Applications and interviews

It’s now been one year since I started working at Motive PR, after gaining a work experience opportunity which led to a three month internship, and then a full time role. Yet I still see friends and former classmates struggling to find career opportunities a year on from graduation.

Your first job after university can be a pivotal moment in your career, so you want to be sure you’re making the right decision. But before you go ahead and sign on the dotted line, there are four important questions you need to ask yourself.

Imagine you get in an elevator with the manager of the company you want to work for. It should be possible to introduce yourself in a way that creates a powerful first impression in the time span of an elevator ride from top to bottom – no more than 60 seconds.

When an employer is seeking to recruit someone, they will often analyse the role and work out the criteria for someone to do well in it. This will then be expressed in the job advert in terms of Essential criteria and Desirable criteria. When the employer is shortlisting for the role, they will usually score applicants against these criteria. So as a student looking at a job advert how do you decide if you meet the criteria or not?

So, you get a job offer and you’re really excited. At last your future looks clearer and you can tell your family and friends what you’re going to be doing. The role looked great when you were applying and so you accept. Job done – or is it?

Detailing your own work history may sound simple enough, but writing a CV can be a lot trickier than it first sounds – particularly when it comes to creating one that’ll really stand out amongst a pile of applications.

Researching an employer can make the difference between an application or interview that feels generic and re-purposed and allowing you to come across as a prepared and knowledgeable candidate who knows why they want to work in this role and with this employer.

Many recruitment processes rely on competency-based interviews that identify the skills a candidate has. Applicants focus their CVs, cover letters and interview responses on demonstrating how they meet the required set of skills to fulfil a certain role. However, more and more organisations are beginning to use strengths-based recruitment practices. So how are strengths different from skills?

Video interviewing has become increasingly popular with recruiters, as it provides benefits by streamlining recruitment processes. From an applicant perspective, understanding the different types of video interview is important, as it will impact on how you prepare and perform.

Many students and recent graduates may think graduate schemes are the only career options available to them, they aren’t! It is a popular misconception. There are also graduate entry level jobs which also remain highly popular and even oversubscribed. Understanding what a graduate scheme is and what it offers can help you make a better decision about whether you want to apply for one.

Graduate Assessment Centres are a hurdle in the interview process faced by many applicants to graduate schemes. One that is often daunting for prospective candidates, balancing the challenges of standing out from other applicants while demonstrating effective teamwork with them.

What feels worse, receiving the ‘sorry your application was unsuccessful’ email from a graduate employer, or not even receiving any acknowledgement of your application? Either way, it’s a very frustrating experience.

When at the last stage of the assessment process, you may be asked to attend an assessment centre. You and a group of candidates will undertake a series of exercises and assessments that test your suitability to demonstrate you possess the competence and skills for the job. These often include e-tray exercises, case studies, presentations, and group exercises.

Presentations are very common at assessment centres. They give candidates a chance to show their presentation skills which will be important in the workplace. The assessors want to see if you are able to deliver a well-structured, clear, confident presentation. Presentations can be the most terrifying part of an assessment centre. Many people are nervous about speaking in public, but with plenty of preparation, candidates do really well.

An e-tray exercise is presented online and usually forms part of an assessment centre. It involves providing a candidate with numerous pieces of information which vary between emails, memos, letters and so on, on a computer screen. The candidate is required to prioritise the tasks contained in each piece of information by dissecting the important and critical tasks that require immediate attention, against those that are of lower priority.

The group exercise is a common part of many assessment centres as it allows an employer to see how you react in a job simulation whilst working with others. Teamwork is a skill that you will see crop up on many job advertisements and, even when not explicitly stated, it will likely be a crucial skill for most graduate roles and internships.

We can often find that we live in the anticipation of an event much more than the event itself. Why is the anticipation of the weekend the exciting part? (think ‘thank God it’s Friday’). The ideas our minds conjure as to what will happen can often leave us suffering at the hands of our own imaginations when it comes to something we’re nervous about.

Motivation is an interesting topic. You really want that job but can you explain why you want the job? Can you make your passion truly heard? Or do you worry that you sound fake?

Don’t feel daunted when you are completing an application form or getting ready for an interview. You can use a framework such as ‘STAR’ or ‘CARR’ to help you structure your answers and focus on the evidence. It’s a good way to optimise your responses and use the space or time available to persuade the employer you have what it takes.

Entering the job market as a new graduate is intimidating, especially when you don’t have relevant work experience to include on your CV. With such heavy competition for good entry-level positions, the pressure is on to make sure your CV is compelling enough to win over potential employers.

Given the value of teamwork skills for virtually every organisation this has almost become an inevitable interview question. The era of remote working has also highlighted the importance of team work, both for employee well-being and the success of the company.

Choosing to work abroad after university can open you up to so many exciting opportunities. That said, different countries have different rules and expectations when it comes to applying for jobs so in order to succeed on your job search, you need to spend some time carefully crafting a CV that will appeal to international employers.

What is commercial awareness, why do students need it and how can they develop it?

I’ve been chatting to a number of graduate recruiters, people whose job it is day in and day out to search for and select the graduates that will join their company and, hopefully, drive the future success of that organisation. I’m always asking what is it that separates the successful from the unsuccessful candidates at assessment centres.

Living with a disability or a long-term health condition can be challenging. Obstacles caused by this can feel overwhelming in the work environment and can prevent a person from thriving. This is why it’s important to think about whether to talk to the employer about it.

Recruitment with the top graduate employers is really competitive, sometimes with 100’s of applications per position on offer. Do not take it personally, many other brilliant candidates may also have been rejected. There are only so many places available but just because you were not picked this time does not mean that you will not be next time.

Recruitment or online tests can strike fear into the most confident. Yet they are still part of some graduate schemes and so are a reality that has to be faced. Tests come in a number of formats and are referred to as psychometric or aptitude tests.

This is a common interview question and given the feedback we receive from students, considered to be quite a difficult one to answer. Start by understanding why the employer is asking it and talk about a topic that genuinely interests and excites you.

The majority of jobs are never advertised. The ‘hidden’ job market is reputed to be anything from 50-80% of the total number of opportunities available. But how can you find out about these jobs roles and make successful applications?

70% of all vacancies are never advertised, or so the story goes. By dedicating a small fraction of your time to unearthing unadvertised vacancies you may well find a wider range of opportunities than advertised vacancies alone.

Employers have many ways to screen applicants, from the standard CV or application form to video interviews and assessment centres. If you are applying for an insight week, internship or graduate job, the chances are that psychometric testing will form part of the selection process.

Mistakes are inevitable, we all make them. But what is the employer really assessing in your answer to this interview question?

‘When do I go to the top of the pay scale…can I leave early on a Friday afternoon…when can I expect to take over from you?’

On reflection, probably not the most appropriate questions to pose when the employer asks you if you have any questions at the end of an interview – but what should you ask?

Autumn is upon us and the large graduate recruitment fairs are in full-swing, signalling that the latest cycle in graduate recruitment has started! If you are new to the recruitment process used by graduate employers to recruit their interns, graduate recruits and industrial placements, what can you expect?

When you receive an interview invite, how quickly does your anticipation and enthusiasm turn into anxiety and negativity? Do you expect to fail before the interview has even taken place?

Strengths continue to be a hot topic for our readers and the number of employers choosing to move away from traditional competency based interview to look instead at Strengths is increasing.

Although it’s impossible to quantify how many of the estimated 50-80% unadvertised jobs are at ‘graduate level’ there is no doubt that you should tap into this market if you want to increase your chance of job search success. Don’t artificially restrict your horizons by focussing on the graduate portals, fairs or company websites alone. There are a wealth of opportunities out there and a good speculative application can help you unlock the door to this seemingly hidden job market.

Group discussions are a really common assessment exercise as they allow the recruiter to see how you interact with others and work as part of a team – essential skills in pretty much any job. You are not in direct competition with your fellow candidates, so aim for a collaborative, not competitive, approach in group discussions.

Successful people don’t sidestep failure; they accommodate it, cope with it and move on. Resilience, not resignation, is the key to career success.

Whether you are completing an application form or preparing for an interview, the STAR approach can help you structure your answers and focus on the evidence. It’s a good way to optimise your responses and use the space or time available to persuade the employer you have what it takes.

Tell me about yourself? It seems such an innocuous question, designed to break the ice and put you at ease before the real interview starts. Well don’t be fooled! This question has the potential to win or lose the day, so don’t sleepwalk into disaster by taking the wrong approach. Plan your strategy beforehand….

At a recent event for a large investment bank, the MD speaking to the audience announced “a CV always tells a story … and you’d better be able to tell that story”. In saying so, he got to the crux of the difference between a good candidate – who is able to provide a collection of facts about what they have done – and a great candidate – who’s able to say ‘this is my story’ and then use narrative to help make sense of who they are.

Got an interview coming up and feel crippled by nerves? You’re not alone.

Many people with be familiar with competency-based questions which form the basis of most job interviews. But what about those questions which are designed to look beyond your skills? How do recruiters get the answers to ‘Do you want the job?’ and ‘Will you fit in?’

We know that aptitude tests can strike fear into the most confident student, but we also know that most of you are likely to encounter them at some stage. It’s better to face the fear and find out what’s involved.

When we think of interviews there is a pretty typical scenario we conjure up: office, suits, candidates waiting nervously outside the door. Well, unless you’re really lucky and manage to find a job without a formal interview (rare but it can happen!) this is probably a scenario you’re likely to encounter at some stage in your job search. But your very first interview may be altogether different – it may just be on the other end of a phone.

It doesn’t matter whether you’re a seasoned pro or completely green, there are some interview questions that just invite dread. There’s one that really seems to get pulses racing: “what are your weaknesses?”

It’s hard not to feel discouraged when you’re hoping for ‘yes’ but hear ‘no’ . Whether you’re an interview veteran or a relative novice, rejection can be a bruising experience.