Job Seeking in the New Recruitment Age The recruitment world has changed out of all recognition over the past 10, 20, 30 years, and if you've recently found yourself back on the job market, you'll already have realised that job-searching isn't what it used to be. The advance of the internet has made it easy to search for jobs at the touch of a button, and it's sometimes only possible to apply for jobs online. The downside is that the job vacancies are accessible to almost everyone and the competition is now much greater, with some vacancies attracting hundreds of applications.
Recruitment Software and CV Sifting Another downside is that the vetting process is largely automated and your application will very likely not be read by a human being, but by a computer using Applicant Tracking Software, "ATS", to look for specific keywords. Although this software has been around for some time, because of the increase in online recruiting, its use is now far more common. Let's look at a vacancy for a bookkeeper. An employer posts the job on an online job board. The employer doesn't want to trawl through hundreds of CVs; they just want to shortlist the best candidate matches. To enable "matching", the employer has to programme their chosen key words into the ATS. Let's say they select: "Sage 50", "Excel", "bank reconciliations� and "monthly management accounts". In your CV you have included: Sage, MS Office, bank reconciliations and monthly accounts - similar, but not identical. So, although you're potentially a perfect fit for the job, because you don't have the right keywords in your CV, your application won't come up as a good match. This is precisely why you can't use the same CV for every application. Yes, you need an excellent "master" CV, but you'll need to amend your CV to match the words in each job advertisement, to ensure that your CV is a better "match" for the Applicant Tracking Software. To a lesser extent, the same goes for cover letters.
First Round Interviews It's increasingly common for the first round of interviews to take place by telephone, Skype or even video, so you'll need to prepare for this. Occasionally the first or second round of interviews includes a Group Interview.
Assessment Centres Assessment centres are often used to assess skills and competencies. You may be asked to participate in role play or team work. One of my clients was asked to prepare and deliver a presentation on how she would improve the sales process within the hirer's organisation. With every candidate making a presentation, the hirer was definitely in a win-win situation - especially if they didn't hire anyone at the end of the process!
Psychometric Testing Psychometric testing is a series of tests that measure your reasoning skills and personality to see if you are a good fit for the role. Depending on the seniority of the role, these may involve relatively straightforward online tests or could include an "in-tray" with a number of tasks that you must prioritise, delegate or execute - all designed to measure your ability to assess, analyse, prioritise, multi-task and manage a variety of situations that you could typically encounter during a normal working day. Compelling CVs based in Reading provides a Professional CV Writing Service together with Cover Letters, LinkedIn Profiles, Interview Skills Coaching & more
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