Don't kill off your chances of securing an interview

It's an interesting time to be in the Oil & Gas and/or Construction industries. As the oil price starts heading south since Aug last year, we saw a rapid shift in job security in the industry, with oil majors announcing unspecified numbers of layoffs, pay freezes or cuts for the employees who survive the axes, globally. Our industries have always been revolving around project/contractual basis instead of the norm permanent roles. But in turbulent times like this, one perhaps should pay more attention to their resume as we are now fighting for job with more people at lower rates. So how do we increase our chances of the next employment?  First, we need to understand that resume does not secure us any employment, it merely is the key to securing you an interview, the process that is co-related to getting you any employment. So how do we make your resume stands out?

I am not a professor nor a top notch global kingpin in recruitment. I'm just one of you out there who happened to have the opportunity to work on the other side of the fence, and together with some global hiring companies. So allow me to share my two cents worth, on these 5 pointers:

1. Use keywords

   Ask any recruiters and most often than not, they will tell you they're spending a huge chunk of their time going through tonnes of CVs. A job ad nowadays generates around 200 CVs per work day. Give it 5 working days in a week and that is a thousand CVs per week. We love to but are unable to have the luxury of time to go through all CV as such, we often utilize tools that help us search for keywords. Similarly in many scenarios, the actual person doing the 1st round filtering of CVs, is not your target recipient. These are usually the Admin who are tasked to do keyword scan. They will not know the roles or industry/project types as well. For example: You may have experiences as a Hull Inspector for a Moss Type New-Gen LNG Carrier project. However in your CV, you did not highlight "Moss Type LNG" but simply put your vessel/project name. During the keyword search, your CV will be showcased as not having relevant experiences. Why is that so? Simply because at times certain recruiters will want to filter out non relevant candidates with only experiences in membrane-type LNG carrier. You may never know. Don't lose out simply due to lack of keywords. 

2. Put yourself in the recipient's point of view

   There's also 2 sides to any scenario: the writer/speaker's point of view and that of the recipient. Give it a try, try reviewing your CV from the recruiter point of view and you may be amazed at how much you may not want to review our own CV. Why is this so? Many times, we encountered CV that are poorly put together, be it the formatting, grammatical errors, bad alignments or wrong chronological order of employment history. You may think these are small issues, but you can't deny it does show us how much effort one has actually put into this CV. Every little thing tells us how much you want this interview, how much you value this opportunity, how professional you actually are etc. There are also instances whereby we have to edit your CV prior to representation to clients. Have you ever tried editing over 50 profiles a day? How would you feel if halfway through your edit, you came upon a CV that is atrociously formatted and you have to spent double or triple the standard editing time? My guess is towards the end, you will not be in the best mood to write a good recommendation note for that candidate. I hope you get my point.

3. The Double-edged sword of Social Media

   Nowadays, 2 of the most common avenues of recruitment are via social media as well as personal networking. Put yourself in the right light, coupled with relevant experiences with the advertised opening, and hiring bodies will be keen to allow you the opportunity to sell yourself in the interview. Likewise, certain negativity posting in your social media sites may be detrimental to your chances. Do you know that it is common for hiring companies as well as recruiters to research on the shortlisted candidates background via the individual's social media platform? I've once encountered someone who posted a sarcastic phrase on a company on twitter, and almost 7 months later, applied for a renowned project by the same company. Needless to say, someone found that twitter post and the candidate never made it to interview round. It's a shame as he was a very good fit for that role.

4. Tailor your CV to individual Job

   We can tell. Yes, we can tell if the submitted CV is a generic CV sent to all applications or tailored to our specific ad. People tends to lament about why they are never shortlisted for interviews or the like. Instead of spending the time complaining, they could have utilize those minutes and hours to tailor their CV to the corresponding company/recruiter. This is in line to point 2: it tells us you want this and you will work and fight for this. Tailoring your CV also provides you a chance to reassess if you're indeed a good fit for the advertised opening. And a smart candidate will customize his/her CV in accordance with the requirements, providing him/her an edge when the hiring party begins the filtering process. If I were you and I know I really want/need this job, I would gladly personalize each application to the respective company. Additional point to take note will be to have a proper email format, with proper salutation, text body encompassing why we should open your attached resume for reading and end off with proper signatory. These additional ten minutes spent are ten minutes well spent.

5. Confirming the Interview

   This point is not as commonly highlighted by many professional recruiters as compared to those above. However I like to include this as I felt it is equally important, and I've had several personal experiences. Usually (I won't say all the times as there're always different mode of practice in different companies) upon the finalization of the candidates shortlisted for interview, we will contact them via Skype or Phone to check on their available schedule and other details, followed by an email notification to them. In these emails, we will ask for a reply mail as a confirmation of their attendance and continued interest. This is primarily for 2 purposes: (1) to ensure the time allocation are not wasted as most of us have tight schedules (2) to ensure the candidate does possess genuine interest. There is a third reason and that is to safeguard 3rd party recruiter in case of no-show during the interview date. In any case, it is only professional and polite for a candidate to respond to the email. I have encountered at least half a dozen scenarios in which the candidates simply do not respond. After another series of checking with the candidates on the non-responsive email, I always proceed to notify the client (hiring company) on this. Why is this so? It is my job to relate the personal habits to my client. It will not be right for me to hide any unprofessional actions of candidates even prior to joining or interview, for these may be tell-tale signs of that individual's character. I hope all candidates understand that you being shortlisted for an interview, is not just a case of CV forwarding to client. We often have to follow up with various sequences of review and recommendations, follow up on emails, face to face discussion on said candidates etc. The least we would want is to have an unappreciative and unprofessional candidate. Trust me if I said that recruiters do have the rights and willpower to provide recommendation to client to advise dropping of candidacy for interview (or even offer letter). 

Everyone has their own preferences of potions and poisons. We will not be able to cater to every single demand in this real world. However what we can do is to limit the injustice to ourselves in our employment opportunities, by putting in that extra effort and attention to details, to understand from the recipient's perspective, and making them want to help you in putting forth your well-prepared resume to your potential employers.

With this, I hope I will receive (in time to come) better quality CV that are of relevancy to my valued clients as well as provide the helping hand to more professionals in securing their next job.

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Marco (???)