Post COVID-19. How to secure a job

In recent events we have seen the dramatic impact of COVID-19. Over the last few months alone around 40 million Americans had lost their jobs which are levels that have been unseen since the 1930’s and although these figures have slightly improved in the month of June 2020 we are still seeing over 13% of the US population unemployed.

It’s not just the US that has been affected though. Unemployment across the whole of the European Union is expected to rise to nine percent in 2020 in the wake of the Coronavirus pandemic and subsequent lockdown enforced by national governments. Among European countries Greece is expected to suffer the worst unemployment rate of 19.9 percent, followed by Spain at 18.9 percent. With so much unemployment also across Asia-Pacific and Southern America what does this mean to the average job seeker?

It means inevitably you’re going to have increased competition with so many people applying for the same jobs. So I’m going to take you step by step on what you need to do as a job seeker to maximize your chances of securing an interview and securing your ideal job.

APPLYING FOR JOBS

Each and everyone of us has at some stage in our lives applied for a job, some of us no doubt more often than others but we have all gone through that same process. Some people say the hardest part is being selected for interview as they apply for so many jobs and never hear back from companies or recruiters.

Some say it’s the actual interview and they freeze and become nervous when speaking with a potential employer. What I’m going to do is take you through the key steps of applying for a job, the interview process and how to give yourself the best chance of securing your dream job.

OWN YOUR BRAND

Think of your favourite brand – Chanel, Burberry, Mercedes, Tesla, Patriots, whatever it may be they all have one thing in common, an identity. Now think about yourself, how do people identify you. What are you perceived as within your industry and how do your peers see you? Are you a subject matter expert, an innovator, a sales guru….whatever it may be you need to understand yourself how you want people to portray you.

The people that stand the highest chance of gaining an interview are the people who understand their identity and know which career path they are going down. So before putting together a CV firstly understand who you are and how you want to be portrayed.

Applying for random jobs will not help you advance in your career and will do more harm than good because you will eventually leave that job within a short time frame because it wasn’t the right job for you, which then leads to job hopping, something I will come onto shortly. So spend quality time on understanding who you are and also ask your close work colleagues/friends how they perceive you, you will often be surprised.

TAILOR YOUR CV

Most people will have a generic CV that they use for all applications. Some will only ever update the last job so are using a CV which has had very little TLC. People are surprised when they apply for dozens of positions but don’t get called for an interview and more often than not it’s because of the following reasons.

1. CV is a “Jack of all trades, master of none”. Using a generic CV is not going to make you stand out from the other CV’s. Given some positions receive over 100 applications, often recruiters don’t have enough time to feed through all the applications so they hunt for key words within the CV. So make sure you get the basics right at least. If you are applying for a software engineering role and the job description states under essential experience that you require advanced level in Python or C++ then make sure your CV highlights this and don’t take it for granted that the recruiter knows you have this experience. Another one is as simple as job title. Let’s take a dales director role, usually most sales director roles are regional, so for example you apply for sales director role to cover North America. Please make sure you have either the same or similar job titles and you mention North America as much as possible within the CV so that you can already highlight to the recruiter of your relevant experience. Of course, if you do not have this experience then do not lie as this would only come out during the interview process.
2. CV is too long winded – You’re not writing a novel. Recruiters don’t have enough time to read through pages of your CV. Dependent on how much experience you have, your CV should be anywhere between one to four pages long. Keep it brief and to the point, highlight essential experience, achievements, education, languages and skills.
3. Employment gaps – Potential employers don’t like to see gaps of unemployment on a CV. If you did not work for a year then state what you were doing i.e. travelling, looking after a sick relative, maternity….whatever it is, please state it in the CV.
4. Incorrect Information – Don’t mislead your potential employer
5. Spelling mistakes and bad grammar – Even if you have checked over your CV several times it’s always good to get someone else, your partner maybe to check through the CV as well. First impressions count for everything. If you haven’t taken care over checking your CV for bad grammar or spelling mistakes then this gives an insight as to possibly how you work.
6. Job hopping – This is the most common reason for companies not interviewing candidates even if they have the right experience. If you keep doing two year stints at companies and then moving on, the employer will think you will do the same in their company, so why should they invest their time and money if in two years time you move on. We understand if you’re early in your career then this is more common but anyone mid career and beyond should try and avoid job hopping. If you have been made redundant then do highlight this on the CV as reason for leaving otherwise potential employers will think you left on your own accord. This could be the difference between securing and not securing an interview.
7. Unprofessional Email address – You would be surprised some of the email addresses recruiters see. It’s very easy to set up a professional email address which you can use for applications.
8. No contact information – Hard to believe but some people still don’t put contact information, which makes it very hard for recruiters to contact you. Phone number, email and city/town, country of residence is sufficient. No need to give your actual address.
9. Unreadable font – Use Arial or Calibri to make it easy for the recruiter to read.
10. Formatting  - If your CV is not formatted properly then sometimes recruiters can just overlook your CV. Make sure all the spacing is correct and then once the CV is finished, save it in PDF format so that you don’t lose any of the formatting.
11. Target Audience / Research – You need to identify which companies are of interest to you and why they are of interest. It can be for innovation, new exciting venture, large corporate, branding, whatever it is, understand why you are attracted to those companies because this will need to come across in the interview. The more passionate you are about joining a particular company the better. Once you have identified your target list of companies then try to understand where you would fit within that company and how the company can offer you a solid career path. Do not apply for numerous roles within the same company at the same time. Recruiters pet hates are receiving half a dozen applications at the same time for various positions from the same candidate. Applying for several roles at the same time does not increase your chances of securing an interview, it lowers your chances and can actually do long term damage.

SOCIAL MEDIA

1. LinkedIn - Make sure you have a professional profile on LinkedIn which you can treat like a CV. More often than not this is the first port of call most potential employers/recruiters will check. Highlight key achievements and make sure dates of employment match the dates of employment on your CV. A smart casual or professional photo increases your chances of potential employers contacting you. Having no photo, caricature, company logo etc is not good etiquette. Also be careful of what posts you like on LinkedIn and what you are sharing as your followers will be able to see this.
2. Facebook – Check your privacy settings and what photos potential employers can view.
3. Instagram - Check privacy settings
4. Google – Put your name into Google, click images and do a quick check of what photos are out there of yourself.

RELATIONSHIPS/NETWORKING

More often than not if you have been working within the same domain for some time you will know a lot of people in the industry. At this stage you already now know your targeted companies that you want to approach, you may have been following those companies on LinkedIn, Spacenews, Satellitetoday or another social media portal. If you take full advantage of it then LinkedIn is a fantastic tool for networking and building relationships. If you have friends or good relationships with people in your targeted company list then use them to your advantage. Let them assist you before you make any application.

A warm introduction to the hiring manager from someone inside the company would give you a huge advantage over other applicants. Also more often than not if you do get placed then the person who introduced you will probably receive a small bonus for the referral, so a win-win situation.

If you don’t have any relationships within the company you are targeting then start reaching out i.e. if you are an Embedded Systems Hardware Engineer then you would want to reach out to the Systems Manager or Team leader that you expect you would report into. Check out their LinkedIn profile, find something that you can both relate to and send a warm introduction. You don’t necessarily have to say you are looking for a job at that point, but just find something in common. That person can then follow you, so post relevant industry biased topics that you think that person would be interested in, become a SME in your domain.

SKILL SET

Now more than ever before companies are looking to hire people who are up to date with new technologies. Pre-interview technical assignments are being sent by companies to test your skill set before deciding whether to interview you, so make sure you don’t fall at the first hurdle.

JOB APPLICATION

Do not use the same cover letter for all job applications. Nothing worse for a recruiter than to see a generic cover letter that is not tailored to the role that you are applying for. Keep the cover letter to a single page and highlight your relevant experience in relation to the role you are applying for, the reason you are applying and why they should hire you (without being arrogant).

If you can leverage on any internal recommendations that you have received from someone within that company then highlight this in the cover letter. Most of all make sure you have fully read up on the company and spent hours on their website reading their latest news articles, research is key and information is power. A good and obvious question any interviewer should ask is what do you know about our company, this way they can see whether the candidate has done their homework.

INTERVIEW

Practice, Practice and Practice. Before any interview you should practice with your partner the various interview techniques/formats as per below so that you are comfortable. Let your partner pick some real life questions and see how you get on. If you show any weaknesses then you know where you need to brush up on before the real interview. Some handy interview tips.

1. Availability, be as open as possible with your availability to interview. Giving just limited availability to speak with a future employer shows signs that you are not very interested and makes it harder to schedule. Sometimes this can lead to losing out to other candidates who are more willing.
2. Make sure you’ve done your research.
3. Highlight your selling points and why they should hire you.
4. Anticipate the interviewers questions and concerns surrounding your CV/Experience.
5. Have examples ready of key achievements relative to the role you’re applying for.
6. Prepare half a dozen questions for the end of the interview, questions that you feel won’t be covered in the actual interview.
7. Most interviewers know whether they want to hire someone within the first five minutes so make a good impression, enthusiasm/passion and confidence is key.
8. Online video conferencing – Zoom, TEAMS, Google Hangouts……whatever the platform is make sure you are comfortable using it before the actual interview. Make sure you have good internet connection, no disturbances in the background from family, friends or pets. Make sure you look presentable and are a comfortable distance away from your camera. Although online video conferencing is not a face to face interview, body language still plays a big part. Remember these key points 1. Eye contact – look at the camera rather than lower down at the interviewer 2. Facial expressions – look sincere and interested. Do not yawn or cross arms 3. Posture – don’t slouch and keep upright 4. Vocal pitch – stay relaxed and speak clearly. 5. Do not slurp tea or coffee during an interview and certainly don’t eat. Make sure you have prepared questions for the interviewer, questions that shows enthusiasm to join, so questions relating to the role, team, company etc. Stay away from questions relating to benefits/package as this looks negative. Always close the meeting, ask when you should next hear back.
9. On-site meetings – Plan ahead. Make sure you know how to get to the company location and always expect delays in your commute, so give yourself more than ample time so that you can freshen up, relax fully before the interview, go get a coffee and not be rushed. Dress accordingly and arrive to your interview around 15 minutes before your interview time. This will give you time to check in and go through security and so on. Body language exactly the same as online, make sure you engage with the interviewer/s.

JOB OFFER

Expectations. Whether speaking with an external or internal recruiter, you need to discuss your salary expectations before being interviewed for a job. It’s up to you and the recruiter to understand whether at the end of the process your expectations can be met by the potential employer. Not giving the recruiter realistic salary expectations will cripple your chances of securing the job and will also damage both yours and the recruiters reputation with that company because you would have wasted everyone’s time. So make sure you do your research and have realistic expectations otherwise you will not be taken seriously.

ON-BOARDING

Companies should have an on-boarding checklist that they will send you. Make sure you are compliant with everything and keep to any agreed start dates. Businesses will usually plan well ahead of someone joining, so meetings/ introductions would have been organised, IT/security set up, everything is prepared around your first day of employment. Delaying start dates will not give off a good immediate impression. 

This article was written by Ian Stammers, Head of NewSpace & Satcom Recruitment. Ian is a deeply experienced recruitment professional with twenty years proven successful track record working with international customers to partner and scale businesses all over the world within the Space & Satcom domain.

If you would like to reach Ian to discuss your hiring needs or would like more advice on the above article then please reach out on [email protected]