By Angela Wahome,
Looking for work is always incredibly stressful. In the past, I’ve tried to help by providing tips for correcting your CV. Four key things to remember are;
1. Don’t exaggerate. Your enhance your abilities or lie on your CV. For instance, saying you are an obsessive working machine or you are the dedicated or brilliant candidate, will elicit a negative response and recruiters may discard your CV.
2. Customize you CV. When you apply for a job make sure you get the details of the job right.
3. Name your CV. Make sure your name and contact details on the CV.
4. Number the pages. If the pages of your CV get printed out and mixed up with other CVs, your CV will be safe from being thrown out as the page numbers will assist the recipients to put the pages of your CV back together.
Almost without exception, you never really know why you didn’t get a particular job. You might have sailed through the first interview, only to be informed a few days later by HR with the message that you are not going to be offered the job.
Assuming you’re an otherwise great candidate, here are a few of things to consider in order to fine-tune your interviewing style and the way you answer interview questions.
1. Your experience is wide but shallow. Depending on your experience, you might be depicting yourself as a “jack of all trades, master of none.” Having experience in a wide variety of field is positive but you need to be there long enough to develop skills, experience, knowledge that are practical and will be able to help you in the work place.
2. You seem to have a sense of entitlement. Be humble in all things. This has real, practical applications. For example, don’t give the hiring manager or any peer interviewers the idea that there are only certain areas within your domain that you are willing to work in. For instance you do marketing but are not willing to do sales. If you do, this will work against you as your interviewer may feel you will be very difficult to collaborate with.
3. You don’t exhibit any passion. If you exhibit a lack of passion, this perception will be hard to overcome. Be enthusiastic, both about what you do and the role you are interviewing for. Employers don’t want to hire someone who is only looking for a paycheck; they want someone who is invested in their career and in the company. Make sure you show passion for the business, the people and the area that you will be working in.
4. You don’t know how the rest of your organization works. It’s important to know how the entire organization operates, from end to end. If you’re asked questions about a process at your employer that you weren’t directly connected to and you say, “I don’t know.” Chances are you may not get hired, even if you are enormously knowledgeable in your particular field. There is enormous collaboration in companies today, and you’re expected to understand at least the basics of everyone else’s roles so you can contribute to the company.
5. Your experience is not transferable. You might be awesome, but if you’ve spent a long time in a single role or company, it might look like your knowledge, skills, or experience won’t transfer to the new company. If possible prepare yourself learn new knowledge and skills. Also, plan ahead of time, so that you will be able to address these concerns in the interview.
