to be miffed that I didn't even get an interview?

[Eve4Walle]

I applied for a job at my local hospital, P/T PA to the Trust Lead Occupational Therapist. Just got a message by email saying I hadn't been shortlisted. If I want to know why, to ring this number blah blah blah. My CV was written by a professional not long ago so I doubt that's letting me down.

Now, I am a little pissed off at this. My last job before I had DS (now 18 months old) was a PA to the MD of a large firm locally and my experience is centered around this type of role with many years working as a secretary and PA.

Why? I just don't understand why I didn't even get a shot at an interview. Is is because 18 months is too long to have been an at home Mum? This isn't the first job I've been turned down for either. I am beginning to wonder if it's just that I am a Mum full stop.

A similar job where I work had over 100 applicants. I think that there are a lot of people who value NHS working conditions and job security, maybe the recession has exaggerated that?

Eve - you definetly need to look at what you put in your supporting application. I work for the NHS and we have advertised for several positions recently with a high number of applicants. The ones who have spent time adapting their applications to fit the job descriptions are prefered as when you are shortlisting it looks as if they really want the job.

Unfortunately it is usually very obvious if it is a 'cut and paste' and unless the person looked absolutely perfect I would assume they were applying for hundreds of jobs and this wasn't the one they really wanted and sift them out.

I agree with everyone else though and ring to ask for feedback.

Pavlov - yes, it was before age discrimination became illegal! But I suspect the same thing goes on now, it's just that they have to use some other spurious criteria (typing speed of exactly 83 words a minute, gets out of bed on the left side of the bed in the morning, wears a silver coloured watch, includes the word green but not eco on their application...) by which to reduce the pool of applicants to a manageable number before they start really looking at the details on the cvs!

My boss at the police told me that if they had tons of applications for a post he would start with the colour ink the applicant used.

The form said to fill it out in black ink so he would take the 300 odd application forms and every single one written in blue ink would go straight in the bin!

I suspect 'cut and paste' most probably will look like 'cut and paste'. If I were short listing I would take that as an indication that either you did not want the job enough (as you did not make the effort to adapt your answers to the specific questionnaire). Or that you are not able to write well on your own and so have had someone write up sonething standradised for you.

If I had enough other candidates that looked better then I would not shortlist that kind of application. That may sound mean or unfair but look at it from the employer point of view. You have to find someone good out of all the applicants and in the end you are excuding people who may be perfectly good applicants but something about their application makes you cautious. It is alos not standard practice to give feedback to non-shortlisted applicants. Mainly because of the resource time it takes up so if you get someone willing to give you some pointers consider yourself lucky rather than being snippy about it. This might stand you in good stead in terms of striking up a good relationship somewhere that could help in making sure you do get shortlisted if there is another round.

Second what others have said above. Think cutting and pasting responses always looks obvious. I always customise my CV to individual job requirements - there is no such thing imo as a universal CV.

Plus, I would never recommend a professional to write my CV - I think it is very important that you do it yourself, otherwise themessage you are trying to get across will be missed amongst all the jargon and rogue phrases.

Also agree that public sector always get a huge nunber of applicants. When I worked in a school I remember there were over 100 applicants for a pt school admin role. The CVs were skimmed for shoddy presentation, they were shoved in the bin, then filtered to look for evidence of school based experience and were down-selected using that.

Of course I can write well on my own. My CV was written with me being there, as in a consultation, and to update it from my previous position.

I did cut and paste, but I did also take time to make sure my answers were tailored to the question (and there weren't many).

I'm not being snippy at all. But when you get turned down for interview for every single job you apply for (and that's 12 jobs in August alone) something must be wrong. Can my CV really be that bad?

The firm my husband works for just advertised for p/t office worker

Over 200 applicants

Although the boss told them not to shorlist anyone with children, any one of child baring age and no men

Sherby - that's what I suspect happens at other companies too. It's proof that discrimination against those with children (mainly women) is at play.

absolutely I know another firm that does the same

they say they cannot afford to shell out for maternity and time off for sick children

i think it probably goes on a lot more that we think

sherby - surely that only leaves women over 50 with the right 'criteria'? Definitely discriminatory IMO.

Eve just wanted to symapthise, it must be so depressing not getting stuff

I wonder if you've tried local Social Services depts for jobs? Our local council is advertising loads of Admin jobs in Soc Servs at present and I bet other counties will as well....Local councils tend to be good employers too

Eve - the NHS are really good employers for working Mums. The majority of people in the department I work for are working mothers lots of which work part-time so don't be down hearted.

I'm advertising currently for a part-time admin post and am hoping to get a mum looking for her first post after a break (so some positive discrimination maybe .

It is very true though that there are lots of people applying for a small number of posts so you just need to keep trying.

I am sure your cv is not that bad. Its just the impression that 'cut and paste' can make. There is a recession on and its tough out there so I expect the competition for a nice public sector job was fierce. In terms of being snippy I meant that you said you are miffed not to get an interview and I think when you go for feedback it would be a wise move not to let that show. I expect you werent going to do that in any case. Anyway good luck with finding something.

There are lots of applicants to every job these days. Also there are often a lot of people with a lot of experiance and are well qualified for the job who apply and it would be impossible to shotkist more then 12 at the most. I would phone for feedback.

eve4walle - i was made redundant in november and have applied for on average 5 jobs per week every week. it has taken till end of august to be offered a job. i am degree educated with 10 years experience and yes it sucks big time.
call them, ask them why and ask them more about what they look for in an application to give you a better chance next time. good luck and don't give up. in my experience anything part time with halfway decent pay/ benefits will likely have a billion applicants.