Job Applications In A Week

Get That Job In Seven Simple Steps

Pat Scudamore, Hilton Catt

• Publisher: Teach Yourself
• Year: 2012
• Print ISBN: 9781473610187
• eBook ISBN: 9781444158915
• Topic: Personal Development
• Subtopic: Careers

Getting hired just got easier
You are about to discover everything you need to know about job applications and how to make them work. Starting on Sunday and going through to Saturday, you will learn the stages of a job application step by step so you build up a picture of what it takes to be successful. For many job applicants, what goes on behind employers' closed doors remains a hidden world but, by Saturday, you will have taught yourself how job applications are processed, what employers look for when they make up interview lists, and then, from the candidates they interview, who to shortlist and who to offer the job to.After considering what employers want and how you could meet their needs you will be able to formulate a plan for what needs to go into your CV, what you need to put in your cover letters and what you need to say about yourself on application forms. You will discover how to measure up the competition and how to make sure your name, and not someone else's, is on the interview list.You will also discover the importance of getting the right messages across in interviews - and what the right messages are. You will learn how to dictate the interview agenda to keep it on familiar territory where the best parts of your application will come out. You will learn to handle tough interview questions and to see what's behind them and what answers will impress the interviewer most. Once you've been shortlisted, you'll discover how to steer your application over the last hurdle and get the job offer you want.- Sunday: Defining the task
- Monday: You and the image you present
- Tuesday: Selection criteria
- Wednesday: Getting interviews
- Thursday: Going for interviews
- Friday: Handling questions
- Saturday: Getting shortlisted

The first challenge you face when you apply for jobs is how to get interviews.

Teach yourself today how employers pick interview lists and how you can use this knowledge of what goes on behind the scenes to your advantage. Getting interviews will be harder when there are many more applicants for the job. In these situations employers are very choosy about who they invite in and your application has got to hit them first time (it won’t get another chance!).

Teach yourself what it takes to grab employers’ attention and what treatment you need to give to:

• your CV

• your cover letters

• any application forms you are asked to fill in.

Teach yourself the importance of your availability, which means:

• making it easy for employers to contact you

• being there to take their calls.

Teach yourself today how to carry out an availability audit to see how employer friendly you really are. You will learn from an availability audit what steps to take when you find you could be unintentionally putting obstacles in the path of employers who are trying to get hold of you.

The challenge you face

Interviews are very time-consuming. Depending on the seniority of the job and the interviewer’s style, an interview can last on average between 45 and 90 minutes. Small wonder, therefore, that employers are very choosy about who they ask along. Irrespective of how well qualified you are for a job, you should never take it for granted that you are going to get an interview. The fact that you are the best thing since sliced bread is not enough. That message has to get through to the employer and the responsibility to make sure that this happens falls on you (yet another example of ‘taking control’).

Competition from other candidates

The challenge is, of course, most in evidence where there is competition for the job. For example:

• where the employer has a number of applicants to choose from

• where some applicants will be picked out for interview and some will not.

The challenge of getting on interview lists is one you particularly need to focus your mind on when making applications on the visible market. Any good job that has been advertised (in newspapers, journals or on websites) will attract large numbers of applicants and you should always allow for this.

Getting on the interview list

Yesterday we looked at selection criteria – the benchmarks that employers use to assess candidates. We saw how selection criteria provide you with a basis to determine the strong and weak areas in your application:

• A strong area: where there is a match between the selection criteria and what you have to offer.

• A weak area: where you fall short of the criteria in some way.

Similarly, an employer browsing through a batch of job applications will be searching for matches. If a sufficient number of matches with the selection criteria are found, the candidate will be put on the ‘Yes’ pile. Alternatively, if few or no matches are evident, the candidate will be put on the pile to be turned down.

Improve your chances of being picked for interviews by helping employers to make the matches. Take control of your applications and give your strong areas prominence. In doing this, pay special attention to any documentation that you submit to employers, notably:

• your CV

• your cover letters

• any forms you are asked to fill in.

Other points to note about the preliminary sifting process are as follows:

• Where there are large numbers of applications, the time given to reading each one will be relatively short.

• Not all applications wi...

Table of contents

• Cover 
• Title
• About the Author
• Contents 
• Introduction
• Sunday: Defining the task
• Monday: You and the image you present
• Tuesday: Selection criteria
• Wednesday: Getting interviews
• Thursday: Going for interviews
• Friday: Handling questions
• Saturday: Getting on the shortlist
• 7 × 7
• Answers
• Copyright