Professional Documents
Culture Documents
HOW TO GET
AN INTERVIEW
This chapter helps you with practical steps to
getting accepted for interview by a company or
agency by:
understanding the three key routes to getting
an interview
looking at the skills of networking or cold-
calling
motivating you to pitch and keep pitching.
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Pitching yourself
Are you a natural salesperson? Pitching anything takes nerves of steel and the
skin of a rhinoceros. Pitching yourself takes nerves of reinforced concrete and
the skin of six rhinoceroses placed side by side. Although actually it doesnt.
It might feel at times as if it does, but all it really needs is the ability to pick up
that telephone and ask them to give you a chance.
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for either pride or shyness. Paul Jacobs, who has 30 years experience in the
recruitment business, even suggests you should be a bit of a bunny-boiler!
Pitch-perfect
Before we launch into CV and contact planning it would be good for you to sit
back and consider one overall piece of advice:
Its not all about you!
Self-obsession is a common theme among jobseekers and a cross-section of
the average thoughts of your average applicant would probably be something
When youre placing yourself out there on the job market theres little room
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Cyberspace and home printers have opened the borders in recruitment terms.
Although this is primarily a good thing (you have access to more vacancies
and the ability to post yourself out there where the whole world can see, plus
the ability to jet as many copies of your CV across to as many companies as
you choose), it has very obvious down sides. The high volume of CVs out there
in cyberspace means there is a huge overload and interviewers complain
that applicants no longer worry whether they fit the job specifications or not,
while many applicants complain that interviewers arent providing enough job
specifications in the first place.
How to do your CV
The outcome of this is that most CVs are fuzzy untailored, non-specific and
unsuitable for the position.
This advice should help during the actual interview but also at pitch stage. It
will also help explain most of the following dos and donts.
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Internet recruitment
Sarah El Doori is Marketing Director for Trinity Mirror Digital Recruitment. Her
top tips for maximising your chances of finding a job online are:
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Strategy planning
Its likely youve already reached interview stage
but pitching is an ongoing process. You pitch, you
interview and you re-pitch if you fail to get that job.
Pitching is a campaign that like your interview
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and its culture via the Internet or requested information. Tailoring your CV to
ensure you include useful and appropriate details and information.
Mating call: making your pitch by sending or posting your CV, phoning the
company, asking for an interview. Or attending recruitment fairs with the
aim of getting to interview stage.
Paul Jacobs advises: The down side of todays modern instant registration
technology is that your CV will automatically be stored on the database of
the agency with no human interaction. No conversation with a professional
consultant just silence and the likelihood is that the agency will not even
bother to phone you up, as their volume
of applicant registrations means there are just too many CVs for them to
search.
Yours is just another CV hidden in the mass of CVs already cluttering up their
expanding database!
Your CV will be kept on their database, and then when a consultant acquires
a new vacancy they will type in keywords and phrases associated with the
role to see which CVs emerge that match the search from their extensive
database.
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You need to be belligerent and persistent. Ask if they received your CV and
very important obtain the name of the person you are dealing with. Attempt
to arrange an appointment to see them in person, but if that approach fails
just turn up at their offices and ask for the consultant that you spoke to and
introduce yourself.
The opportunity to leave an impression on the consultant who is representing
you should not be overlooked or underestimated, it makes the world of
difference. Now you are a real-life person to the consultant, not just another
CV buried on their computer system.
Always send a good-quality covering letter with your CV, it will provide you
with a chance to stand out from the crowd. Many graduate CVs all look the
same, i.e. theyll read something like: Im 22 yrs and have a degree in
Your covering letter will express you as a person and help to personalise your
application.
Keep a note of the name of the person your letter goes to, as this can help you
get past the receptionist when you call. The receptionist is the gatekeeper and
if you can ask for an individual by name, there is a good chance that you will
avoid being blocked. It might be pushy, but it can get you on.
Always look the part. Remember to impress the agency when you go to
meet them making the same effort that you would utilise to impress a
prospective employer. Never think Im only going to see the agency. Dress
in a business suit, immaculate nails and polished shoes. First impressions
count its true!
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Try flattery! You could be asked: why have you chosen this agency? Do your
research so you can tell them exactly why you selected them, i.e. Ive come
to you because youve been in business for 20 years and have an outstanding
reputation, and I have heard fantastic things about you
It is vital to know exactly what you want in a career and exactly what you dont
want to do. Keep an open mind about opportunities, but do not be swayed to
take a role that is utterly unsuited to your skill set and personality. You will not
enjoy the experience and the chances are that you will not stay long in the job.
Not great for your CV!
Recruitment agencies often have a lot of work in call centres or sales jobs, like
selling advertising space. This is fine if it is the kind of work that you would like
to do, and you are convinced that you have the ability to succeed, but do avoid
being pushed into the wrong job, if you feel uncertain.
Ask your agency to provide detailed information about the employer they are
sending you to meet. They should be well aware of information that you would
not readily obtain from your Google or website search, like details of the person
you are going to see and what type of questions they are likely to ask you.
They could also provide the interviewer with the tactile facts, i.e. useful details
about you, for example that you might be nervous or shy during the early
stages of the discussion but that you are well qualified for the job.
IN A NUTSHELL
Always put yourself in the interviewers shoes. Jobs arent given
out of kindness. Work out what you can bring to the company and
offer that, rather than telling them what the job will mean to you.
Be professional. Think of jobseeking as a job in itself and plan
your strategies carefully, taking on board every route available
Treat agencies like companies. When you go in to see them, treat
it like another job interview.
Make sure you have the best CV. First impressions count!
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Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.