Avoid Recruiters' Pet Hates to Get Through the CV Selection and Succeed at Interview

Avoid Recruiters' Pet Hates to Get Through the CV Selection and Succeed at Interview

Copyright (c) 2010 Alison WithersJob hunting is a tough business especially if your skills are in a field where there is a lot of competition, such as administrative and secretarial work, or if you are looking to progress your secretarial and PA career to executive level in a city like London.It is surprising how many fairly obvious blunders people make that get them rejected even before they manage to reach interview stage. It is particularly important for a PA to be able to demonstrate word processing, spelling and grammar skills from the start and that means from the CV submission stage. Recruiters with a pile of CVs from which to select maybe a half dozen candidates for interview will quickly discard any showing any failings in these areas. But they also reject any that are loaded with the hackneyed phrases that are their pet hates, including trustworthy, team player, flexible, good communicator, problem solver and works well under pressure. Well of course you do or are all of those things, but they would be expected for most jobs and listing them as key skills without any supporting evidence is asking them to take your statement on trust and making you indistinguishable from the rest of the pile. It would be much better to come up with short examples of actual situations that demonstrate all these abilities, each as bullet points in no more than two lines and relevant to the post you're applying for. No recruiter has time to read a CV that extends beyond two pages and it is likely that their decision will have been made long before they reach the supporting evidence on your job history and qualifications. Another useful idea is to put a list of your key career objectives at the top of the CV below your name and contact details - demonstrating some research and knowledge of the organisation to which you are applying and again keeping it short. Once you have been called to interview you of course know that dress should be appropriate and businesslike, appropriate to the post and not in any way extreme, you should arrive on time and armed with a couple of intelligent questions to ask. It is extraordinary, however, how many people turn up at interviews ill-prepared and almost sabotaging their chances before it even starts. These are the top ten disasters that prompted immediate rejection identified in a recent survey of more than 100 employers and recruiters: 1. Poor personal hygiene (68%)

2. Negative body language (64%)

3. Poor speech and grammar (59%)

4. Dress sense (56%)

5. Bad attitude (52%)

6. Excessive body piercing or tattoos (49%)

7. Inappropriate sense of humour (47%)

8. Accent (44%)

9. Unattractive (41%)

10. Poor employment history (38%) One or two of them are admittedly subjective and perhaps unfair - as in "unattractive" for example - most, however, should be obvious to anyone who is serious about being successful at interview.Here are a few more incredible examples just to finish off and they include asking for a light or for permission to smoke (by law smoking is banned in all workplaces), answering a mobile phone or sending a text during the interview, criticizing current or previous employers and providing too much personal information.While you can't be expected to anticipate an interviewer's personal foibles as in one case we read about where an obviously suitable candidate was rejected for wearing a small brooch in the shape of a turtle which unfortunately was this particular chap's pet hate, there is no excuse for not making every effort to show yourself in the best possible light and with the requirements of a particular type of job firmly in mind

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