I can't get an interview

I can’t get an interview!

Many job hunters become frustrated after applying for large numbers of job advertisements, only never to receive an interview. As a careers advisor, I would always check how the job hunter had applied for these vacancies. As an example you may in the main, be applying for jobs using your CV, if your CV does not gain you interviews it will either be because:

• Your CV is not targeted to the industry you are applying for
• The CV you use is more then 2 pages, so the employer is not reading the whole of your CV
• You have not sent a Cover Letter with your CV; in some cases employers see this as essential, while other employers don’t.

If you’re unsure how good your CV is, have your CV reviewed for free.

If you have a good 2 page targeted CV, with the text split up by headings and bullet points and you always send an individual tailored covering letter. Basically your CV is great and sell’s your strengths to the fullest.

If this is the case you may need to re-look at the job positions you are applying for, as some job hunters apply for jobs out of their ability.

• Are you applying for job you feel has a large salary, compared to your ability to fulfil the role?
• Do the job roles you apply for ask for skills and experiences you do not have?

It is always good to aim high and follow your dream, as I always believe everyone can achieve their goal-sometimes you first need to overcome a couple of small barriers.

If you don’t have a career goal, you can use a career coach to help you move forward.

If your job goal is set high, you need to ask yourself if you first need to apply for a vacancy a level below your career goal? And use this as a stepping stone towards your dream career.

How to check if you are applying for job at the right level.

Pick 4-5 job adverts you have applied for and highlight with a highlighter the common skills, experiences and qualifications needed for all the job adverts. you now need to be honest with yourself, you may already know you would be a dedicated worker but if the advert is asking for a certain qualification or a certain number of years experience as an essential requirement - do you have what the employers are asking for? Be honest, as we want to increase the amount of interview you receive.

If the answer is yes, you do have the essential requirements, then you need to re-look at your CV or application forms review them.

If you answered no:

You can apply for any job and hope that your other strengths will out way the criteria you do not have, but if you have already applied for a large number of similar vacancies with a good CV or application form and you do not make it through to the interview round, if you want a different result, do something different, you may now need to re-look at the positions or salary you are applying for (the higher the salary the more strict the employer will be when it comes to flexibility around the essential criteria)

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Still apply for jobs in the same industry, jobs that suit your skills and abilities and use this experience to make you more employable for future industry job roles on a higher scale.

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What is a Targeted CV?

A targeted CV

I recently received an email querying the difference between a General CV and a Targeted CV,

Many unsuccessful job seekers in fact will not have heard of targeted CVs, having just one CV. Often this CV is of a good standard and records the job hunter’s employment and education history. So, why do you need a targeted CV?

A targeted CV will make you more marketable.

If you’re applying for several job roles, which many job hunters do to help increase their chances of gaining employment you need to create a targeted CV. A targeted CV is a CV aimed at an individual job role and company; research has shown that targeted CVs increase offers of interviews.

First write your general CV, or if needed ask a CV writing service to write one for you. A general CV should record your contact details, personal profile, employment history, education, hobbies and your references.

Once you have a CV, read the job specification for the job you are applying for. The job specification will tell the job hunter what key skills and qualities are essential for this particular job role in this particular organisation, if you possess these essential requirements RECORD them on your CV-it’s these skills the employer is looking for, so many job hunters record information that they feel is relevant, where as the interviewer does not.

The personal profile is often the first section on the CV the employer will read, this is the section on your CV to really sell yourself. Look at the personal profile as a “sales” paragraph, why should the employer interview you? What makes you stand out from the other applicants? Before you write your personal profile, re-read the job specification and only record your transferrable skills needed for this opportunity.
How long does an employer spend reading your CV?

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An employer can receive over 300 CVs for every advertised job role, for any organisation that is a large amount of CVs to read and time is money! In many cases employers will spend 30 seconds “skimming” through your CV quickly looking to see if you have the essential skills and qualities needed for the job role. If you do, the employer will put your CV through to the second round of the application process, spending more time dissecting your CV, helping the employer decide which 6, on average, applicants to interview for every one job position.

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How to get rid of gap's in your CV

Do you have a CV with gaps in your employment history? Don’t worry, so do many other job hunters. Some gaps can be easily explained, while other normally longer gaps may not be so easy to explain.

The secret to writing a CV is to keep the CV positive, especially when explaining employment gaps. If you can not avoid the gap in employment, you should record an explanation rather than just leaving a long gap.

If you leave a gap, an employer reading your CV, will notice your employment gaps and may come to their own conclusions why you have the employment gaps.

How to get rid of gaps in employment.

1. On your employment history only record the years of employment rather than the day, month and year as this will quickly delete any small gaps of unemployment between jobs.

2. Record if you have had time off for becoming a parent or taking a gap year to travel-you can even record what skills and qualities you have gained from this experience that you can use in your new job.

3. If you have had a custodial sentence and completed any qualifications while in custody, you can record the qualifications and governing body. This will look like you have attended a training establishment. You don’t need to record criminal convictions on your CV, when completing an application form you have to answer honestly the question “do you have a criminal record” Remember with many industries you don not need to declare “spent Convictions” for more information visit the Nacro website.

4. Many people at one time throughout their career have a long term illness, leaving them with an employment gap. Explain that you have had an accident or illness and you are now completely recovered and ready for continuing with your career. I recently worked with a client who had recovered from cancer, while having treatment the client became a mentor for other cancer patients, from this he gain a wide range of skills that he could add to his CV.

5. Have you been unemployed for several years? Many job hunters find a large unemployment gap hard to explain. To overcome this type of employment gap you need to highlight any positive activities you undertaken, this could be voluntary work, attending a short course or a hobby that has given you transferable skills that will be useful to your next employer.

Need help? Use a professional CV writing service.

Employment Opportunities

Job hunting is only hard when you don’t know how to find the job vacancies and employment opportunities. If you want to quickly increase the amount of job opportunities you can find:

1. First, use job search engines – the Internet is an important tool for job hunters. You can quickly find hundreds and thousands of job adverts by entering your job title and location into a job search engine. TIP * try inserting different job titles, as search engines are word sensitive.

2. Company WebPages – You won’t find many employers without a company webpage, in most cases companies will save money on job advertisements by advertising their own jobs on their own website. To find company recruitment WebPages, quickly Google “the company name” and “recruitment”

3. Speculative Applications – Don’t just wait for companies to advertise vacancies, show them you are interested in them and send a speculative letter along with your CV. Research has shown there is a 40% success rate using this approach. If you need to create a CV, use a CV writing service.

Tesco

"At Tesco, the philosophy behind Every Little Helps is at the very heart of everything we do. It's not just a marketing slogan, it's what makes us different." Source www.tesco-careers.com

Everyone has heard of Tesco, with it being the largest British retailer. In the UK it is hard to find yourself without a Tesco being a short drive away. Tesco started trading in the UK in 1924 and now has 2,362 UK stores employing 286, 394 employees.

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Tesco Jobs; With Tesco being one of the UKs largest employers, it’s not surprising that Tesco offer a wide range of skilled and low skilled job roles:

• Head Office
• Distribution
• Store
• Pharmacy
• Clothing
• Tesco Bank
• Tesco.com

What Tesco Career would suit you?

Tesco offer a wide range of jobs roles at a variety of levels and are keen to improve and develop their staff offering apprenticeships, qualifications and a staff development programme.

What type of worker is Tesco looking for:

“There are people. And then there are Tesco people
Tesco people are easy to spot because they're always:

• Passionate about retail.
• Focusing on the customer and striving to understand them better than anyone.
• Driven to achieve results through determination and commitment.
• Committed to treating people in a fair and consistent way.
• Willing to roll their sleeves up to get things done.
• Determined to respond energetically to customer feedback.
• Motivated to work in partnership with others to achieve individual and team objectives.
• Adaptable and flexible to thrive in a 24/7 business.
• Devoted to seeking feedback on their performance and investing time in their own development.” Source www.tesco-career.com

With Tesco announcing their about to create 1000 new jobs in Newcastle, Tesco are set to continue to expand. For someone with ambition and passion, Tesco will offer the opportunities for you grow and climb the career ladder.

You can view all the Tesco job roles and down load application forms on www.tesco-careers.com Their website has a variety of information and advice to help you choice if Tesco is the career for you, including employees profiles.

Learn how to complete application forms.