Lessons from reviewing ~200 job applications.

Burnsy2023

Burnsy2023

Burnsy2023

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Following on from this thread, I thought it might be useful to share some of my notes around common mistakes or things that could be improved from the applications I reviewed.

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/foru...g-work-experience-or-qualifications.18897592/
  • Tailor your CV to the job. It often doesn’t need to be much, but put the most relevant information right at the very start. Highlight key skills and reduce the amount of detail on irrelevant education or job experience. I don’t need to know you had a C in GCSE Music when you have a degree.
  • Read the job listing to know what information to highlight. Some people put key skills in bold to draw the eye, it’s cheesy but it does work if done well.
  • Keep it concise, less is more. I’m spending literally hours reviewing applications and I might only spend a minute on yours. Generally, 3 pages is the absolute maximum for a CV, 2 pages is good, one page is ok, but it might be hard to include everything you need. Cover letters should be kept to 2 pages maximum. I won’t read 8 pages where the first page is how you played with computers as a child. I like the passion, but I don’t need a whole page of it.
  • Tell me why you want this job, not just why you want a job.
  • Make me feel like I can connect with you. One candidate wrote about her confidence issues and how coding has helped her overcome these. We’re looking for people who are resilient, can overcome problems and become better from it. She’s been shortlisted with this part of her cover letter being key to that decision. Another example is telling me why you like technology or coding - why are you passionate about it rather than just stating you are passionate and hoping we take you at your word.
  • We’re looking for self-directed learning. It’s great you’ve been on a boot camp, online course or have a degree, but tell us about what you did with those skills after. It doesn’t need to be much but tell me that you didn’t just stop. Refactoring code or reimplementing it a different way would be great evidence of this as it shows you want to tackle the same problem with new knowledge around how to solve it.
  • The cover letter is probably more important than the CV for this particular job vacancy as what you did previously is less relevant, so don’t leave it out. With that said, note the point above regarding tailoring your CV to be as relevant as it can.
  • Proof read and spell check your application. We’re judging your maturity and literacy skills though how you write this letter.
  • Be honest. If you’re lacking in a particular area, tell me what you’re doing to address it. That might be looking for volunteering opportunities.
I might add to this list if I remember other things or perhaps another thread for interviews. Hopefully this is useful to some of you.
 
Bouton Aide said:
How many did you rip up Burnsy? All 200? lol

Them are some good pointers indeed, well worth the read. :)
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10 were shortlisted for 4 positions. It was actually a very competitive set of applications. I would say 10% were people applying without any thought, possibly to show they're applying for JSA, 60% didn't evidence all the points we were after or not in enough detail for us to be confident we want to invest in an interview, and the remaining 30% were high quality applications. That's 60 people who we would've interviewed if we could've. So we had to disappoint 50 people who gave us a solid application.
 
Burnsy2023 said:
10 were shortlisted for 4 positions. It was actually a very competitive set of applications. I would say 10% were people applying without any thought, possibly to show they're applying for JSA, 60% didn't evidence all the points we were after or not in enough detail for us to be confident we want to invest in an interview, and the remaining 30% were high quality applications. That's 60 people who we would've interviewed if we could've. So we had to disappoint 50 people who gave us a solid application.
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ooof! and in this climate applications are going to get larger. It's going to be dog eat dog very soon if it's not already. What was the 4 posts available?
 
Burnsy2023 said:
  • We’re looking for self-directed learning. It’s great you’ve been on a boot camp, online course or have a degree, but tell us about what you did with those skills after. It doesn’t need to be much but tell me that you didn’t just stop. Refactoring code or reimplementing it a different way would be great evidence of this as it shows you want to tackle the same problem with new knowledge around how to solve it.
  • The cover letter is probably more important than the CV for this particular job vacancy as what you did previously is less relevant, so don’t leave it out. With that said, note the point above regarding tailoring your CV to be as relevant as it can.
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I think this stuff is much easier to get across in an interview, but you might not make it that far. I mean, on a CV it's really hard to illustrate what you've done with your training in an explicitly linked and easy to understand way - especially given training is normally in a separate section from your employment history - you have to hope the person reading it can join the dots. An example would be, I have qualifications in project management but I've never had a job title of PM. I wanted to explore practical applications of my learning so in two of my previous roles I did manage a couple of projects in a Hybrid fashion, volunteering to run some smaller projects alongside my primary role. But it's tough to make that explicit in an application so they can see the lines under job X are linked to qualification Y. A bit easier in a cover letter, but there's still only so much you can cram in. If I applied for PM role they'd probably scan my CV and go "never been a PM, bin" before they've even read the bits stating PM experience.

Regarding cover letters in general, I used to put a LOT of time and effort into them (including my application to OS many years ago!) but I've tailed that off a bit in recent times especially given most roles are advertised via agencies these days (meaning you have a conversation with the agent prior to the application hitting anyone's desk). It's refreshing to hear you put a lot of kudos on them.

From my point of view, on top of the points you've mentioned:
  • Gaps in the timeline stick out like a sore thumb. If you took time out of work for whatever reason, don't be afraid to state the reasons as if you get to interview I'll ask you about it anyway
  • I like to see academic performance, some people take it off when they have a few years of experience under their belts but it takes so little space on the CV. If you have amazing grades, why remove them? I know some other people think differently on this, which I guess makes it tough to know who to listen to :)
  • If you are applying for a job that isn't obviously aligned to your employment history, explain why. I could easily overlook something buried in the depths (a bit like my PM stuff mentioned above)
  • If you've had positions in the past that on face-value are more senior than the role you've applied for, make it clear why this job appeals to you. e.g. an IT Development Manager applying for an IT Developer role.
  • Regarding tailoring, I've seen people often neglect to mention things in their experience on older or more junior roles, that could be relevant. For example, I once interviewed someone who'd neglected to mention a call centre role they'd had previously after uni as they didn't think it was relevant. It wasn't relevant discipline wise (IT), but it was in the same industry and she had nothing else related to our industry listed. This is even more important for younger people with less experience, really look at the company you are applying for and think, what transferable knowledge can I bring from previous jobs, studies, hobbies etc. Essentially what I'm saying is, if you have an 'underwhelming' job title, make sure you big up the relevant experience. "Waste disposal executive" might not paint a pretty picture for an office-based job on the face of it, but perhaps you had to e.g. conduct risk assessments as part of the role?
  • If you rate yourself highly out of 10 in something, or describe yourself as having 'expert' or similar knowledge, be warned that this is a double-edged sword. If you claim to be an expert then I expect you to be nailing questions at interview, fail to do so and it undermines confidence in everything you've said or put in your CV
  • I'm not too worried about location but I know some colleagues are. If you are applying for a job a long way from home, make it clear in your cover note that you haven't just fired off random applications to firms all over the country (or other countries), perhaps mention that you are open to relocating or otherwise put minds at rest. Personally I don't think this should be necessary as it's not really any of the employers business where someone lives as long as they are legally entitled to work there, and can get to their place of employment on time. But I know others think differently, they will be like "oh, this person lives hours away, they won't stay in this job for long when they find something more local"
  • Make sure the CV flows properly, make it tell a story of how you've developed your career. I've seen some very jumbled ones before especially where there are multiple roles in the same organisation. I've even had some that had experience not listed in ascending or descending chronological order which made it even harder to piece together what route they'd taken
  • A common mistake is employment history that just reads like a copy-paste of job descriptions. Whilst that can be useful an employer will be more interested about what specifically you've actually done and how it helped the organisation, not what you were supposed to have done. How did you improve processes, how did you save money or drive sales, what sets you apart from the 10 other people with the same job description
  • If you have short term roles that are contract positions then label them as such. Seeing someone apply for a permanent role who has jumped around a lot can lead to concerns about whether they would stay in job the long term
  • On a related note, if you are a contractor applying for a perm role, be clear in your covering letter as to why you want a perm role. I've had a couple of people who haven't been able to articulate this very well, it basically boiled down to, they wanted an easy life which didn't really shout out high motivation levels.
 
Have found reading these useful so thanks for contributing.

I've always kept CVs to 2 pages and covering letters to 1. With a "master" type format for both which are then modified to suit the job role. The key point to get across is, how can you add value to the company. Always read up on the company, wider industry and the specific role you are applying for and whether it exists within other companies.
 
Some good tips in there.

Something else I found useful is scanning LinkedIn if you know, or can guess, who the hiring manager is.

If they are active on there, you can sometimes get a feeling for the person and tailor your CV or cover letter to appeal to them.

For example, an old boss of mine is constantly on LinkedIn bemoaning the traditional approach to Customer Sevice at organisational level.

If I were applying for an role within his department or whatever, I'd definitely tailor my CV to point out where I'd made improvements in that area and write my cover letter with that in mind.
 
Diagro said:
I really hate the term "coding"...
Writing a program is called programming. Heh
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Writing production code is software engineering. Coding/programming is relatively easy, writing something that is designed and written in a way that it's easy to understand, change, maintain, and is secure, tested etc is very different. People often say they can program therefore they are a software engineer. That's like me saying I can weld therefore I can build a bridge.

wesimmo said:
Some good tips in there.

Something else I found useful is scanning LinkedIn if you know, or can guess, who the hiring manager is.

If they are active on there, you can sometimes get a feeling for the person and tailor your CV or cover letter to appeal to them.

For example, an old boss of mine is constantly on LinkedIn bemoaning the traditional approach to Customer Sevice at organisational level.

If I were applying for an role within his department or whatever, I'd definitely tailor my CV to point out where I'd made improvements in that area and write my cover letter with that in mind.
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A good point, but the only thing I'd add is don't be overly familiar. I've had that before and it gets a bit creepy.
 
Burnsy2023 said:
Writing production code is software engineering. Coding/programming is relatively easy, writing something that is designed and written in a way that it's easy to understand, change, maintain, and is secure, tested etc is very different. People often say they can program therefore they are a software engineer. That's like me saying I can weld therefore I can build a bridge.



A good point, but the only thing I'd add is don't be overly familiar. I've had that before and it gets a bit creepy.
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True, more making sure your tone is right rather than knowing about their children's hobbies....
 
FoxEye said:
Yeah that's what I took away too :p Apart from the advice that is ;)

I'm increasingly feeling lucky to have any job...
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People can give advice after advice but if you don’t fit in you not getting the job.

Doesn’t matter what background you have sometimes can boil down to how desperate a company needs someone and how long they been searching as well.

3 years ago I went for a job where the company had been searching 8 months for the right candidate, they offered advice about the interview etc. Turns out they hadn’t been offering the right money or any incentives at all. :p I saw the advert month after month on different job sites for same job (tweaked job description)


What I hate to see is jobs with high staff turn over - puts me right off even applying.
 
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