applying for a new job

[BobCatMax]

My missus is having exactly the same problem at the moment LGF.

More than qualified, and she's getting no response. One of our friends work in Occupational therapy, and commented the other day that whereas normally as job she would interview for would get 10 or 11 responses, now they're getting over 90!

 

[MagD]

first off - good luck!!

We've had sixty plus applicants for relatively junior roles, including to some candidates they were previous finance directors!!

Here @ the BBC the recent buzz word(s) about the recruitment process is

"Competancy Based"

As part of the job spec there could be 8 - 12 key criteria / skills / competancies.

Try to cover off each competancy at some point in your work history, although try not to duplicate the info you use in whatever application question etc.

Where there's a application question / big empty box, try the following:

Pre-amble - I feel I am a excellent candidate for this job due to my extensive and wide ranging experience in the field etc etc etc.

For each competancy include a paragraph / sentence which says I have skill X, demonstrated as part of role Y doing this specific task Z.

Naturally they should highlight your positive skills / knowledge / experience / competancy etc.

For example, competancy : "Influencing and persuading":

I’ve been able to influence senior staff and colleagues in a number of different roles, as I often look to develop strategies which give “win-win” results.

For example, when reviewing plant fault KPIs I was being challenged by the plant manager about proposed budget cuts, which could be detrimental to them. I suggested a compromise where we agreed to monitor the statistics and flex his budgets according to the trends going forward.

Summary - re-state the pre-amble etc.

Hope that helps.

M.

 

[MagD]

oops forgot to add for a job I went for I created a table in word with two columns:

Preamble TEXT

Key Skill 1 TEXT
Key Skill 2 Text

X however many key skills / competancies etc

Summary TEXT

That way you can be sure to pick off all the competancies and if the manager or HR person is tick boxing "can they demonstrate the competancies" you should get ticks for each.

Also, if it's online with a word / character limit you can do a count to check you've not gone over or only used 10% of the space etc.

M.

 

[magicmistertea]

Thanks for the input chaps.

It was just a generic Total Jobs website application form which in turn would be resent to a local Job Agency.

I'm not holding out much hope, I applied for 63 jobs when I knew I was to be made redundant and only got one reply.

Thats why I'm so sceptical and cynical in my , er, damn, young to middle age.

Hi -

Two things:

* Make sure your application form is perfect. Put all the dates in and don't leave any gaps. We ditch gappy applications straight away. Shows bad attention to detail, poor form for a Service Desk analyst.
* I wouldn't worry too much about past IT experience.
* I can give you plenty of help if you get an interview.

I started out in IT doing 1st line support for an interweb provider, was a Service Desk analyst for a while, and now I'm in Service Management. Fire me a PM if you want.

Alistair

Would you employ this man?

NO...

TOP TIP.... get your hair cut !!!

 

[perry]

Best of luck fella . This is one of only a couple threads I'm looking at in my spare 5 mins and the single biggest advice I can give is go on the offensive . The past two jobs I got I went in with the idea that I was sick of not getting the job so " fook it " . Instead of being all shy and timid I gave the impression that they were wasting my time if I didn't get it . I knew there would be questions ( always are ) so I spent some time thinking about the things I wanted answering and as soon as the interviewer was about to start asking me things I produced a couple a4 pieces of paper from my pocket and totally blocked them .

Don't let them think they are just getting someone to fill a position , tell them you are going to run the fooking place !

The next time I pop in if I find you didn't get it then I'm gunna josh you in the plums