4 Aspects to boost your employability

When it comes to job hunting we all kind of face the same issue of not being shortlisted!

Although some of you have a great potential, skills, qualifications and even extensive experience, but still no good for a short list? what might be the case?

Well in this topic we will cover 4 aspects. Within each there will be considerations to take that would raise up your chances in being shortlisted and even your chances in being hired.

The 4 aspects are 1.Curriculum vitae (CV), 2.Cover letter, 3.Interviews, 4.Networking and LinkedIn.

1.Curriculum Vitae (CV):

One of the most important document required by hiring managers, recruiters and HR and it is essential to introduce you to the hiring NGO or company.

A CV should include details about you, your work experience, academic achievements and any other achievements and certificates.

I know you have sent dozens of them but not shortlisted yet!, well lets go through some considerations and you can review your CV accordingly and find out if you have missed a thing or two.

First of all a CV should introduce you to the hire manager, it is NOT enough to list your biography, academic degree you have and the job titles with minimized description on each. Because believe me if you do this no one will spare a minute to shortlist you.

On the contrary you should list your biography, first at the top and under is sections starting with a section for work experience, a section for academic achievements, section for certificates, section for qualifications and skills and within each is a brief yet RICH information about each status within that section.

These sections should highlighted the content in chronological sorting from the most recent on top and the oldest in the bottom.

E.g. when I list my post as a Sr.livelihoods officer I don't write 10 lines copied from my job description. Trust me, the hiring manager knows your role and responsibilities what he want's to know is what you really did (your achievements) in that post, so I go with 4 or 5 bullet points about what I consider as an achievement I've done when I was holding that post and most importantly I see it aligns with the post I'm applying for. So if I'm applying for a trainer post I highlight my achievements in the training's in the first 2 bullet points, if I'm applying for a manager I highlight when I was covering my managers task when she was on leave, and so on..

For un-experienced opportunity hunters who are mostly new graduates struggle to write down experience. For that it requires extra effort and focus.

Try to do the same approach for the studies and highlight the courses you have studied in college that are related to the post you are applying for. Also don't miss out summer internships and add it as work experience and highlight your achievements in it, in Iraq for example it's not possible to have the B.B.A. until you actually work as a civil servant at least for 3 months in the summer holidays, I my self worked for 3 months with an intern job title, I listed what I considered as achievements within that role.

Also the same goes for unpaid or volunteer work experience.

Common mistakes:

1.Poor spelling and grammar: if you do them it indicates that you don't pay attention to details and have weak communication skills.

2.Confusing layout:

This can easily be avoided by following the information given above. By creating clear sections on your CV, you make it easier for the person reading it to see your achievements and qualifications. Avoid long sections of continuous text; instead use clear, concise bullet points to convey relevant information. As mentioned in the formatting section, you want your CV to come across in a professional manner, so avoid any borders, colours or pictures.

3.Irrelevancy:

You have to find the balance between conveying the skills and experience that make you a suitable candidate, whilst not overloading the reader with information. An easy way to avoid this is by tailoring each CV to the role you are applying for; before adding to your work experience or skills list, ask yourself ‘is this relevant to the role.’ If you are unsure, leave it out. To know what the employer is looking for, read the personal specification and tailor your CV in accordance with the qualities listed.

4.Faking:

Everything you claim to have done can easily be verified through research and your references, so make sure you have got your facts straight.

A word of advice:

The way your CV is presented is very important, when I was working with the IRC I had the opportunity to hire business trainers.

When I did the shortlist I tried my best to go through all CV's but really the ones that had the most comfortable layout, easy to read and not much of "Blah blah" are the ones who are shortlisted and hired. A CV is just like that awesome piece of tech when you see it's poster on a building you go like "Wow, I want that device".. You must be special and eye catching from the first time.

2.Cover letter:

A cover letter is a letter written to the organization that you want to work for, it should reflect your personality, experience, and skills stating why you are a good candidate and suitable for this post.

Same goes here for the CV, it should be professional, appropriate layout and brief yet contains rich information. The most important thing to keep in mind is the fact that the person reading your application will often have a large number to choose between. You should therefore make it as straightforward as possible for them to gather information from your cover letter. The easiest way to do this is to break your letter down into short, clear paragraphs that give examples of how you meet a certain criteria. This makes it very simple for anybody scanning the letter to see that you have met the requirements of the role.

For example try to memorize this 1321521144 against this 132-152-1144, you can clearly see it's easier to memorize the sectioned number over the non sectioned one and it's also more appealing to look at, it's just how our brains work and how it prefers patterns and sections to digest the information easier.

Also when deciding what should be the focus of each paragraph, the logical approach to take is to tailor each section to a requirement listed in the personal specification. This will normally be found on the job advertisement and tells you the exact qualities the employer is looking for. Below is an image of a job advertisement on ncciraq.org showing the exact qualities the employer is looking for.

Common mistakes:

1.Copying and pasting: and it could make you fall into very awkward positions when copying from templates, for example some might copy the name of an old potential employer and paste it and apply to a post with the new employer.

2.Spelling mistakes: Can also be awkward.

3.Not making it professional as the CV: This might indicate that either you didn't write your own CV or you didn't write your own cover letter either way it's not a good sign of professionalism.

4.Irrelevancy: Not relevant highlights, for example highlighting your desire to improve your business management skills in a non profit organization, or highlighting your IT skills when you are applying for public relations post.

5.Using it as a platform to tell EVERYTHING: That shouldn't be the case as the cover letter should be as an invite to introduce your self and encourage the employer to see your CV for further details (the CV contains the details)

Conclusion:

A good cover letter is sectioned, highlight the skills and qualifications related to the post, used as a tool to sell your self and show that you have an objective that is similar and aligns to the objective of the organization.

In short the layout could be something similar to this: (the words in brackets are to highlight, don't include it :P )

[Greeting and the purpose of writing section]

Dear sirs,

I hope you're at your best as you read this, I'm reaching out because your posting for XX at XX has indicated requirements that closely matches my background.

[Brief about you and why you want to work]

I have worked with XX as YY for ZZ years, and I have great experience in business training's as I have trained more than X participant by a curriculum that....... I successfully supported XX startup and XX of them are functional as you read this.

I have a strong interest in working with a more multi cultural environment like your company and help the world to have.....

[Meeting and contact offer]

I would welcome an opportunity to meet with you and further discuss my candidacy for this position, please feel free to contact me on (+964) 77X-XXX-XXXX or email me at Ab******@gmail.com

Please find attached my CV for further details.

Best regards.

Abdulah Mohammed.

3.Interviews:

So, you have prepared a pretty good CV and cover letter and you were called for an interview or test!

What should you do now?

Let's explore together how to be prepared when it comes this far.

‘always be yourself.’ This may sound like a drill but it is of vital importance for one very good reason.

All about your qualifications and skills are already answered in your written test or they have read in the CV, you will be asked about some of them but in the interview the hiring manager or recruiter is looking to hire a person not a list of skills, and he or she needs to make sure that this personality goes along with this post.

Don't try to adopt a personality that suits the role because if you get the role the supervisor will expect from you to be the same person whom was hired in the interview if not it will cause a lot more problems, on the contrary if you don't get the post you can leave with your head high and knowing that this post is not meant for you. With that being said below is some advises for preparations:

Research: Always research about the company you are applying for, it's mission, the countries they work in and it's culture, also watch some tips and videos online on how to perform well on interviews. If you are told that the interview is going to be competency based, then prepare answers to questions you might be asked about yourself based on the job description and anything else you can find. In short always do your homework.

Checklist before the interview: Okay so you did some research, what exactly you need to know more? here is a check list of things you need to know before having the interview:

a.The overall mission\purpose of the organization

b.The organization key achievement

c.The current projects and objectives the organization working on

d.Any wider knowledge of similar organisations from which to draw comparisons

e.What your role will require from you

f.How your role will impact upon the wider aim of the organization

g.Who will be interviewing you, and their role within the organisation

h.reread the job description and personal specification before attending your interview. Most of the questions you will be asked will revolve around these, so make sure you know the information they cover.

Dress:

Try to look clean and smart, if the interviewer can clearly spot that you have spent effort to dress in a professional and formal way it will create a very good first impression even if the dress code for the organization is less formal, employers prefer office wear on traditional clothing. I would personally say play it safe and wear a suit, or a formal jeans with ironed shirt, for girls would be the same except the jeans is changed to a long skirt with a shirt or suit pants with a shirt.

Posture, eye contact and greetings:

Try to be less tense but firm, feel free to drink water if offered as it scientifically reduces stress and actually the interviewer want's you to be less stressed. The employer would be looking for self confidence and interpersonal skills, so make sure to give a welcoming smile and a firm hand shake (Just don't break their finger, you're no superman :P ) and greet them "Good morning" with a clear voice tone, keep an eye contact just don't stare excessively in a way that makes you look weird.

Sit in a straight posture and in a confident way, in case you were asked a question that you don't understand just ask for a rephrase instead of trying to answer it to make your self look confident and give the wrong answer.

4.Networking and LinkedIn

This section should be before interviews but for the sake of importance it came last.

It doesn't mean that this part is not as important as what we mentioned earlier but the above 3 are enough to boost your employability and this one adds up.

Basically here by using this platform you will market your brand, and share what ever can't be shared in the CV and cover letter.

Have you ever had great photos documenting your work, essays or public speeches you have done and you can't share it with the employers to show your abilities and achievements?

Have you ever thought about putting your social media link in your CV but there you share personal content that might lead to taking you less seriously by the employer.

Well here comes the role of LinkedIn, you can basically list whatever you can related to your work and experience. You can share pictures of you public speaking or even videos, I my self have a link of the success stories that me and my team was responsible for making it happen.

Another way to use LinkedIn is to make connections via communities and groups, be active and join discussions and groups on this amazing platform.

Having connections observing your essays and activities on LinkedIn will leverage your brand among employers and recruiters.

You can also make use of the recommendations system of LinkedIn by asking a recommendation from peers and colleagues to write about you and show it in your profile, it's a really good way to show how great you were when you were working with others.

So, there you have it. 4 Aspects to consider for boosting your employability

1.Professional CV

2.Professional Cover letter

3.Professional Dress

4.Professional network

And remember, applying is marketing your self for free, all you need is consistency and efforts to make it happen.

Believe in your self because you can.

Abdulah Mohammed.