Getting Your Dream Job - Tips On Applying

Are you making an application for a dream job to a major company? Straight out of university? Stick around for a minute: I've got some advice for you.

The thing to remember - the one, crucial, red giant of a fact around which a good application turns - is that the recruiters don't care who you are. It's a hard thing to bear in mind, and it caused me much pain and lost opportunities as I railed against the inhumanity of it and missed job chances - until I learned the lesson. And when I learned it, I learned it GOOD. Even though YOU care about the job, the job doesn't (yet) care about you.

They don't care who you are, and they don't have time to read your application carefully. It's a 99% probability that they have a checklist of points to look for on your application which is exactly the same as the list of required skills and experience on the job description. (And if they don't, they should.)

They truly are going down the checklist and putting a tick or a number in the box. You get enough ticks, you're through to the next round.

And then, maybe, they start to care who you are.

But in the meantime, how do you use this bleak information to get a job interview?

The basic principles are the same everywhere.

1. Hit each of the job description criteria. And make it clear that you have - hit them, if you can, in the order in which they come up in the list, so that you are taking the recruiter by the hand and leading them through the list. They'll love you for it.

2. Write clearly, briefly, confidently. Don't go over the length; don't expand the margins so that you can fit more into a single page; keep the sentences short, crisp, to the point, full of evidence. Don't make any jokes. even if they are good ones. (You can, just maybe, slip ONE in at the end, but it will look arrogant.)

3. Don't make any mistakes. A tired, annoyed recruiter is looking for a reason to get you off their pile. Spelling mistakes and inconsistencies would be one excuse to bin you. Don't give them the excuse. If you need to contract an academic editing service to make sure it is comma-perfect, do it. Spend the cash, or, better still, make sure you can do it yourself.

There are subtleties in every profession which a person who lives in that world can tell you, but this, at root, is all there is to it. So I hope you get an interview.

By Ben Young

careers, Jobs Indonesia, Indonesia Vacancy