After working through stacks of applications over the years I very quickly realised the most important thing about job applications, CVs and covering letters.. and it's not told to you by your career adviser..
The first person that reads your application, CV and/or covering letter does not want to give you the job.
The first person has one aim in mind.. to reduce the stack of 200 applications down to a shortlist of no more than six as fast as humanly possible so they can get on with some proper work. They will use any possible reason to reject as many applications as quickly as possible, example of reasons I have rejected applications when whittling down the initial pile of crap that's arrived in the post..
- Covering letter handwritten in block capitals (ok, it wasn't crayon, but..)
- Covering letter was aimed at another job entirely
- Not even close to the requested minimum qualifications/experience (and not even any effort to demonstrate in the CV how these could be met - it is possible, but you have to make the effort, this is why you need review your CV for every job)
- Fill-in the template CV
- Haven't updated the CV in several years
- Suspicious gaps in the CV
- Lack of personality (no apparent interests.. I expect someone to work alongside this person and I don't want them to walk out because I've just dumped an anti-social zombie alongside them)
- Poor spelling and/or grammar.. I'm not that good myself, but I do know how to turn the spell checker on when using Word
- I didn't like the font they used (I was desperate to knock off the last few and get down to a short list.. Courier is a nasty font to read and Comic Sans is just.. well.. would you wear clown shoes to the interview?)
Reasons I've selected one candidate to shortlist over other equally qualified candidiates..
- Sounds like an interesting* person - I am going to have to interview this person so I need something to talk about.
Oh.. just the one reason here
I'd be interested to hear other people's points of view on the "Personal Statement" in CVs as they're taught in schools these days.. most of the businesses where I've been on the recruiting end have been small manufacturing firms with no full time dedicated HR support, so not blue chip employers with complicated recruitment processes. The general consensus is that the Personal Statement section is something invented by careers advisers and has very little value in selecting candidates.. mostly because it's blindingly obvious that it's either waffle or copied from somewhere else.
* the interests section of your CV..
Bad: "I like reading."
Good: "I enjoy reading thrillers and history books, my favourite author is XXX and I've just finished a book by XXX about the history of XXX"
Bad: "I keep fish."
Good: "I've had a marine reef fishtank for XX years, and I'm very proud that I've raised my first brood of clownfish, it's taken me 18 months to find the right pair and the skill to provide the right food at the right time"
If you get lucky you get someone that likes what you like and you'll have a great interview, even if you're not that lucky you still sound genuine in describing it as an interest.. if you stick with the "bad" it doesn't sound like an interest, it sounds like you felt you had to make something up.
By the way.. notice how the fish example manages to demonstrate the following skills/traits.. research, learning, dedication, problem-solving.. your interests section can really work for you in a good CV.
)
