I am an HR officer with experience in several sectors. I have been in my current role for two years. Most of the roles I see advertised are through a recruitment consultancy. I send my CV as requested but I don’t get any further. What can I do to raise my profile when I apply for roles through agencies?
Q. I am an HR officer with experience in several sectors. I have been in my current role for two years. Most of the roles I see advertised are through a recruitment consultancy. I send my CV as requested but I don’t get any further. What can I do to raise my profile when I apply for roles through agencies?
A. There are a number of steps you can take to help your CV stand out more when you apply for a new role through a recruitment organisation. One of the first things to consider is that today, many recruitment organisations sometimes use a technology interface to help conduct first level screening of candidate CVs. Some of these technologies operate on the basis of “keyword recognition”. This can mean that if the primary keywords associated with the role in question do not appear in your CV, your CV may not make it past the screening tool.
If you believe you meet the role criteria, we recommend taking these steps to ensure that your CV isn’t sifted out by automated screening tools:
• tailor your CV to each specific role that you are applying for, rather than using one generic CV for all your job applications.
• address in your CV and your covering email/letter the particular criteria that the job advertisement specifies and briefly describe how you meet those criteria.
• use the same language in your CV that is used to describe the key job skills or experience in the advertisement, as this language is likely to be amongst the keywords used in the screening and sifting process.
• keep the information in your CV brief and pertinent.
• state the primary achievements and responsibilities of your previous roles as they relate to the opportunity you’re pursuing.
• make sure that your CV uses correct spelling and grammar.
• depending on your experience and the role type, your CV should be 3-5 pages in length.
When working with a recruitment firm to identify a new role that’s right for you, remember that the consultant can be an excellent source of support and information about the role. You can always call the recruitment consultant when you are ready to submit your CV and discuss the role with them first as this will help you clarify the key requirements that your CV should be addressing, as well as create a recognition factor with the consultant when your CV hits their inbox. The recruitment consultant will usually know the organisation the role is with quite well and will be able to assist you with significant background information and other role details that aren’t necessarily in the advertisement.
Another step you can take is to follow up with the recruitment consultant by telephone a few days after submitting your CV to ensure that it’s been received and to check if there is an opportunity to further clarify the role’s suitability for you. If your CV hasn’t gone through to the next stage, you can then discuss with the consultant the reasons for this, as this may help identify areas where you can improve the content, structure or layout of your CV.
For some roles, a consultant may receive dozens of applications. In that instance, if your CV is poorly structured, unattractively laid out or unnecessarily long, it is likely that it will receive less positive attention from a consultant than one that offers the right information in a more readable format.
If your CV has progressed to the next stage, a conversation with the recruitment consultant will provide an opportunity for you to identify any areas of concern the consultant may have with your application and address them with further information or a more detailed discussion. This is also an occasion when the consultant may be able to provide you with some idea of the timeframes involved in the recruitment assignment.
Some recruitment assignments can have quite a lengthy duration and having an idea of the timeframes in advance helps you manage your own expectations of the process.
By Julia Ross, group managing director, Ross Human Directions Limited.
