Tag: recruitment

Dream job? No but opportunity knocked & I answered!

Opportunity: a time or set of circumstances that makes it possible to do something – a chance for employment or promotion.

Back in January I wrote a blog I named: An Update – Job Hunting.  I want to fill you in on what’s been happening since I secured that job, and actually it is part of the reason I have not been ‘blogging’ so much recently.

Six months ago I secured a role after a tough period of job hunting  – and to be fair – it was a role that I accepted with not enough enthusiasm but with plenty of gratitude. It wasn’t my dream job to be honest it was a starting point.

I found the work interesting initially, however it wasn’t too long before it became repetitive. I persevered and thought if I could just push through until the end of the year I’d look for another job then.  About 3 months after starting an email came around asking if there was anyone interested in an opportunity to step into another role. I immediately put my hand up and began a 4-week trial to test my ability to do this new role.

I tackled this new challenge in the same way as before – I put my head down, and quickly learnt what was expected and set about delivering it. I was offered the role on a permanent basis and after starting in early December I was promoted on the 1st April.

Continue reading “Dream job? No but opportunity knocked & I answered!” →

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An Update – Job Hunting.

Last month I secured a new job! But not without the challenge of dealing with those recruitment ‘specialists’. As I described in my first commentary job hunting is hard enough without the lack of any response whatsoever. And those impersonal automated declines are just annoying. You do start to feel a little down and it is difficult to keep going with a positive spin on the whole process.

However, I persevered and with a little tweeking of that cover letter I actually got in front of a recruitment specialist. Or thats what I thought did the trick! What followed was an interesting turn of events…let me tell you more.

Quite by accident I actually applied for the same job twice, and to seperate recruitment companies. Within 1/2 an hour of sending my re-worked masterpiece of a cover letter and CV, my mobile phone rang, and after chatting an appointment was made to meet the following day. 

I duly met a young man in the Auckland CBD, who was engaging and interested in what I had been doing and what I was looking for moving forward. He sent my CV to the hiring company and I interviewed the following week. During this time I received not one but two automated email responses from the other recruitment company. You know the ones: ‘your application has been received and sent to the appropriate consultant who will be in touch”. They arrived in my in-box at 4.18am? I thought it odd.

Anyway along to the interviews which progressed well – both of them! And I was offered a role. 

The day after accepting the role I received an email from the other recruitment company saying the job had been withdrawn! I was slightly amused, but upon reflection decided to call the company and speak to the ‘specialist’.

I learnt that the so-called recruitment specialist had not even read my well-crafted cover letter which had described how I could make a difference to this company with my skills and experience – she had skimmed my CV and made a decision based on the that alone that I was over-qualified? After talking together she admitted she had made an assumption and got it wrong. She thanked me for calling her – I felt better for doing it – a small victory for all those people out there that had been treated poorly – perhaps she would be more attentive moving forward?

Ironically, after starting in my new job, I discovered that my new boss was only appointed two or so months previously. And guess what, I had applied of that role too! And never heard from that same recruitment company. Another missed opportunity? 

So , what is the moral to the story you may be thinking?

  1. Do, craft your cover letter, keep it simple, and to the point.
  2. Do, talk about your skills that will add value to the company in your cover letter
  3. Keep you CV comprehensive – they seemed to prefer this to my one-pager?
  4. And after you apply online, call those recruitment specialists, leave messages, and when they don’t respond call them again. If you believe that job is right for you and you are right for that company, persevere!

Happy job hunting xx

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The Lunchroom at the new job!

 

 

 

 

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Job Hunting – the frustration of the response or should I say “no-response”!

As of today I have applied for 35 jobs in the last 2 months. All of these roles have required as per the job advertisement, a cover letter and resume to be attached which I have carefully crafted to illustrate my skills and experience. On average it has probably taken 45-60 minutes per application. Well you want to get it right!

How many of these companies do you think have taken any time to reply? 10! with the exception of one company, have replied by email; computer generated with the obligatory words of insincere thanks for taking the time to apply.

I have reminded myself that there are many people applying for a few jobs, and it is time consuming responding to every applicant. I have also reminded myself of the many times when the shoe was on the other foot and it was me doing the recruiting. I have pondered on my own process and the truth is I have worked for big companies who have HR consultants making the ‘first cut’. This would have meant that computer generated letters were automatically sent out to those candidates the HR consultant thought were not suitable. These were people whose resume’s never got to me. I’m feeling those candidates pain right now!

As a manager hiring new staff you want to get it right, and get the best person for the job. And its jolly time consuming reading a pile of cover letters and CV’s. So after the ‘first cut’ I confess to selecting candidates to interview whose CV’s stood out for being colourful with interesting visual affects, and not always full of mind-blowing content! The bottom line is that until you sit down with someone you can’t possibly make a decision on whether or not they will be a good fit for the role, and or the business. Certainly not by reading a cover letter!

My question is how do I get that opportunity to sit down and truly engage a business if I can’t get my cover letter/resume combo across the line?

My husband sent me an article from Forbes.com by Liz Ryan. She says that “Cover letters Are Dead–Send A Pain Letter, Instead”. Liz’s words resonated with me when she talked about sending a cover letter with a resume into the ‘faceless Black Hole recruiting pit”!  I smiled when I thought of the past two months of my job-hunting life. Whats that quote? “Truer words were never spoken”?

So what is this ‘Pain Letter’ and where do I get one I wondered? Apparently a ‘Pain Letter’ is a new-millennium alternative to a cover letter.

According to Liz Ryan, researching the employer is step one. (Although that would step one once you have decided who you want to work for!)  Read about the business and figure out what sort of issues you think the organisation is dealing with. Figure Out The Pain You Solve. We all solve some kind of pain Liz says. I am skilled at managing poor performers – for many people this is a task they like to avoid and managers need done. Is this THE Pain I solve? I have other skills that could be ‘Pain’ points. I will put my head into this…but for now lets move on…

When you send a ‘Pain Letter’, you send it directly to your hiring manager. Now this makes sense to me on so many levels…another hint is to start your letter with something about them in a professional light , i.e., perhaps they won an award or the company did. This should interest them enough to read the rest of your letter.

Follow this with your ‘Pain Solution’ – for me it might be “It’s so important to manage the performance of your sales team – especially those not doing so well. When I worked at ABC I was able to increase sales staff performance while keeping the engagement levels high”

Okay, now to close the ‘Pain Letter’. Keep it short and snappy …KISS (Keep it simple silly) comes to mind.  An example for me could be “If underperformance of sales people is on your mind, I would love to chat with you at your convenience. Kind regards, “.

As I am finding out the hard way, it is a brave new working world out there, and we all have to be flexible enough to move with the times! 9a8e3f19c1512cd681906b4d863719fe

With no evidence that Albert actually said this quote! it’s still a good one 🙂 And I for one am  going to give the ‘Pain Letter’ a go. I will let you know how it goes.

Sharon

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