After
having received good feedback from
the mini-series “Live your Dreams”,
which focused broadly on the student’s
planned preparation to enter the
workforce, I was asked to continue
writing for Ampersand on more in-depth
topics. In the past six articles,
we discussed the importance of having
a plan or strategy for your transition
from being a student to a young
professional, the timelines, and
the requirement to gain practical
experience early and so on. Now,
and in the coming articles, we will
concentrate on the practicality
of actually applying for a job,
preparing for an interview, visiting
the potential employer for an interview
and assessing the job offer.
Today’s
article will focus on the perfect
preparation regarding the application
for a graduate job. We will discuss
the components of a Curriculum Vitae
(CV) and a cover letter (CL); there
are many mistakes young students
make. We will focus this article
on how to identify those mistakes
and try to avoid them in your future
job applications.
From
my personal experience, I would
suggest that there are mainly five
categories of common mistakes that
can kill an application on reception:
- Misreading
/ interpreting the job description
– misunderstanding
what a job entails and what
minimum qualifications an applicant
must provide in order to have
a realistic chance of scoring
the job
- Misusing
language – lack of
required formal language, spelling
and grammatical errors
- Misapplication
of format – using the
wrong format in the CV and /
or CL
- Exaggeration
of skills and experience – a
very common mistakes of young
students that don’t posses certain
skills, and therefore exaggerate
on the ones they have or even
lie about skills on their CV
or in their CL
- Lack
of adaptation of an application
towards a job – every
CV and CL needs to be slightly,
if not extensively, adapted
towards a potential job opportunity
Having
listed the most common mistakes
you can do when you start applying
for jobs, let’s look how to avoid
these and make your application
a successful one. The first point
is all about correctly reading through
a job description for a position
you’re would potentially apply for.
It relates a bit back to my previous
article “How to read a job description”.
Make sure that you identify from
the job description the applicant’s
minimum qualification criteria.
Read through the job description
two or even three times if you’re
inexperienced in reading those.
While reading through those, make
yourself notes, of what it is exactly
the employer is after regarding
skills and qualifications required.
If you don’t understand a criteria
or taxonomy (i.e. acronyms) it’s
unlikely you fulfill the minimum
qualification required. It’s usually
a good sign to move to the next
job description and stop wasting
your time applying for that job.
Whilst understanding the job description,
also make sure, that you will not
over or under interpret the requirements
posted. Applying for a job for which
you are over- or under-qualified
will most likely result in a negative
response and consequently in wasted
time, which you could have used
to apply for a job better suited
to your skill profile. In many cases,
it will take a few good applications
until you feel comfortable with
the interpretation of job descriptions
– so make sure you read as many
as possible and start gathering
experience early.
The
second most common mistake is the
misuse of language, i.e. utilizing
colloquial language (“I won this
freakin’ awesome Business Consulting
award”), acronyms (“I won a prestigious
BC award”), making spelling mistakes
(“I won a prestigeous Business Consutling
Awart”) or grammar mistakes (“I
winned a prestigious Business Consulting
Award”). If you are writing an application
for a business position, make sure
you use business language and don’t
make any avoidable mistakes. It
helps to have your application read
through by a friend (that is hopefully
good in proof-reading) before sending
it off to the potential employer.
Little mistakes can make your application
a failure, so make sure that you
don’t make any.
The
next common mistake is the lack
of format, or incorrect format,
in your application which can also
lead to a negative response. There
are two points I would like to make
here: firstly, make sure you cover
and include all essential points
for an application from a content
perspective - In Germany, for example,
you are required to include a photo
of yourself in your CV, however,
the US employers are not expecting
one and could react negatively if
you include a photo. Get to know
the respective rules for a given
country and sometimes employer;
secondly, let’s talk about the graphical
representation - try to make your
application look professional and
well presented. After all, this
is the first impression a potential
employer has of a candidate; unformatted
and chaotic looking CVs and CLs
will end up in the bin. Look up
the “rules of good layout” on the
internet if you don’t know how.
Simple things, like not to use too
many different font types, having
your text passages and bullet point
listings aligned will do the trick.
As a rule of thumb, remember this:
“the simpler to read, the better”.
The
forth common mistake is one, I ask
you to please never make. Exaggerating,
overestimating or even lying about
your skills and qualifications will
get you nowhere! If a job requirement
sounds similar to “experienced user
of Microsoft Excel” and you honestly
have used Excel once or twice only
to put together basic tables, but
think you can learn it if you have
to, please move on to the next job
opportunity or take an Excel course
before applying. You will most likely
be discovered during the job interview,
in a practical test, or worst case
once you’ve commenced work; worst
case is you’ll be fired after a
short term employment and there
is nothing worse to explain to a
next employer, than why you have
had to leave your previously employer.
I know how hard it is to find a
job that suits your profile, especially
when you’re inexperienced and don’t
possess many basic skills required
for a job you would like to score.
Be honest with yourself when matching
your skills to a potential job.
Try to bring out your strong sides
that you have as a student, i.e.
communication skills, attitude,
willingness to work hard, being
a team player, etc. Also think of
how to prove those, provide examples
and illustrations when you write
your CV/ CL.
Last
but not least, I would like to tell
you about the need to adapt each
CV and CL for a job you apply for.
This takes time and effort but is
absolutely necessary. Rather than
applying for countless jobs with
the same CV and CL, try to select
a few jobs that match your exact
requirements and qualifications
and adapt your CV and CL to match
these jobs. When you write you CL,
for example, try to make the reader
connect with you. Provide illustrations
and examples that will make him/
her identify him-/herself with your
person, your goals, attitudes etc.
In the CV try to focus on the experience
and skills/ qualifications you posses,
that are vital and fully relevant
to a particular job. You might even
decide to leave out skills/ experiences
gained that are absolutely not relevant
to a job you are applying for now.
Tailor your CV to impress, make
it easy to read and don’t waste
your reader’s time with non-essentials.
After all, you want to convince
him or her, and not bore. Again
follow the rule that simpler is
better, in this case stay focused
to the point you want to make.
Not
listed above in the bullet points
but definitely of relevance is the
continuous learning you get from
writing CVs and CLs. Try to receive
feedback from every single (successful,
or not) application you make. What
“was good about it”, “what wasn’t”
and “what could have been better”
are the three questions you should
ask the reader of your application.
Be aware though, that many big companies
have a policy of not giving any
feedback. Try your luck anyway,
it helped me improve my CVs and
CLs over time.
In
the next issue of Ampersand we will
discuss the topic of how to prepare
for a job interview. I hope this
article will help you in writing
you CV and CLs in the future. You
will be able to find all articles
on my personal webpage http://www.victor-marz.com.