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Sending CVs, wasting my time?
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22-08-2012 5:34am#1
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From checking my sent email in hotmail I worked out I sent out 95 cv's over the past year for jobs, hardly any call backs and no interviews. They were mainly for Admin jobs with little or no experience. I have a few certs in Admin, some office experience. Should I forget about sending cv's? I feel im wasting my time.
I don't know what your situation is - whether you're employed at the moment or not - but I guess the way I'd see it is that, if your unemployed and received Job Seekers Allowance or Job Seekers Benefit, then applying for jobs should pretty much be a full-time occupation!
I mean, obviously if the jobs aren't there you can't apply for them, but when opportunities do come up, you need to spend a lot of time writing a cover letter and tailoring your CV.
I'm currently working full-time, but I've still managed to fire out 30-40 cover letters and CVs over the past month (in the evenings and at weekends.) So 95 CVs in a year doesn't seem like all that much, to be honest.
Obviously you also need to look at what you're doing to upskill while job-searching - whether that means more courses, unpaid experience, whatever you can use in your favour at interviews.
You say you feel like you're wasting your time - but what's the alternative? I know that, personally, from a moral standpoint, I wouldn't feel comfortable claiming JSA/JSB if I wasn't actively job-seeking.
Of course it's difficult to get a job at the moment - but, if you stop sending out your CV, your chances are reduced from low down to zero!
Are you registered with all of the major recruitment agencies? And are you getting in touch with them regularly to see if any jobs have come up? Have you asked them to review your cover letter and CV for you and to suggest improvements?
Best of luck with it.
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Hi OP
Have you suggested sending a follow up email to some of the more recent companies to get feedback on why you were selected? Even if they havent reviewed everything yet it is another chance to emphasis why you think you would be good for the job. I would advise doing something similar after interviews to get feedback on your performance so you know what to improve upon.
With regards to cover letters, like other posters, I cannot emphasis enough the importance of a good cover letter. I previously worked in a company which would sit in on the hiring process for clients and I can tell you now, a cv, no matter how good it was, went in the bin if it didnt have a good cover letter. I would be happy to PM you a sample of one I used within the last year if you would like? I have just started my new job about 8 months ago.
Always end a cover letter with your name and telephone number. Basically think of an interviewer as the laziest person ever. While this isnt true it will help you know what to include, save them the hassle of having to go an look for anything - contact details, summary (short) of experience, little bit about your own motivation and personal skills.
Also a cv should never be more than two pages. Depending on the position some jobs will require a more 'conversational' cv and others will require a more bullet-point approach. Take each application as a fresh start and write the cv best suited for it. Once you have a detailed cv it is easy to pull the information out for each new application.
Also save your cv file and name it 'you name' such as: John Smith CV. Again, think of the prospective employer, being able to just save a cv into a folder without having to rename it saves them hassle and makes you stand out as effcient.
I would tend to agree with the email address thing as well. I have a gmail account I use for professional reasons, it is my full name @gmail.com. It reads much better when it lands in a prospective employers email address than something immature and jokey. Remember you want to be seriously taken into consideration for a job, so start on a serious foot. A jokey email address will only hamper your chances.
As other posters have mentioned 95 is not a whole lot in a year. When I was job hunting I would be sending out 2 - 3 VERY tailored job applications a night (on top of having a full time job). It could take me almost an hour per application. The key is to research the role and the company and tailor your cv to that position and that organisation. All of this is ridiculously time consuming and verging on soul destroying but trust me when I say, in the long run, it will be worth it. If you are willing to put in the effort and tailor each application rather than balnket issuing generic cvs it will pay off.
Best of luck with your search.
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chatterpillar wrote: »I don't no what your situation is - whether you're employed at the moment or not - but I guess the way I'd see it is that, if your unemployed and received Job Seekers Allowance or Job Seekers Benefit, then applying for jobs should pretty much be a full-time occupation!
I mean, obviously if the jobs aren't there you can't apply for them, but when opportunities do come up, you need to spend a lot of time writing a cover letter and tailoring your CV.
I'm currently working full-time, but I've still managed to fire out 30-40 cover letters and CVs over the past month (in the evenings and at weekends.) So 95 CVs in a year doesn't seem like all that much, to be honest.
Obviously you also need to look at what you're doing to upskill while job-searching - whether that means more courses, unpaid experience, whatever you can use in your favour at interviews.
You say you feel like you're wasting your time - but what's the alternative? I know that, personally, from a moral standpoint, I wouldn't feel comfortable claiming JSA/JSB if I wasn't actively job-seeking.
Of course it's difficult to get a job at the moment - but, if you stop sending out your CV, your chances are reduced from low down to zero!
Are you registered with all of the major recruitment agencies? And are you getting in touch with them regularly to see if any jobs have come up? Have you asked them to review your cover letter and CV for you and to suggest improvements?
Best of luck with it.
To be fair sending out 30-40 CV's a month isn't anything to brag about. It's not a metric I would use to measure job seeking effort or success. I've sent out 2 cv's in the last month and gotten 2 interviews from 2. Both jobs I kicked to the curb as I didn't see them as goers or significant improvements. But I genuinely do think my technique works.
It's a little harsh to expect people on the dole to be constantly looking for employment. I can't imagine what the dent to self motivation that being on the dole does to a job seeker. Rather than a person looking to progress in their respective careers they are trying to pry open an opening into the working world. That is really difficult. As they say it is easy to get a job when you have a job.
So here is my tuppence...- Sending in CV's to agencies is pretty much pointless and should be avoided if at all possible. Sometimes an agency will have exclusivity for a company. I found in the past a lot of them tend to fabricate job vacancies to build up a database of users that they can mailshot when a real job opening occurs. You need to be smart and a little skeptical when you see a job spec online. Look for cues in the specs that point to a concrete company behind the spec. The key measure of success is not the number of CV's sent out in the month. But the number of viable job leads that have led to an actual interview offer.
- The tendency in this country when a job becomes available that it is listed with a number of agencies simultaneously. If at all possible the trick is to find the company recruiting and go to them directly. It's not hard as most recruitment companies are lazy and just copy and paste the job spec. Most companies list the job spec on the website. Remember it won't be the recruitment agency that will paying you and going to the company saves them the agency fee.
- The best trick is to ring the company and look to talk to the person in charge of hiring. If they are a big enough company they will have a HR dept. Tell them you are thinking of applying for a job and you are looking for the internal reference number/email address to include with/send the cv to. This establishes you firstly as a person to them and also demonstrates that you have a good interest in applying for the job. Also it means they are expecting something from you. Also you have a point of contact for feedback on your CV. Don't expect them to critique your CV, but a small bit of advice from a number of different companies does work wonders and also gives you a solid basis for refining your CV. Look at your CV as something that will always change.
- In terms of job hunting sites I tend to avoid them. I use http://www.indeed.ie to aggregate them and get email alerts based on my search requirements. I find it a good jobs search tool and it easier to spot duplicate postings and find the company recruiting directly. Also its easy just to check my email for the latest jobs rather than visit sites where the same jobs are refreshed my agency.
- In terms of quality of CV's use a template of some sort to try to create something concise. The best approach is to put it all down on paper\word doc and then edit it down to the important parts. Remember the person that will be reviewing it will also have the job spec open in front of it. Their determination on whether to call you for interview will be based on how your CV and the job spec align. Get into this mindset and you will soon see the jobs that you will be more likely to called for.
- I would recommend a site like http://www.ceevee.com to create and store your CV. You can put all the information into the various sections and when it comes to getting a CV ready for a job you can literally tick the box on the sections that would like to include. Click another button and you instantly have a PDF of your CV that can be targeted for a particular role. It's quite handy and shouldn't be underestimated. There are lots of online services out there that can take the work out of some of the more tedious tasks.
- In terms of fine tuning your CV the best way to see what works is to look at other peoples CV's. Google is your friend here and it's good from an idea's point of view and also from the point of view of seeing what your own CV is being benchmarked against. A simple query would be along the lines of: filetype:pdf inurl:cv software engineer
- Lastly all my recent contacts in relation to recruitment have come from LinkedIn. So complete your LinkedIn profile. You don't have to be a highflyer but a neat profile picture and some concise information works well. Focus on keywords in your field and play to your strengths. If your not the most technically competent then let your recommendations portray you as an enthusiastic team player etc
- It's a pretty OK way to network with recruiters as well - if you want to go down that route. Most will add you as a you friend as long as they perceive you as being of value to them CV wise. If you do see a job from an agency try to find the agency person on linkedin and add them as a connection asking about the job. More than likely they will get you to email your CV in.
0 - Sending in CV's to agencies is pretty much pointless and should be avoided if at all possible. Sometimes an agency will have exclusivity for a company. I found in the past a lot of them tend to fabricate job vacancies to build up a database of users that they can mailshot when a real job opening occurs. You need to be smart and a little skeptical when you see a job spec online. Look for cues in the specs that point to a concrete company behind the spec. The key measure of success is not the number of CV's sent out in the month. But the number of viable job leads that have led to an actual interview offer.
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To be fair sending out 30-40 CV's a month isn't anything to brag about. It's not a metric I would use to measure job seeking effort or success. I've sent out 2 cv's in the last month and gotten 2 interviews from 2. Both jobs I kicked to the curb as I didn't see them as goers or significant improvements. But I genuinely do think my technique works.
Just to point out, I wasn't bragging - I was merely pointing out that 95 CVs in a year isn't a massive amount to be sending.
I haven't experienced any difficulty in getting callbacks/interviews/offers for the jobs I've applied for, so I think my technique is working quite well, too. I'm keeping an open mind, and considering all opportunities out there. 0 -
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chatterpillar wrote: »Just to point out, I wasn't bragging - I was merely pointing out that 95 CVs in a year isn't a massive amount to be sending.
I haven't experienced any difficulty in getting callbacks/interviews/offers for the jobs I've applied for, so I think my technique is working quite well, too. I'm keeping an open mind, and considering all opportunities out there.
Hopefully your technique bears you fruit and that you will have job offer soon enough. Different strokes for different folks.0 -
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chatterpillar wrote: »Thanks - just got offered my ideal job today, actually!
Congrats maybe you can forward on a template of your cover letter to the OP
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