the department and no clue how to interpret info. They checklist the buzzwords and shortlist the applicants with most of them.

At the interview, focus on them, not yourself. How you can help them, what they need and how you'd provide it. I often say 'we' as though I was already employed, focusing on an issue they clearly care about. E.g. I think we'd need to ... or 'If we.... that would give us the advantage of...' Behave as thoughyou are already a really engaged and industrious member of the team. (But not in a cocky way. Just in a very dedicated way.)

At the 'any questions' stage, ask what they most want to gain from the new person in this role and then if you can, gracefully and not big-headedly, reply to their answer with, 'Well I'd hope my experience with X and my knowledge of Y could provide that for you.'
Don;t ask about money (unless it's a sales job)

Always be positive about current and previous employers. Never bitch about them.

Be prepared with a STAR answer for questions like, 'Can you think of a time when something went wrong and you handled it' (Look up STAR interview method online)

Be on time. Be nice to reception staff and anyone who you interact with. Say no to coffee or tea - it's a faff for them to make, unless they are having one too.

Work your way through the job advert, line by line making sure that your cv evidences every thing they mention. Make sure you tell them you have the experience they are looking for, and more importantly provide examples.

^ On the application and your CV - make sure you use the exact same wording they use in their job advert and job spec. Applications are often sifted by people who have nothing to do with the department and no clue how to interpret info. They checklist the buzzwords and shortlist the applicants with most of them.^

This. Do not assume that the person review your application knows anything about doing the job. In fact, assume that they know nothing. Feed them the words they need to see. If the job spec asks for an artisan potato masher, make sure you say "I am an artisan potato mashing with a BA in potato mashing and 99 years experience in potato mashing consultancy."

Do not do this. You follow the instructions for how the application's to be made.

This might sound ridiculously basic but get someone else to proofread your CV / application for grammar & spelling errors. A spellchecker might not pick up ‘loose’ for lose, ‘it’s’ for ‘its’ or ‘their’ for ‘there’, for instance, and it’s way too easy to miss things in your own work.

I always find its best to make sure your answers on the application focus on what the employer needs. So, if they look for good communication skills, then mention something which fits with this, maybe previous experience or training.

I agree with you. When I’m hiring for my department there is a process to follow and this is quite clearly stated on the job posting. Anyone who emails me directly is ignored due to their apparent inability to follow basic instructions (something that’s essential for the department I manage). It makes me wonder if they’ve read anything of the job posting.

Thanks all so much for your help so far, I’ve done some more work on my application over the weekend, and I really feel like it’s coming together!

With regards to calling the hiring person (it does invite this on the application process) - what should I be looking to achieve by doing this? What sort of thing should I ask or say?