Over my career I have reviewed a lot of CVs and done a lot of interview panels. After some recruitment activity last year I wanted to share some thoughts with anyone who may ever apply for a job:

Dear Job Applicants,

If you think you are qualified for a role and want to improve your chances of success (at least with hiring managers who share my view of the world!) then here are some tips based on my own experience.

Talk about the impact you had. I want to hire someone who is going to have an impact on my organisation. The best way to find this is by hiring people who have had an impact before. You can do lots of interesting things but if it doesn’t deliver value of some kind then you’ve been doing a hobby, not work.

Think about why you want to work for a company. When you commit to a relationship with another human being you usually can articulate why you want to spend more time with them, and maybe make big financial commitments together, and maybe have children. Working for an organisation is not as big of a commitment, but you should be able to articulate why you want to enter in to the relationship.

Make it easy for the interviewer to assess you. Listen to the question. If the interviewer is trying to get you to talk about a specific competence then use the STAR method. If the company publishes information about its values or competency framework then use this in your preparation. Prepare STAR type answers based on the values/competencies. This will also help you understand whether this job really is for you. If you can’t find any examples from your recent career where you have demonstrated the competencies/values and made an impact then maybe you shouldn’t be applying for a role there…

I am not hiring the team you worked with. I’m interested in hiring you. Therefore, do not answer my questions using “we did”, “we asked”, “we prepared”. What did YOU do?

You are highly likely to get screened out early on if you do not tailor your cover letter in any way. No one likes to go on a date where your partner has five other people sitting at other tables in the cafe. It’s the same with work – demonstrate some focus.

Finally, don’t forget to think about your values and objectives and what questions you should ask to find out if the organisation is aligned to you. Not only does this help you understand if the role is right for you, but also it demonstrates you are conscientious and thoughtful.

Good luck with your applications.

Kind Regards,

A Tired Hiring Manager