The recruiter in me has never died and is always willing to share an opinion or make a judgement. Given my role now I still keep in close contact with the recruitment industry and came across an article the other day titled “The top nine CV [resume] lies to look out for” which I would like to share with you. This appeared on Recruiter Daily, a missive read my thousands of recruiters every morning. They talk about the importance of a candidate’s responsibilities and achievements and advise recruiters to probe for any embellishments. They look at tenure and reasons for leaving to gain an insight into performance issues. Close scrutiny of dates is recommended for both employment and academia in case they are being manipulated to mask past failures. Quantifying targets and results particularly around revenue is of high importance also to catch out those trying to sound more successful.

The purpose of a resume is to get you that all important interview however, if this is gained through dubious statements on your resume you run the risk of being found out. The full article can be viewed here.

Have you ever bought from someone who then delivered the product? In most cases, probably not. Most companies compartmentalise and have a sales function that is separated from the rest of the business. Have you ever wondered why? Think about a recent purchase you made…. Once the sale has been completed, your walked to a customer service representative to complete the transaction and the sales person moves on to the next cold customer leaving you with the less extraverted customer service rep. Do you know why this happens? It’s simple, the sales person is an expert in selling and their time selling is maximised by having the support of customer service. The sales function is supported by a host of other departments from customer service and marketing through to operations and HR. Given you are a product in the job market competing against many other product, the question I ask you is this, if you are the product that will deliver the service, who is supporting you from a sales and marketing perspective?

I would like to share the following tale with you as prime example of how skills can become transferable. On a recent drive back from the north coast, myself and a friend were chatting about jobs, salaries, resumes, the economy and the like as you do when confined to a small space. We got to talking about what this friend of mine does for a living, let’s call him James to protect the innocent. Now James, as I understand it, is an engineer. He studied engineering at university, he then went out into the world and started working as an engineer. Check out his resume and it also says engineer as does his passport and other pieces of identification. So James, tell me, what exactly does your role involve on a day to day basis. James’ reply was quite surprising. I thought he might be out there building bridges, wearing a shirt and tie with hard hat – the typical image we conjure up of any professional in this field. But no, James does not leave the office and does not have a hard hat. James role involves costing most of the large infrastructure projects he works on. He is constantly working on budgets and forecasts, running financial models to project costs, delivery timeframes and how to staff these projects. Essentially, he is performing the role of a management accountant yet he is adamant that he is an engineer. I left it there because I did not wish to upset the poor chap. After all, he had spent so long training to become an engineer that to be called an accountant might be insulting (similar to the Dentist/Doctor mistake). However, when the conversation went back to salary and James realised that a management accountant may earn more than he in his role, he very quickly became interested in the finer details of accounting, attempting to position his skills for such a role.

The key learning here is that you need to keep an open mind when considering a career change. You will have many transferable skills that would be welcome in other roles. It is critical that they stand out on your resume so the employer does not have to guess about why you’ve applied for a role.

Over the past few weeks, I have either read, overheard or being part of a discussion on the life expectancy of the beloved resume. Many say the resume is dead and we are now awaiting the official burial or perhaps a cremation would be more appropriate. Let us take a brief look at the transformation of the resume during the past 20 years. Resumes 20 years ago and perhaps 10 to 15 years ago were presented on rich thick paper, gold leaf in some cases and bound in expensive covers, all of this effort to seek out the attention of the recruiter or hiring manager by standing out from the crowd. Despite the effort invested in the physical presentation, these documents were generally quite stale in terms of content. As we gained more freely available access to computers, the resume progressed. Templates were freely available and job-seekers started to experiment. Some of the resultant resumes were disastrous but failure goes hand in hand with success, if you’re not failing, you’re not trying!

We’ve since witnessed the resume transform into a sales and marketing document designed to highlight your key saleable assets, your skills and experience. There’s a choice of resume formats to employ depending on your circumstances. We have recently experienced a massive surge with individuals having an online presence. From networking sites like facebook and Linked In to interactive job boards, an online brand is becoming part of the norm. Recruiters will seek you out in these networking sites perhaps to check you out following an application you made or they will use these online areas as search tools to augment traditional methods.

For the time being, sending out your resume is still very much part of the job hunting experience and I would not subscribe to the fact that the paper resume is dead. Digital resumes are on the rise and it’s essential to place an equal amount of effort into your digital resume when actively job seeking. There’s no need to reinvent the wheel however as much of the content in your traditional resume can be replicated in an online resume. Question is, have you invested the required amount of time and energy into your traditional resume?

Resume Partners founder, Michael Queally, received a nomination for the 2009 Career Innovator Awards an event organised by Career Directors International (CDI). Queally is absolutely overjoyed with the result as it recognises years of hard work.

A statement on CDI website read,” 2009 marks the first of CDI’s new annual competition which has been created to find and recognize career innovation. This first year, judges saw some of the best and brightest the careers industry has to offer! It was a difficult decision, but following are the top five nominees and their six nominations”, the statement went on to say.

Resume Partners commented on an increased demand for their services coming from individuals and corporate clients. “It’s simple really, iResume provides a cost effective way of delivering sound career advice. iResume is a product that delivers outcomes producing immediate results for satisfied users. We’re so confident in delivering results that we offer a 100% guarantee. You can’t ask for more than that.”

By way of some background, iResume & iCoverLetter, like many good innovations, were born out of the sheer need to address a serious issue in the market, in this case, the lack of quality resumes and the general inability of the public to tailor a resume or the entire application to a specific role. With unprecedented economic growth for well over a decade, there has been no call for a tailored approach, employers fought over scarce skills and almost every type of employee had an abundance of roles to choose from. This all changed midway through 2008 and continues to do so into 2009. We read about doom and gloom everyday. The traditional approach of tailoring ones resume to a specific application will be required as jobs become scarce. The only problem is, society seems to have forgotten how to do this.

Enter iResume…
iResume is delivered online and starts with a blank canvas. With some clever animation and a superb audio presentation a chronological resume is created from the beginning, demonstrating the various choices one will have and explaining the reasons behind the chosen methodology by exploring each option. Once the chronological resume is complete, a skills based (functional) resume is developed from the original chronological resume. A combined resume is created from the other two by demonstrating how to tailor a resume to a specific role. Using a job advertisement, the key criteria is identified, extracted and addressed in the combination resume.

iCoverLetter analyses the application process by demonstrating how to extract the key criteria from an advertisement and create an application from many different perspectives, ranging from online to speculative approaches to desired employers.

About Philip

Out of your many achievements, which one is the most significant?

Having my daughter would be the most significant but in terms of career, the most significant would have been having the courage to move to China, into a market where I didn’t speak the language back in 2005.

And how are things going a few years on?

I absolutely love it, I wish I had moved sooner. It’s a dynamic market and I always remember what the MD of Nokia China said to me, “What happens here in one year, is the equivalent of seven in any other market”.

If you could change anything in your career what would it be?

An earlier move to China. I wish I read the Harvard Business Study in 2003 that said any western businessman who failed to learn Chinese would be ultimately unemployable by 2015, as they will have more than 650 million internet users by then which is bigger than the next 10 countries combined. One other area that I would to change is, getting in at a much earlier age than I did information on how to run a business and also how to budget for your own personal life. Peter Irvine, Co-founder of Gloria Jeans Coffees taught me a lesson many years ago which was always remember to pay yourself first, before you pay anything else in your personal life.

When was the last time you experienced a feeling similar to interview nerves and what did you to control them?

The last time was when I went for an interview in China back in 2005, as I had very little experience of living and working in China. I had visited the region as a CEO, but did not have that day-to-day living experience. Being able to answer the question, “What China experience do you have?”, I felt like I was going for my first-ever interview. Being able to justify why someone should have the faith and the confidence to employ me, made me feel like an 18 year old again. To control any nervousness, I learnt a long time ago that whenever you’re asked a question that you don’t know the answer to, stop and take time to think before you respond. While one or two seconds might seem like an eternity to you, in reality it’s not. Even if you have to say something like, “That’s a very good question”, this will allow your mind time to process your answer. A really good friend once told me “If you’re not nervous before something that is important to you, then you don’t really care about it” and that helps me to control my nervousness.

Resumes

What resume format do you prefer to look at when you are hiring, Chronological, Functional/Skills or Combination and why?

It’s a combination of three factors.

First, the opening statement should summarise who they are, what they’ve done and more importantly, what they are looking for and why they think they have the ability to give the potential employer the success they are looking for.

Secondly, it should have their career history with responsibilities and achievements and the achievements must be directly measurable results that they’ve been able to achieve in each and every company they’ve worked for.

Thirdly, a referee for each company they’ve worked at.

Have you ever discounted an application because of a poorly presented resume?

Absolutely

What are the three most common mistakes you find on resumes?

People using inappropriate photos

Poor spelling

Attention to detail. Getting the dates wrong on your employment history for example Job 1 2005 – 2007 and Job 2 2003 – 2006

How many pages can a resume contain before you switch off?

One page, at the most two. If you can’t articulate yourself in one page you are putting yourself at a disadvantage particularly in the current climate as there are hundreds of applications coming to recruiters and hiring managers each day. You need to make a good first impression to get the hiring manager or recruiter to call you, then you can go into more detail. I believe the sole purpose of a resume is to get an interview or someone to call you. You need to look at a resume like a TV commercial. You can only sell one thing. Jobseekers should ask themselves what’s the single most attractive thing that I can offer a potential employer that’s going to get them to call me.

Cover Letters

How important is a good cover letter and why?

It should be short, no more than two or three paragraphs and should convince the employer why you have the skill set to deliver what they are looking for. Too often I see cover letter that is a repeat of the resume or so generic and not specific to the position that has been advertised.

Thank you Philip, I think you’ve answered all of my following questions on cover letters there which were going to cover, can we get away with a generic cover letter and what cover letter mistakes have you seen. So definite no to these…

Yes, when applying for a job and it’s going to pay you, 30, 40, 50K a year, then the attitude I think people should take to their cover letter and resume is this, how much is this position worth to me and how much time am I prepared to invest in making a good impression. If someone is only going to spend 5 minutes on a cover letter or a resume, they are not making an investment in themselves and it comes across in their presentation. They are a brand and like any brand they should invest in it. They need to stand out from the competition and if they don’t have the time, at least engage a professional to write the material for them.

General

For school leavers choosing university courses, what industries will experience growth in the next 3-5 years?

Anything in the digital space is definitely a growth industry despite what is happening around the world. Even in Australia, Digital will experience 20% year on year growth. Other industries that will experience growth are those servicing digital such as IT, Computing, Logistics (shipping of online sales) and in every country there’s the aging population and what services this group will need. In the US, the over 50s count for 25% of spend and this is growing rapidly. We’re not just looking at aged care, I’m referring to travel, lifestyle products and services.

What advice would you give to current graduates struggling to find work in their chosen field?

Many graduates will choose their course at 18, finish at 21 then look for work in that field. When you ask most graduates is this what you really want to do? The overwhelming response is “I don’t really know what I want to do”. “I made a decision 4 years ago but now I’m not so sure but I don’t feel equipped to do anything else”. My advice would be, don’t lock yourself in to the course that you studied. Look at what you’re passionate about and what you have to do to pursue it. It’s interesting to look at resumes and notice how many cases where someone’s degree bares little relevancy to the current job being performed and the field that’s become their chosen career and passion. It’s ok to change your mind.

What advice would you give to individuals, for instance Accountants, Engineers or IT who feel pigeon holed or stuck in a career they don’t like?

What are your transferable skills? Engineers as an example, are good project managers. It’s important to look at your key skills and how these skills can be applied to other industries because you can bring a fresh perspective that people already in the industry may not have.

Given the fact that the tables have turned somewhat and employers now have more candidates to choose from, what changes will candidates have to make in their job search approach to be successful?

People should get external advice on how they are presenting themselves to the market. Most people have never thought of having someone review their CV [resume] each year, just like their employment performance is reviewed each year by their boss. It staggers me how little attention people pay to themselves, until they’re forced to do something about it, like find a new job. I believe an annual review of your CV and your life goals helps you plan your career and what work experience you need to achieve those goals. While some may baulk at the cost, calculate what percentage of your annual income it represents and it’s the best return on investment I can think of. I’d also suggest paying for coaching on how to answer questions in an interview. Apart from that, don’t rely on job boards alone. People should be using social networking sites as there are often job opportunities listed by members, that will never be promoted publicly on a job boards. They should use their own network and not be afraid to let friends know that they are looking for work. An American friend of mine and quite senior in his industry sector, was made redundant and within 12 hours of sending an email to his group of friends he had a job offer from a third party.

Many thanks to Philip Beck for taking part in this interview. Philip is the COO for meijob.com, one of China’s leading job boards covering all the jobs in China on one website.

Download Interview Philip Beck Part I

Download Interview Philip Beck Part II

Each time you send out an ineffective resume, you can chalk it off as an opportunity lost. Before you apply for your next job put yourself in the shoes of the employer.  Try hard to honestly review your application against the criteria in the job advertisement or position description.  Would you hire you?  If you’ve passed the You Test the next step is to objectively look at your resume.  Use your current job search to benchmark your resumes’ success.  Bottom line is the ratio of send outs to interviews ie how many times have you sent your resume to an employer or recruiter and how many interviews has it generated for you.  You decide the acceptable ratios but I would be looking for 2 interviews from every 3 send outs.

How is this achieved?

Each application needs to be tailored to increase your chances of getting interviewed.

Why tailor your response?

• Recruiters and HR staff do not have the time to look for the information – you sit in a pile of maybe 100 applications
• If you tailor each application, you will find the job for you!
• You will save time by not applying for jobs that really don’t  interest you
• You will be much happier – a generic application is more likely to trigger the generic response “thank you but no”

Click here for help

Julia on Julia

Out of your many achievements, which one is the most significant?

If you talk about my life, having James [son] is my most significant achievement but in terms of business life, listing on the stock exchange would be my biggest achievement.

[Julia Ross is still the only sole female to have successfully listed on the ASX]

If you could change anything in your career what would it be?

Probably would have gone into business on my own earlier and would have grown faster.  When you’re young and energetic, you don’t realise what you’ve got when you’ve got it.  Being very cash conscious taught me how to be fiscally responsible however, it made me more risk averse.  In a nutshell, I would have gone out there earlier and faster.

What was the most daring career move you made?

It would have to be our first tender for a national account on our own.  We were tendering for Telstra and given our size, many industry commentators would have suggested entering a consortium other providers.  [Julia won the Telstra account and holds it to this day]

Another daring move was the acquisition of Spherion.  When you buy a business the same size as yourself, the integration can pose many challenges.  It changed the way we looked as an organisation and the way the entire group looked.

When was the last time you experienced a feeling similar to interview nerves and what did you to control them?

I would have a similar experience when making public speeches to large audiences.  I think candidates (and I) can feel quite diminished in circumstances where you feel small or when the situation demands a lot from you.  To control the nerves, I do all the things you’re supposed to do such as taking deep breaths or running cold water over my wrists to cool down.  I also recap with myself, the main points that I want to get across and I think it’s the same for candidates.  Whether it’s a sales pitch, an important speech or an interview, you must list to yourself the main points that you need to get across.  Latch on to the main points and you will not be disappointed with your performance

Broadly speaking, what are the key attributes you seek in an employee (across all disciplines of RHD)?

Work ethic is a massive issue.  People need to fit our culture and this may sound like a cliché so then you need to define the culture.  For me, it’s flexibility, hard work, buy-in to specific company traits.  It’s about people having the talent and the skills and being able to apply them in this culture.  Someone who is unsuccessful here could have success elsewhere and vice-versa.  In the past we had a clearly defined culture and people either bought in or they didn’t.  To move back to this culture we need to have everyone working in the same direction with the same vision and there needs to be a plan around it to bring it all together.  People also need flexibility, they need to go into a new environment, understand how things are done and be adaptable or open to change

Julia on Resumes

What resume format do you prefer to look at when you are hiring, Chronological, Functional/Skills or Combination and why?

I personally like a combination resume.  I like to see why a person is relevant for the role with all of their skills and attributes upfront.  The resume has to grab me at this stage but then I need to see the history in a chronological order otherwise I can’t see the career progression.

So would you say that candidates really need to tailor their resume to each application they’re making as opposed the generic approach?

Absolutely, if there’s a suggestion that it’s a generic resume, I have problems going through it on that basis.

Have you ever discounted an application because of a poorly presented resume?

Yes, if someone is applying for a role that requires good grammar or spelling or a degree of flair with the written word, you have to discount the application if its not demonstrated through the resume

What are the three most common mistakes you find on resumes?

Not tailor making the resume to each application – I’m busy and I need to find the relevant information fast

Poorly structured resumes.  Candidates need to demonstrate presentation skills

Spelling and grammatical mistakes

How many pages can a resume contain before you switch off?

Three to four for me but it does depend on the seniority of the role.  I would expect a managing director to have more content but that does not mean I want to read 10 pages

Julia on Cover Letters

How important is a good cover letter and why?

It needs to be short.  Most of the information I require will be on the resume.  The cover letter needs to tell me why I should read on.

What information do you expect to find in a cover letter?

It’s a brief introduction

This is where a candidate needs to show relevance to the role being applied for.

They need to convince me to read on.

If you came across a poorly constructed cover letter, could it prevent you from reading the resume?

Yes, it’s important to have a concise cover letter and demonstrate the “what’s in it for me” to the reader.  Many candidates will do the introduction and then talk about what they want.  They need to show what they are offering.

What common mistakes do you find when reading cover letters?

Not demonstrating to the recipient why they should read on.

Talking too much about their expectations such as salary.  A cover letter is not the place to state what you want rather, you should be telling the reader what you will bring.

Spelling, grammar and layout.

People have forgotten how to format a letter, possibly due to the widespread use of email.  I had a young assistant who did not know the basics such as where to put the date or the address.  Many young people do not know how to sign off at the end of a letter or when and where to use paragraphs.  There’s no “Call to action” at the end of the letter and I think many people simply don’t know how to put a letter together.

Lacking essentials such as letter formatting is quite serious, where have we gone wrong in society?

I don’t think people are taught how to format a letter in school anymore.  It doesn’t seem to be part of the curriculum.

Have you encountered generic cover letters where the candidate has forgotten to change some of the details such as the name of the recipient or the job title?

Yes, I have seen this and it’s very hard for a candidate to recover from.  They are negative in my mind before I read on.  And I will read on just in case but you would really have to be an outstanding candidate to progress further.  It’s a fatal mistake.

Julia on the Future

For school leavers choosing university courses, what industries will experience growth in the next 3-5 years?

In the short term we will see growth in industries non reliant on discretionary spend.  We will see growth in Government, Health & Education.  Infrastructure & Energy can expect growth together with the essentials such as Food and Pharmaceuticals. Long term you need to look at consumer habits.  We will eventually see a return to the luxury goods and industries dependent on discretionary spending.  The key will be to watch society’s habits, where people are spending and also on the industries and jobs relying on these spending habits.  For many years the number of people entering into trades has been in serious decline resulting in massive increases in the cost of employing a tradesperson.  Many trades people will earn more than middle level management yet the public’s perception is quite the opposite.  A person can be very happy and very successful in what most of society might incorrectly deem a low paying job or low paid industry.

What advice would you give to graduates struggling to find work in their chosen field?

Be flexible, get into the workforce, and try to use your studies in a transferable field.  The worst you can do is to go out of the workforce for a couple years.

What advice would you give to individuals who feel pigeon holed or stuck in a career they don’t like?

You first of all need to understand the opportunities available to you.  If you can get a better insight into the role you are seeking, possibly by spending some time in an observation capacity, this would leave the individual better informed and less likely to make the wrong move.  People also need to understand what it is they are unhappy with.  It may not be the job content.  The people you are working with are very important.

Given the fact that the tables have turned somewhat and employers now have more candidates to choose from, what changes will candidates have to make in their job search approach to be successful?

We need to have a shift in attitude.  Rather than looking only at what the company can offer you, we also need to look at what you can bring to the company.  It’s a two-way street which has been very much one-way in recent years.  Candidates will need to be able to sell themselves to an employer in an interview situation; they may have to leave the salary expectations out of the first interview until a more appropriate time.  They will need to show more flexibility and belief that if they prove themselves they will reap the rewards.

Thank you to Julia Ross.  For those seeking work in Administration, support, Call Centre, visit Julia Ross Specialist areas of the business including IT, Legal & Accounting can be accessed at Ross Julia Ross

Download Audio Interview

We talk a lot about the importance of putting your best foot forward. Throughout this website and in the resume class, we ask the question, “Am I presenting myself in the best possible way”. We are of course referring to your resume but what about YOU? How do you look? How do you feel? How do you feel about how you look? What do other people say about how you look? The best way to answer these questions is to do a little test. Try wearing something that you’ve never worn to work before, something perhaps that you’ve wanted to wear but chose not to. Then judge the response. If you get a lot of “Wow, you look fantastic” or even a mere comment such as “that really suits you”, well then it’s time to review your wardrobe. The first step to dressing for success is to dress in a way that will make you feel good, allowing you to project your best image. Most companies will have a dress code to some degree and some will go to the extreme of suggesting how much of your income should be dedicated to keeping your corporate wardrobe up-to-date. When shopping for a new wardrobe, keep your company dress code in mind.

For most of my working life I was loath to spend my hard earned cash on what I felt was a corporate uniform, you know, the business suit, the business shoes and so on. I couldn’t get a tax deduction as it was not an official uniform. Then I was introduced to the idea of a tailored suit. My only previous experience of this was in Thailand and it was not a good one. To say it was the worst $50 ever spent is an understatement but then again, you get what you pay for. Anyway, I decided to give it another go and spend a lot more than $50, I was due a treat. Much to my surprise, the feeling you get from wearing a tailored suit is phenomenal. First of all, you feel better looking. You can see heads turn as you pass them in the corridors or on the street. Your self-confidence gets a massive boost resulting in a better presentation of you.

Now you’re probably thinking, how does this investment pay? Simple, the fact that you’re feeling better about how you look makes you a stronger negotiator. You sit in front of your boss or a client, bursting with confidence and they pick up on it. Walk into the same situation feeling self conscious, whilst looking across the negotiating table at a sharper dressed adversary and you’ll come out with less.

A tailored suit is a luxury but surprisingly, not as expensive as one would think. For maybe 20/30% more than a standard off the peg suit, you can get something that fits like a glove and gives you the power. That said, some of the off the peg suits fit remarkably well. 

Take a look in the mirror now. Would you wear that to an interview? You need to aim to be looking your interview best everyday of the working week. You achieve that and you will never be under suspicion by colleagues or managers when interviewing for a new job.

As a nation we have lost the art of applying for a job. What happened to the glorious days of addressing the criteria set out in the job advertisement and trying to sell your most suitable assets? The answer lies in the unprecedented growth we have witnessed during the past 15 years. Unemployment rates have been at record lows, we were forever hearing about the skills shortage and the need to attract more talent to our shores.

Change

This phenomenal growth brings change resulting in new ways of doing things. By in large, humanity will develop faster more efficient ways of performing daily tasks. When it comes to finding a new job, the internet has revolutionised how we search and how recruiters advertise. We simply hit “apply now” sending the same resume off to yet another job without any regard for what the advertiser is looking for. Today, a recruiter could discover a new job at 9.00am, advertise it on one of the job boards and speak to a totally new candidate all before a 10.00am coffee. This one hour turnaround time will not impress anyone who has grown up on a daily diet of Google and Yahoo! But it will sound remarkable to any of those old people who searched for jobs before the internet became so entwined in our daily lives. Hold on a minute, did we say old people. Let me put the record straight, these people are not old, really. They may even be as young as 30.

Back with the Dinosaurs

How did one find a job before the internet? It was a much longer process to begin with. A recruiter who picked up a job at 9.00am would be lucky to have it in print media within 3 days. Applicants would be encouraged to phone for more details. Some would request a covering letter with an application. Can you imagine how long this took? Do you think people would apply for 10 jobs in one sitting? Not a chance.

Full Circle

So where have we gone wrong or are there any side effects of this change to the application process? Low unemployment has forced normally fastidious employers into dropping their standards a little. We moved from a market where employers asked what can you bring to the table to a situation where we turned the table and asked the employer what can you offer me? Formalities have certainly been dropped with the advent of email. We have moved from an application process that previously involved making a phone call, writing a letter and addressing key criteria to one where shooting off an email without uttering or writing a word will be acceptable. As the job market becomes tighter it seems we have come full circle. Response levels will begin to rise and already have in many key markets. More importantly the quality of these responses will also rise. As we enter a market filled with a quantity of quality candidates, recruiters and employers will look for ways to cull these massive responses. They can put in place three simple checks.

1^st Check

They will start with a simple check for spelling and grammar. You’d be surprised how many candidates will fall at this stage – pure carelessness and not the sort of person you’d want to employ, given a choice.

Solution: Have a friend or colleague quickly read your resume. For more tips check out http://www.resumepartners.com.au/resume-tips/

2^nd Check

A well written cover letter, addressing the key criteria laid out in the advertisement. Some applicants simply don’t bother with a cover letter when applying for roles via a job board. Some who do, use a generic letter and forget to modify small details such as the name of the person they are writing or the role they are applying. This is not hard to get right, again it’s pure carelessness.

Solution: Spend time on each application or check out http://www.resumepartners.com.au/cover-letters/

3^rd Check

If your application is not relevant, you’ll be lucky to receive an automated response! Not much point in applying for the Rocket Scientist position if you’re currently the Mailroom Clerk and likewise, forget about the Mailroom position if you’re a Rocket Scientist. Showing why an employer should meet with you by addressing the key criteria and highlighting on your resume the skills and experience relevant to the role is essential.

Solution: Either learn how to do it here http://www.resumepartners.com.au/iresume/

or have a professional do it for you here http://www.resumepartners.com.au/resume-tailor/

Aside from these initial checks database mining will become more popular with recruiters so ensuring that all of your systems experience is listed together with any industry buzz words and critically, your job title or rather, the job title of the role you are applying is essential. Let me put this in context. You may be performing many aspects of the role you are applying for however if your job title does not match that of the advertised position, you may be overlooked.

So when you next apply for a job, ask yourself first and foremost, do you really want this job? If the answer is yes, put the effort in. A job application is not a five minute process. Spend some time on it. This time spent will pay off in terms of finding a suitable position resulting in happiness and generally speaking, better financial rewards.