Ep.55 How To Stand Out From Your Job Application (From An Employer's POV)

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1:47What is up guys and welcome back to Working Hard Hardly Working, the solo episodes. That needs a theme tune. Today we're talking about job applications and we are going to talk about how to ace a job application from the perspective of an employer. Now, as I say, I am an employer and I offer jobs a lot, but I am also not the only employer in this world. So if I say something and then someone else says something and they're not the same thing, I'm sorry. I'm telling you from my point of view and my experience how to ace a job application. What would be absolute no-goes for a job application in my opinion?

2:22cover letters CVs etc etc I feel like if you search up how to do a good job application on the google there's so much of the same like bland advice um and so I'm excited to generally just answer your dilemmas and hopefully be able to shed some light on from my point of view in this current modern day age of the 21st century what I would expect to see and what would be a complete turn off for me and what would be an absolute yes for me at job application stage obviously job application is very important. If you want the job, you're going to have to have a good job application. We've already done an episode on job interviews.

2:59So make sure to go and listen to that after if you are going through a job application stage at the moment. But I do think there are some pretty clear things that you need to get right in a job application. And it's not going to be a be all and end all. I'd always say the interview is more important. However, I will never hire just off interview and I will never hire just off application. By the end of this episode, I want you to feel super confident in how to ace a job interview, how to feel like you're putting your best foot forward, how to stand out from the crowd. And I'm going to answer a load of dilemmas so that hopefully you will have some of your specific questions asked as well.

3:30So first things first, one of the most important things about a job application is that you don't just send off your like bog standard CV to the company and expect them to do the work for you, joining together the dots of why you would be good for this role. That is your responsibility. If you are looking at a job and you're thinking, I'd be amazing for this role, tell them why you'd be amazing for that role. You can do that in two ways through, there might be an external application outside of your CV and your cover letter, but there also might not. You can very easily do this from your CV and cover letter.

4:00So first of all, let's talk about the CV. The cover letter is more specific in this direction. And I'm not really sure who even asked for cover letters anymore. I see a cover letter more as a kind of the email that you'd send your job application with but if there's an option for a cover letter always include it because I would rather receive an application that essentially tells me why this person would be good at this job rather than me having to filter through their like bullet pointed cv to be like oh this might mean they're good at this this might mean they're good at this so with your cv first of all make sure it's not too long I would make sure that it's no more than two pages usually the ones that are too long have too little relevant experience and they're just trying to show kind of like first job style that you've done work before and that's fair enough obviously that's good if you're just trying to show you've done work before but if you are applying for a job that you want to show why you are specifically good for that job then I would spend most time and have most bullet points ready for the roles that are specifically going to help you be good at this role and why you think you would be good at this role So obviously it goes without saying filter your CV so it's got the most recent job at the top and filtering it then in like anti-chronological order.

5:13Chronological order backwards. Most recent first, least recent last. Then obviously what you're going to want to do is you want bullet points of what that job entails. I would have a little look at the job listing for the role you're applying for and just highlight the things that seem to be the main things that they're standing for. So it might be like diary management, it might be pulling together a publication or a report of some form, it might be anything. You want to then make your bullet points clearest in the direction of those points that they mention on their job listing. Because again, you're basically doing the hard work for them and you're showing them what in your recent job roles has been most applicable to their current job role that they are listing for.

5:56Then on your cover letter, this is a little bit more simple. I think when at school anyone mentioned a cover letter, it seemed to be like this weird little like thing that no one actually knew what it meant and I'm not sure I still even know what a cover letter means however as someone who has employed like I don't know maybe like 20 people in the past year I would say that a cover letter for me is more something that just gonna show me before I even look at your CV why you want the job why you'd be well suited to it it's not like a personal statement in that form however it's just outlining what you're applying for your recent experience why essentially your recent experience is well suited to this role why you would be good for it and why it would be good for you I think that's quite important I think employers always want to know that this is your desired next step in your career so I think it is always good to add in there why this is your desired next step as well then kind of along similar lines take time to research the company that you are applying for obviously um but also it might be that in their about section on their website they talk specifically about like really valuing innovation or really valuing a like family like office atmosphere and you want to be able to highlight those things that are not just on the job listing but are also on their website in terms of like the types of people they see as being a good fit for the company like I remember someone once sending an application and they were kind of like these three things and also I bake a mean banana bread and like no one says good no to a good banana of bread and I think like if it's a company that shows they're that type of you know a little bit fun a little bit you know more of a family atmosphere less corporate etc etc then try and squeeze that in there obviously make sure it's the right audience if it's like a very corporate law firm then maybe don't do that but I think it's always good to get a little bit of personality to a professional extent in there obviously harder to do if you haven't done a lot of this already and especially if you're British um but do not be afraid to show off if you and another person have exactly the same skills and qualifications and they're showing off and you're not in terms of being like I'm particularly good at this these are my strengths blah blah then you're going to look worse than they are and that's just the name of the game it's a job application get comfortable with it start showing off I think one of the most valuable things that I perceive through seeing someone's job application is generally seeing the impact they've had at previous roles so it might be saying that you know when you joined the role the reporting was done like this however this was particularly inefficient so I worked out a way to do it like this.

8:21To me that's exactly the type of person I want to employ. It really shows that they are you know they take initiative, they're on their feet, they don't just take things by rote, they want to constantly improve efficiency and also just make things work better and they're not just there to get the job done, they're also there to kind of make the job be done better and faster. Goes without saying, proofread, download Grammarly I don't care if there's another better competitor to Grammarly now I have always used Grammarly use someone else I do not care but download it and proofread it if I see a mistake in an application I'm just gonna be like you don't care and also you don't proofread things literally word check spell check is free and you didn't even bother to do that so what are you going to do when you're actually in the job because this is the best you're ever going to come across um and then also meet the deadline the amount of things and obviously okay an exception to this is when jobs like disappear because the roles are filled and I would always bear in mind that that can always happen or something like LinkedIn sometimes they don't keep the applications open when they filled they might have filled the role already because people are generally going to start interviewing as soon as applications come in note if you see a job on LinkedIn note down if there's a person or an email address just in case it disappears but I would also say the amount of messages that I get that are like oh shit I missed the deadline for this can I still apply and it's like no because if you miss the deadline for the job application imagine what you're going to be like in the job just bear that in mind I know there's probably some good excuses but personally I wouldn't have it I would also say throughout a job application process keenness is never a bad thing talked about this before but I think there's this misconception that you kind of need to play like hard to get when you're going for a job to be like oh I'm desired by all these other people if you're genuinely desired by all these other people that's absolutely fine and I think any good employer will know that a good person is also going to be desired by other people I don't think playing like not keen in terms of replies is ever ever ever helpful if someone starts being less keen during an application process again I'm like this is the most keen you're ever going to be like applying for the actual job and so if you're not that keen when it comes to actually um you know replying to emails about the job or it might be a follow-up question or it might be a asking when the interview is obviously you can have a normal reply time but I think that like if you're leaving it for a few days no sorry so let's whiz through some dilemmas because I've already rambled on for a while what is new um hi Grace it's about to be my A-level summer and I want to earn a bit of cash as a backup before uni um my question is is there anything specific that I could put on my job applications to other places that would help me stand out from the probably hundreds of other people who have already applied is there one unique quality that you tend to look for when employing that you really value um I think this is tough and this is just classic in the job market especially when you're going for something that's probably earlier on in your career it's obviously going to be something that there are going to be more applicants like I think we put up we put up like a brand assistant applicant role the other day so it's you know doesn't need that many years of experience it's an assistant role etc etc and it got like a thousand applicants within the first day and that was without like that was before I'd even like posted about it do you think it is hard and obviously it goes without saying that probably specific experience is always going to put someone higher up on the list because you know if there's a thousand applicants and five of them have experience in that area when actually the job was open to people without experience they're probably going to go for the people with experience um I would say there are a few things you can do to set yourself apart I would say obviously be professional and all of that but I would say those kind of personality things that I was saying saying you could kind of get in there like that person who was like besides I bake a mean banana bread or whatever it might be um that kind of are just more likely to get you in or get you noticed as like a you know it's boring going through thousands of applications like something that's going to stand out to like a hiring like a recruitment manager or whatever it might be someone who just sounds like a normal person um and so I think that can it really help but again it's all going to be about experience and I know that's so tough because it's like you need experience to get experience but even anything that you can be like I don't know like I remember my um I did this like freelancing job when I was in would have been AS level summer so I mean, I don't have any levels anymore.

12:28I'm so old. In one of my sixth form summers, I did freelancing for one of the mums at my school. She had a language school and she just put up a thing in the bulletin and I didn't know her at all, but I sent an email being like, oh yeah, I have done leafleting before. As in I can design flyers. I've always used social media, blah, blah, blah. I kind of put things together that weren't official experience, but that got me that first bit of experience. So anything you can do, it might be literally doing something for like your mum or like your family friends thing or like whatever that would just show as like a little bit of experience.

13:05They're always going to prefer that to nothing. Or even like if you don't have that experience, try and do it yourself. So if it's a marketing role, like go on to Canva and make them some marketing assets from their social media stuff, like their imagery that will show that, sure, maybe you don't have experience, but you have the aptitude. so anything you can do out of that that will truly set you apart I think is important when it comes to those jobs where there are literally like thousands of applicants. Hi Grace I'm really struggling at the moment I've been out of full-time work since February and any part-time job I've had isn't working out I'm applying to dozens of jobs a day I keep getting rejected or not meeting entry requirements even though I've worked in marketing for a year.

13:42What advice would you have to someone for someone applying to all of these jobs I want to start my career I'm enthusiastic and I'm a sponge trying to learn as much as I can but it's difficult to remain motivated totally understand this sounds like a really horrible situation I'm really sorry that you're in this situation I think especially in areas like marketing with social media and everything at the moment it's just such a saturated market and so I do think like as much experience as you could you know you've said that you've done some part-time work can you really big that up can you really show that you know how appropriate that is and like how well suited that experience is to all of the roles you're going for essentially it's just tough and just remember that if you knew that you had to apply to like 100 jobs and the 101st one would be like your dream job then you would be happy each one you got rejected from um so I just think keep going I'm really sorry keep going and keep trying to big up your experience and as I've said maybe try and make some marketing materials for the company on Canva just to show that you like can even if that you're not like a graphic designer like you're just showing that you have aptitude and keenness and you go the extra mile and all of that but I'm sorry you're in that situation that seems really shit keep trying keep going hi Grace I'm a sociology and anthropology graduate and I'm finding it hard to get my to get a decent first job since leaving university I've had three jobs but none of these jobs are meant to be longer than six months to one year and I just want to figure out how to brand myself as long term when I'm fresh-ish out of university and looking to start my career any thoughts on this would be amazing so I completely understand and I think this is tough but I also would say like don't get caught up in the fact that it's like only six to six months to a year like that's still amazing experience and that is still experience and that is still getting you closer and closer to your dream job a career isn't just staying in the same job for 10 years it's like you create your career like you create the path you go down and each of these jobs is really valuable experience you're probably learning even more than if you were in like the same job for a few years so I do think like don't look down on that I do think that what can start to look iffy is if someone only has like six month to one thing year things on their CV and I would just say call that out like if I've been interviewing someone and my one red flag for them like I think they're great I think they'll be well suited to the job and all of that and my one red flag for them is that like they seem to have been jumping around jobs first of all I'll probably ask but second of all if they call it out in their cover letter and being like you might notice that all of my jobs have been six months to a year that's because I'm a recent graduate I've been prioritizing getting a breadth of experience and now I'm really looking for a longer term like by taking placement roles and now I'm really looking for something longer term like just address it like if there's an elephant in the room and you think it looks bad just address it and to me that would put my mind at ease and I'd think great cool they've just been building up their CV they've been getting lots of different experience like they've got a breadth of experience from lots of different types of people lots of different types of places etc etc great excited to work with them so I wouldn't look down on that too much experience is still great experience learn as much as you can and then just like address the elephant in the room.

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17:34What? This is wild. There's apparently an 88 % rejection rate when you include a photo on your resume. I would love to know where that is but maybe just don't do that. That's so weird. Only 35 % of applicants are actually qualified for the jobs they apply to. I think we're just gonna end with that fact. I think that just goes to show you fake it till you make it honey. Put it all together. No one goes into a job knowing exactly how to do that job otherwise they would be going into a higher job because they'd be wanting to sidestep higher just remember that so you need to do the hard work in terms of being like this is why I am well suited for this job in terms of like linking two and two together ultimately no one's actually qualified for it so you might as well fucking go for it that's where we're gonna end today I hope you have a good day as always and please like subscribe follow I don't know what platform you're on so thanks

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