Archive for the ‘Job Applications’ Category
7 FAQs About Job Hunting
March 9th, 2009
During my coaching sessions with job hunters, I get asked many questions relating to job applications. Here are some of the most frequently asked ones:
Should I include salary information on my CV?
No. If a prospective employer specially requires to know this information, you should ask yourself why? In some cases, unscrupulous employers do so in order to attract the prospective employees that will accept the least money. In other words, they will filter out the people who earn the most and focus on getting the job done on the cheap.
Should I include my reason for leaving each job?
Not on your CV or covering letter. However, many application forms do ask this and so you should answer this with care. The way you answer this question will affect your chances of being short-listed for an interview. However, you should not lie as you can be caught out sooner or later.
Should I send a photo with my application?
Not unless your personal looks is important for you to carry out your job. Unfortunately, some employers will use photographs to discriminate against some candidates.
Should I include references in my CV?
No. Bear in mind that you may be sending off quite a few applications for jobs. If your referees are contacted every time you send off an application for a job, they will soon get tired of this. It is far better to allow the employer to contact your referees after you have been to the interview or better still, after you have been selected for the job ’subject to satisfactory references’.
Absolutely. However, be careful that you do not give them the vague impression that your activities will take up so much time that you are unable to perform your job well. Also, if you do include hobbies and interests, make sure that they give a balanced, and positive, impression. For example, cover something from the following five areas but don’t use the headings though:
- Physical activity (i.e. walking, canoeing, cycling, mountaineering, swimming, jogging)
- Mental agility (i.e. reading, crosswords, logic problems, sudoku, chess)
- Creativeness (i.e. painting, drawing, writing, digital video production, diy, photography)
- Awareness (i.e. current affairs, genealogy, archaeology)
- Membership (i.e. Church, Parents and Teachers Association, School Governor, Magistrate, Women’s Institute)
Should I include my date of birth in my CV?
No. Although it is now illegal in the UK to discriminate against age, there is no need to encourage employers to do so. However, some jobs do require that you are within certain age groups and are exempt (i.e. HM Forces, Police etc.). In these cases, they will require you to complete an application form rather than accept a CV.
Should I include driving licence information?
Only if the job you are applying for requires you to drive a company vehicle.
Your CV contains hidden messages about you
February 4th, 2009
A well written and presented CV makes all the difference between being selected for an Interview and getting a letter of rejection. All too often people overlook this and just copy and paste bits onto their CV, rush the covering letter and send it off. How many times have you been guilty of this – all because you left the application until the last possible moment? Procrastination is the worst enemy of any Job Seeker. That is why Job Seekers get fewer invitations to an interview than Job Hunters.
A Job Hunter will always complete an application form, tailor a CV or write a covering letter at the earliest opportunity and then sit on it for a day or two. After this period of time, they will pick them up and proof-read them to ensure they are just right for the prospective employer.
So why leave it for a couple of days? Well, it is all down to how your brain works. If you are trying hard to solve a problem, your brain works on it even during your sleep. Consequently, you have put together your job applications and ‘incubated’
In the long term you will be spending far less time preparing job applications and you’ll also receive far better responses than you would if you use the Job Seeker’s approach. Poorly constructed job applications will be picked up by the prospective employer and directed to the waste paper basket quicker than you could blink. This is because the hidden messages that they contain show that you do not check over your work, rush jobs too quickly and do the bare minimum expected of you. You see, these are the qualities that employers cannot afford to have in their company.
If you want to make the transition from a Job Seeker to a Job Hunter then why not pick up your copy of the “Get Me Off The Dole ” book from Lulu.com.