Frustration from a recruiters perspective...and my blog begins!

Believe it or not, recruitment isn't easy.  Finding the right person for the job is a thorough & time consuming process.  Even in today's employment market where there is often an overwhelming response to each role advertised, it doesn't necessarily make the process any easier.  In fact, often it just means it's even more time consuming to find the 4-5 people I want to interview.

In the last 5 years alone I've recruited for over 20 different positions, with a least 30-40 applications for each role.  On some occasions I've received over 100 applications for a single role, so I estimate I've opened & read well over 1200 applications in this time.

There are a number of steps to my recruitment process.  After placing a job ad, I'll usually ask applicants to send a cover letter and CV via email.  I review each email and application that is received (and I do take the time to review each one) and from that moment on my screening and shortlisting process begins.

The moment I open your application, I should think to myself "I want to talk to this person", but so often, unfortunately this is not the case. There is such a small window of opportunity to impress, and so that is what has lead me to write this blog.

After each screening process, I've often been frustrated at what appears to be a lack of time and care taken by a large number of applicants.  I'm sure I've turned away potentially great people because when there's a short timeframe to recruit, I'm only going to interview the cream of the crop - the applicants that stand out from the very beginning.  I don't have time to dig deeper through spelling mistakes, grammatical errors, emails addressed to the wrong person or company (believe me it happens) or to be blunt, "waffle" to work out if you could be right for this role.

It got me thinking, is it a case that people are not taking the time and effort to put forward their application or is it possible that some people don't realise what's important to me and what I'm looking for in an application?  Whilst I do believe there are some people that aren't putting in much effort, I do also believe that there are a lot of great applicants out there that may be getting missed from the shortlist because their applications just need a bit of tweaking.

I hope that through my blog posts I can help you to write more appealing and appropriate cover letters and CV's which will hopefully get you short-listed for an interview for the job you want.

Please note the suggestions and ideas in my blog are completely my own opinions, based on my own experience as a recruiter and may or may not work for every job application or industry. Please take on board my feedback as you feel is suitable for you.  I also cannot guarantee that you will get shortlisted for a position or get the job. Unfortunately at the end of the day it is still a numbers game, and there will almost always be a lot of competition for any one role. However, I hope that you will find it helpful and may give you a stronger chance in this process.

My final note... While I think it is awesome if you are reading my blog and taking on my tips and recommendations on how to improve your application, please remember that you still need to be authentic, and you have to be able to "walk the talk".  Be true to yourself and make sure that whatever you are writing in your application is true, so that if you are shortlisted, and are asked to attend an interview, you are a true reflection of what you have written in your application – not someone completely different to who I (or any other potential employer) thought you were going to be.

If you have any specific questions regarding recruitment, applications, interviews or any other topics that you'd like me to write about, feel free to let me know.

Good luck,

Shannon :)