Applying for a new role & out of touch with today's recruitment processes

[Toohotto]

Posting here for traffic: I have been in the same accounts payable role for the last 6 years. This job fell into my lap after previously temping there a few years earlier. As a result I've not had a proper interview for years. I'm out of touch with today's recruitment.
My cv is fairly up to date & is still online from my furloughed days in case I was made redundant.
I've received an email from a recruitnent agency about a fully remote AP role & about £4k more. I'd love this as I'm sick of the traffic! I can do all of the tasks listed. Only shortfall is my lack of Xerox experience.
The agency has ssked me to send a 3ish minute video answering two questions, in order to consider putting me forward for the role. Why? Surely she can see from my extensive cv that I've got the experience, or why bother emailing me in the first place? Questions are:
1 Tell her about my AP experience in AP - fine
2 Tell her about my experience or involvrment in an AP system or process implementation.
What on earth does the 2nd one mean? Is she exoecting me to have had experience in implenting, or being responsible for the processes & system used? Surely this would not be in the remit of an AP clerk. Its a managers remit at least! All I've had to do is fo as I'm instructed & get the job done using the system already in place.
i dont know what to say to the 2nd question & feel like giving up on thr idea of moving already. I only have another 9 years to go until retirement.
How the recruitment process has changed since I last went for an interview.
Does anyone have any tips please & sorry for the long post

Hi, don’t necessarily let the screening questions put you off.

This job is paying £4k more and wfh means you save money commuting so you can be expected to offer more skills for the higher pay.

What they want to see with these questions is

1. that you’re a reasonably articulate human who can talk about their experience and hasn’t just copied CV lines from something they’ve seen online, and who is comfortable talking to a camera (as I guess wfh you’ll be on Teams a lot)

2. that you aren’t just a data entry person who wants to sit doing data without thinking about how the job could be done better (faster, more accurately etc)

Surely you must have had some experience of something new happening on your job? You don’t necessarily need to have led the change but you might have helped as part of a team effort

if you really have never had to improve anything in your work area then perhaps you’d not be happy in this job after all?

Have your systems or processes ever changed? If so, how did you adapt to it? have you done any testing? Identified any process improvements and fed this back? Any training of other staff?

Or if none of those, answer with what you would do e.g. you're asked to support roll out of a new process or a change - what would you do, and how would you do it

One thing to take note of is how the format of CVs has changed. For example, including your address is no longer a thing.

A standard format for details about your roles is (originally from Google but has been adopted by many companies now): https://www.inc.com/bill-murphy-jr/google-recruiters-say-these-5-resume-tips-including-x-y-z-formula-will-improve-your-odds-of-getting-hired-at-google.html

I got excellent feedback on my CV as I read up the latest articles and completely re-did it.

As for videos - that's really a personal decision. My experience / roles are nothing to do with media/tv/entertainment and I therefore refuse to submit videos. It's my line in the sand. If they want a Teams call fine - but I'm not putting together a video. I know more companies are doing this these days however I've noticed that those jobs that request them get far less applicants!

@Alongtimelonely yes I'm articulate, can do my job & will use my own initiative when it comes to dealing with queries, or a problem has arisen. No new changes have been implemented in the time I've been there. It's quite a tight ship anyway & works well. My line manager is very nice & helpful but can be very snippy too & will put you back in your place with the way she speaks. I did suggest something once but it was dismissed rather abruptly.
@Rosecoffeecup no new changes have been implemented but we are having a new software package at the end of the year which will change a lot of our processes.
There are a few of us in the AP team & I seem to be the unofficial trainer when we have new starters, work experience people or apprentices. I like to write very simple step by step notes when I start a job and i pass these on to new starters. I have been complimented on these notes with how easy they are to understand & follow & how useful they are.
We plan to have a written guide for all the processes when we get our new software and there has been hints that I would contribute to this, so I suppose I could use that.
@CastleTurrets thank you for the link for a modern cv. I'm still in the dark ages when it comes to my cv content. And due to my age & almost 40 years of work it's quite long.
@Alongtimelonely @Rosecoffeecup @CastleTurrets at my recent appraisal I was told I was a valuable member of the team with a lot of knowledge.
Whilst this is true my own opinion of myself is that I'm a steady & reliable plodder who will get the job done as quickley & accurately as possible & will take ownership of my own problems & queries. Every company needs one of those, we can't all be leaders.
If I was asked what my weakness is it would be that I'm slow to suggest new ways of doing or improving things.
Maybe I'll be able to blag a good enough impression with this info.

I'm currently recruiting for accounts payable! We have had a large no of terrible CVs with date of birth, marital status, no of children, photos . . . I am sure we have dismissed some who would actually be fine in person but have had terrible advice on their CV.

A short video sounds good in one way to bring your application to life and speed up the recruitment process overall, although I'd be a bit worried it could hit on people's unconscious biases and result in more discrimination at shortlisting stage. But it isn't common practice.

"2 Tell her about my experience or involvrment in an AP system or process implementation."

So based on your update and following the STAR (situation, Task, Action, Result) model, my answer to this question would be something like:

• Induction to the AP role was delivered face to face and inconsistently, I and my manager identified that I have a strength in being able to simplify the explanation of processes and provide clear and consistent guidance and support to new starters.
• I developed materials that could be used as aide memoirs and a plan of the key activities that all new starters needed to be able to complete.
• I delivered training to the new starters and ongoing support, making necessary changes to the materials as I went to ensure I was capturing feedback and adapting to the needs of the new recruits.

-Feedback from management has been positive and I have been asked to support the development of training material and process guidance documents for the new system being implemented later this year.

Great feedback and examples above. Going for an interview when you’ve not had one for ages can be so nerve wracking. If you need to submit a short video, write some pointers on post its and stick them on the wall behind the screen so you can remember. Practice what you are going to say over and over. I dont think anyone would enjoy doing this but the job sounds great. Go for it! Best of luck 🤞