Editor’s note: This article was first published in June 2012; the reference to more than five million unemployed describes Spain at that time, and the situations described, such as long series of temporary contracts and crowded candidate pools, reflect that labour market.
The case we describe below is real. Last week I was at the branch of a temporary employment agency looking through CVs. They were sorted by academic background, and there were very different cases, in which you may perhaps see yourself reflected in these lines. That is why we also offer some solutions.
Going through those job applications leads to a series of conclusions that, given the times we live in, deserve some reflection and, for some people, perhaps a change of approach. We came across many individual circumstances, so these conclusions are general and cannot always be applied to every profile.
Saying no to a job
More than five million unemployed, and a selection process carried out with the best contenders available for the position. The human resources manager calls to say that a person has been selected. To everyone’s surprise, the candidate says: “I need to think about it.” In the end, they say no.
We still allow ourselves to say no to a job. At a time when companies ask for more responsibilities in the position you hold, at a time when people work more hours than those agreed in their collective agreement, and at a time when companies have a wide range of candidates offering the best training and excellent experience, someone says no to a job. Is there really that need to work? What job are we looking for, and on what terms?
Monotonous CVs
See one CV and you have seen them all. Many CVs are printed on plain white paper or are photocopies. Some have no photo, and in others it is hard to find the basic details needed for the initial screening of candidates. The recruiter discovers nothing in them: not a face, not a qualification, nothing to show that the candidate has changed. They look like identical photocopies, even though the personal details and training differ.
There were hundreds of engineers, and I imagine any ordinary person looking for a needle in a haystack where every straw is identical and the needle is very thin. If we have hundreds of CVs in a similar format and without a photo, what makes us notice yours? Why are you hiding your face? Recruiters like to put a face to a candidate.
Be different in how you present yourself; catch the eye. Put yourselves in the shoes of the recruiter who sees hundreds of identical CVs. Yours has to stand out. Your training and your experience have to be seen and analysed. At least you will get a chance. You cannot lie on your CV, but you can be creative with it. Catch the attention of the company you approach in search of work.
A gap between your training and your job search
At times, in this review, we noticed candidates who, from the year they finished their academic training until today, have had endless temporary contracts but have never landed their definitive opportunity.
This can be read in two ways.
On the one hand, if many years have passed since they finished their studies, their training is starting to go out of date and needs refreshing. All the more so when, year after year, new classes of graduates with up-to-date, freshly completed studies come onto the job market. That candidate must react, stop and think, and look for a solution to their situation. Their training is adequate, but a younger candidate offers more up-to-date and better preparation.
On the other hand, what happened in their previous jobs that none of them gave them a definitive opportunity? The recruiter thinks about their shortcomings and the professional competencies they have not developed, which meant that no previous company decided to keep that candidate.
In both cases, reflecting and deciding on a particular path has to be crucial for the candidate. Their best years and their best opportunities are passing them by, but there comes a point when they must stop and get back on the road towards that definitive opportunity.
Featured image: Marie Hartig Kendall, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
