How to navigate the recruitment process and land the job you want.

Looking for a new job, especially when you are not working currently, can be a stressful and utterly soulless experience. How do you navigate the job-hunting process? How do you increase your chance of getting the job you want? Sadly, there is no magic bullet. However, there are a number of steps you can take to increase your sense of direction and control, manage your own expectations and increase your chance of success. This is not an exhaustive guide but does give enough direction to set you on your way. 

Have clarity on what are you looking for? Then develop your personal Elevator Pitch

As obvious as it sounds, you need to have a clear idea of the roles, the industries and the companies you are interested in. Then you have to be clear on how your experience and skills are relevant. Does your CV and LinkedIn profile accurately reflect your experience and value? Will it be easy for a recruiter or hiring manager to see quickly and easily that you are a strong candidate for the position applied to?

You need in essence to develop your own elevator pitch. Not the 30 second kind. Rather a very clear and compelling description of:

• Who you are as a person
• Your core experience and competencies
• Your journey
• Your successes
• Your people skills (increasingly important in the modern economy)
• Your motivation to change
• Your aspirations

 Once you have this written down (and you must write it down), it gives you are great foundation that allows you to articulate who you are and what your value is. It helps to ensure the content of your CV, LinkedIn profile etc. are joined up and impactful. It also gives a great framework to prepare for interviews. Read it aloud to yourself a number of times to have the content in your head and enable you to deliver with real impact. 

Your Network

This should really be your starting point with any job search. Who do you know that can hire you, refer you or give you advice? It can be old bosses, colleagues, friends etc. You have to be thoughtful in your approach and plan how you will your communicate your wish to make a change. If you are too direct and pushy, then you may burn a bridge. It is better to start your conversation by explaining your intention to move, to ask if they have any advice or guidance and then lead into a conversation about opportunities with them directly or with the company they work for.

The stronger the existing relationship, the more direct and honest the conversation can be. But if the relationship was more professionally based, then more caution is needed. You must also be prepared for the fact that they may not want to hire you or to refer you. Most people won’t tell you this directly of course, but you need to be able to feel if this is the case and then back off. Don’t put someone into an awkward situation as this could impact the amount of support they are willing to offer.

Does your CV show your value?

I often read CVs that list lots of duties and responsibilities but don’t clearly show the impact that the candidate has had on their company, customers or staff. You want your CV to be well structured, to tell a story and to focus on outcomes. I have put together a very straightforward CV guide (link below) to clearly show who you are, what you do, the scale of your responsibilities and what impact you have had.  If you want me to review your CV, I will happily do so. Send me a DM.

https://www.dhirubhai.net/posts/martinrpace_how-to-show-your-value-via-your-cv-activity-6658278066558689280-Ec-7

Your LinkedIn profile

LinkedIn is increasingly (if not already) the go-to media for networking, searching for and checking out candidates. So, you can’t play with your LinkedIn profile. Whether you are looking to change your job or not, you must treat your LinkedIn profile as your personal marketing document.

So, have a good picture. Smile! If you don’t smile, then at least don’t look miserable (yes, some do). Your picture sets the tone and people start to make judgements on who you are, so give them a positive impression. I have realised that my LinkedIn picture is 12 years old. So, in the spirit of honesty…… I will update it soon. ? 

You obviously don’t want your profile to be a copy of your CV but you also don’t just want a list job titles. Find a happy medium where it is very clear what you do, what your responsibilities are and the successes you have had. Don’t share sensitive company information!

Other pointers include:

• Add a background picture
• Add a compelling headline
• Add a meaningful profile in the ‘About’ section
• List your key skills
• Request recommendations (and give them)
• Make some noise! Post interesting content and try to offer ‘thought leading’ content to generate conversations. This will get you known and with regular content, you can gain a following and so increase your gravitas.

LinkedIn Learning provides lots of excellent guidance on how to build compelling profiles, so check them out. 

LinkedIn Jobs and CV Job Boards

As Ricky Bobby’s father says in the film Talladega Nights, “If you’re not first, your last”. Unfortunately, that is the case when applying for jobs via LinkedIn jobs and CV job boards. Companies can receive over 100 CVs per job advertised. This means that not all CVs are reviewed and that could include yours. So, you have to ensure you have your CV ready and apply immediately a relevant role is added.

To ensure you are among the first to apply, you can set up a Jobs Alert. This enables you to set the criteria relevant to the types of jobs you are interested in and receive notifications as soon as a relevant new role is created.  

Most candidates I have spoken with get up early and look at new roles on job sites and check their progress on applications, ensuring they are first.

If you know anyone that works at a company where you have applied for a role, reach out and see if they are in a position to put in a word for you with the hiring manager (ideally) or HR/recruitment. This should help you at least get your CV reviewed and hopefully get an interview.

Working with Recruitment Agencies and Internal Recruitment Teams 

Over the last 2.5 years I have spoken with over 1400 Logistics and Supply Chain leaders. The feedback on their experience, when involved in recruitment processes, is that the level of service and engagement from recruitment agencies and internal recruitment teams is the same, not great.  

They describe it as a frustrating process, where they feel like a number, where engagement is patchy, where calls and emails are not returned and amazingly, there is often no feedback after an interview, either from the agency or the company. That is totally unacceptable. 

Agencies don’t set out to not care or to not offer great service. They are all trapped in the same race to be first and hit targets and this leads to short term thinking and planning, which in turn leads to a high speed, high volume and low service approach.   

I am speaking with an increasing number of leaders who now don’t use agencies or use only 2 or 3 to avoid agencies they have not had a great experience with. I advise them not to do that!  What you must understand is that the recruitment market is incredibly fragmented. There is no one agency that has more than a very few percent of the market. There are over 20,000 agencies, in all sectors, across Europe. So, you need to work with a decent number of agencies to have access to enough opportunity to find a great role with a great company.

What you need to do is to manage your expectations. Simply put, don’t expect great service.  Easy! Agencies that may not be the best at keeping in contact or getting back to you, still have opportunities that can deliver your next great role. So, don’t limit your own opportunity. 

Be proactive. If a role is an obvious strong match for your profile, then be proactive and reach out to the hiring company or agency to have a discussion and sell yourself in. However, don’t be surprised if you don’t get called back, get 'thanks but no thanks' or told you are not right for the role……or any number of less than optimal responses. However, if you don’t try………..you don’t get.

As I have described, you can’t just expect to post your CV to job ads and expect to get your dream job with your dream company.  You need to work at it……….. so get working.

Good hunting!

Martin Pace

If you are a Leader in Supply Chain and Logistics and are looking for a new opportunity or want to discuss your future aspirations then feel free to reach out to me at [email protected] and +44 (0) 7957 786699

SCM Global's aim is to offer great service to its customers and candidates, by focussing on a 'less is more approach'. Less customers = more service.