This leads to people applying for jobs they may not be suitable for in the hope they will be considered anyway.
While this may be true if you don’t meet the less important criteria, if you fail to tick the non-negotiable boxes you won’t even get a foot in the door and are thus wasting your time and resources applying.
The Springs Advertiser has been looking for a suitable journalist for some time and, while we have been inundated with applications, I have had very few from candidates who met the specifications laid out in the job advert.
• Read: What to do at an interview
I chatted to the other editors at the Caxton East and South branch – a group of people who frequently hire new people – and came up with some tips for interviewing success.
Here are some of the tips collated from those working within Caxton, as well as some suggested by recruitment agents.
Make sure you do the following:
• Read the job advertisement. If it says own car and driver’s licence non-negotiable don’t apply if you cannot fulfill these requirements – you are guaranteed not to get the job.
• Ensure that your spelling and grammar in both your introductory email and CV are impeccable. If you send through a poor quality CV you are unlikely to be invited for an interview.
• Look the interviewer in the eye – not too much though, you don’t want to come off as psychotic.
• Know about the company and the product. Interviewers are immediately put off when they ask what you think about aspects of the company’s business and you have little knowledge of what they do. Researching a company is imperative.
• Know what the position you are applying for entails. Don’t tell the interviewer you want to take photos but are not prepared to write articles when you have applied to work as a newspaper journalist.
• Be friendly with everyone you meet on the way in. These people will pass their impression of you on to the interviewer and these opinions could be the difference between a job offer and continued unemployment.
• Be on time – always – the slot you have been given may be the only time the employer can see you before they make their decision. It pays to find out exactly where you’re going beforehand, so you don’t get lost and arrive hours after the agreed time.
• Be prepared for weird questions and don’t give a flip answer or simply dismiss the interviewer as stupid. These questions test how you cope under pressure and how open minded you are.
• Speak with confidence and be specific when answering questions.
• Answer questions in an intelligent, succinct and factual manner. Don’t waffle or give the interviewer irrelevant information.
• Also read: Five tips to ace a job interview
Don’t do any of the following:
• If the advert instructs applicants to email their CVS, don’t fax or hand deliver yours as it is bound to get lost or tossed.
• Don’t spell the name of the interviewer incorrectly or use an abbreviation or nickname when you email them. If the interviewer is called Hilary do not address your mail to Hillary or Hils.
• Once you have been asked to come in for an interview, don’t call or email to ask what the company is called or what the address is, especially if this information is in the email signature of the interviewer.
• Don’t spend the interview fidgeting.
• Don’t stare at your cellphone throughout the meeting, tweet, update Facebook or take calls. If you aren’t prepared to give the interviewer your full attention it is unlikely you’ll get the job.
• Mrflrf … I said don’t Mumble. The interviewer shouldn’t have to work to be impressed.
• Don’t answer a question with a question. If you are asked about your salary expectations don’t ask what is being offered, give a straight answer. This is not the time to play games with the interviewer.
• Don’t come across as conceited or overconfident. You have weaknesses, everyone does, so don’t tell me you have none or, worse, that your greatest weakness is your huge intellect which makes it difficult for people to understand you.
• Don’t forget to take a pen and paper with you to the interview, especially if you are hoping for a job in which a writing test may be conducted.
• Don’t cut the interviewer off mid-question with an answer to the question you think they are asking. Give the person time to ask the question and answer the question asked.
Some of the stranger advice given by recruitment companies
• Do wear pants – as in those which go under a skirt.
• Do wash your hands (clothes, face, etc.) – showing up looking dirty sets a bad tone.
• Don’t wear orange. Orange is specifically bad.
• Don’t be too casual and address someone as “dude.”
• Don’t flirt with or ask the interviewer out on a date, or to marry you.
• Don’t bring beer. Apparently it happens.
• Don’t drink either before or during the interview.
• Don’t be sycophantic and fawning. Laugh at their jokes, don’t bray like a donkey.
• Don’t bring your mom, or your dog.
• Don’t take off your shoes. Unless you’re in Japan.
If you are looking for a first, or new, job take the time to research the company and apply to those you are suited to and are capable of doing – no point applying to be a journalist is you can’t spell the simplest words.
Playing to your strengths ensures a far greater chance of getting an interview and being offered the opportunity to impress your future employer.
Some tips found on O’Brien Recruitment.
