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Standing Out – from CV to Job Interview
Jobsite finds out how to be remembered favourably at every stage of the recruitment process: from application, to job interview – and even when the job interview is over.
With some city jobs receiving over 300 applications, being average means being forgettable. Jobseekers need to stand out at every stage of the jobseeking process, by making their job-interview application as distinctive as possible, their job interview highly memorable and having some post- job interview tactics up their sleeve too.How can jobseekers make their CVs stand out in a pile of hundreds, and make the job interview shortlist? Top of the recruiter’s hate list is coloured paper or colourful fonts, so if you’re thinking about making your CV standout in this way, think again. Your CV should always look professional, and this means sending a maximum of two plain A4 pages and using a standard font in black.
Instead, Richard N. Bolles, author of best-selling jobhunting bible: What Colour is Your Parachute?, advises ensuring your CV is never in a pile in the first place. This means getting in touch with employers who haven’t advertised vacancies, as if there’s a position available you’re likely to be the only applicant and a certainty for job interview. Use Jobsite to find out about employers you’d like to work for and the positions they’re offering. If they’re not advertising the job you want, get ahead of the competition by giving them a call and asking if there are any vacancies. If they have a position they haven’t yet got around to advertising, your early application will be extremely memorable and much more likely to get you on the job interview shortlist.
If your CV makes it onto the recruiter’s job-interview short list, how do you make sure you’re remembered at job interview? For recruiters, job interviews can be a little like speed dating. Many new faces pass by in quick succession, and sometimes only the first and last collection of candidates – or the really bad ones – stand out. With London recruiters regularly short listing twenty or thirty candidates, very capable applicants can all blend into one.
International management consultant, Patrick White, who runs consultative selling seminars for Business Link, suggests candidates can stand out at job interview by taking a unique ‘consultative selling’ approach, which involves seeing things from the interviewer’s point of view and bending to meet their requirements, rather than simply aiming to broadcast your skills.
“Being interviewed for a job is just a case of selling yourself,” says White, “which is why consultative selling is particularly appropriate. Candidates need to ensure they use six critical skills: presence, relating, questioning, listening, positioning and checking. A weakness in any one of these skills puts a cap on your effectiveness at job interview.”
A key skill that will really help candidates stand out is good listening – rather than talking. “Listening means understanding what your interviewer communicates in words, tone and body language,” says White. “Such active listening will help you in formulating your answers to match what you hear and see.” It also means talking roughly one third of the time, and listening for the remaining two thirds.
You should also remember to ask questions and probe for more information. “Use your probing skills so as to understand the needs of the job and then pitch your talents against those requirements.”
Working on these key skills can make the difference between being a capable applicant, or the sparkling, charismatic candidate all the job interviewers remember.
When the job interview is completed, many jobseekers put their feet up and wait for the acceptance or rejection letter. But if you want to be remembered the hard work isn’t over yet, according to interview expert and author, Martin Yate. You should always phone or mail your recruiters after each interview – whichever seems more appropriate – to reinforce the memory of you and your suitability for the role.
“Proper follow-up demonstrates interest in the job and maintains real visibility for your candidacy, because most people just don't do it,” says Yate. “Employers are most likely to hire the people they remember, and follow-up calls and letters serve to maintain what is referred to in advertising as ‘top of mind awareness’, which is achieved through repetition of the advertising message. So your follow-up calls and emails work in the same way to keep you on the employer’s radar. They also provide an opportunity to offer additional information or correct omissions: those points you meant to make but forgot in the heat of battle.”
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