Block 7. Candidature

Well, this dog would have been a ‘candidate‘ for a heart transplant as she had a serious, congenital heart disorder, but sadly that is in the realms of science fiction for dogs currently and sadly we lost her at just 4 1/2 years old. Her name was ‘Minty’.  Rest in Peace, Mint….

So, given all we have been saying in the previous block, we had better put it into practice!  Better to do this now ‘in rehearsal mode’ (répetition), so that when any of us is going for a post we can be confident candidates, having done the ‘peaufinage’ in the classroom.  OK ?

First a couple of 85s you might like:

1. A stat from the BBC website last year: 85% of CVs are NEVER READ!   Why?  Simple – because the covering letter didn’t look good, didn’t read well, didn’t seem to relate to this specific post/position, contained too many errors in setting, spelling, grammar, paragraphing, punctuation…… i.e. it offered no attractive reason to continue reading and turn the page to the cv…
2. From my experience: 85% + of interview questions can be forecast and prepared for in advance! That takes the pressure off and can give one confidence.  How is that possible?  « I’m glad you asked, Jean-Pierre! » (See Paul Taylor – ‘What the Fxxx France’ on You Tube – if you like comedy and don’t mind the F-word… you have been warned!).  The answer is that employers are giving applicants more and more detail of the post/position [Job Description] and of the sort of person they think would do the job well [Person Specification], precisely to turn people ON and OFF, so only those who really are interested will elect to apply.  IF I take the time to compare myself, my education and training, my qualifications and my experience with the Job Description and Person Specification, I will know where I am a stronger or weaker in terms of their needs.  What will a good interviewer do?

• double check that you really ARE strong – look for proofs, examples
• focus in on the weaker areas to see what you are doing about them: are you aware and making progress or at least willing to take training?

So there you go – that is your menu in advance!  Prepare for it!

Again we are going to ‘attack’ this in phases:

• Phase 0. Job Search
• Phase 1. Tips for the covering letter
• Phase 2. Tips for the interview
• Phase 3. Tests to rehearse

Essentially, if I had to reduce this to just one word, I would say: « DIFFERENTIATION » – the need for you to differentiate yourself POSITIVELY from all the other candidates of which there may be tens or hundreds at the recruitment stage and perhaps 10 at the selection/interview stage.

Q. How do you do this?

A. By engineering your covering letter, cv and interview in such a way as to demonstrate that you are closer to the company’s requirements than your competitors: with you they get more, get better!

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Phase One. Tips (astuces) for the covering letter.

Why this first?  Easy!  Because it ‘covers’ the cv – if it isn’t compelling, the employer won’t bother even turning the page to look at the cv!

Here they are…. I called it ’10 Tips’ then added to it!

I will do a mini-lecture for you on this. Thereafter I will require you each to:

• search for a post in the English-speaking world which you could realistically do after graduation which has a good level of detail of what the job entails [Job Description: JD] and of the sort of person that they feel would best be able to do the job [Person Specification: PS].  These may be separate documents or may be incorporated in one document. Thay are THE key to a successful application so take it seriously and follow the link!  See here for some examples! 
• Consider how the JD & PS might influence the way you write your covering letter.  You need to ‘tune’ yourself to the position on paper.
• Consider the aspect of design/presentation – what makes a covering letter look great? Incorporate these ideas in your letter.  This does NOT mean copying a letter word for word – that is totally counter-productive!  Your letter should be unique because it is relating YOU to THIS particular post/position.
• Produce an attractive covering letter [in English] for this particular post such that you should have a realistic expectation of being called for interview.

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Phase 2. Tips for the CV / Résumé.

• review the 10 tips provided for CVs.  Taking into account these tips, prepare content for a FULL 2-page CV in English as you would wish to present it to the company.
• As with the covering letter advice, consider how you will relate the content of your CV directly to the requirements of the post and of the occupant of this position.
• Produce the perfect CV for the chosen position which would give you the best chance of being invited to interview.

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Phase 3. Interview

• review the 10 tips provided for Interview preparation.
• consider the ‘fit’ between your qualifications, experience & education and the company’s requirements as cited in the job offer, JD and PS.  Identify and prepare for the most likely questions seeking to
  • double-check your ‘strengths’
  • test your weaknesses and what you are doing about them.
• you will then be interviewed for the post in question by another student and be given feedback from which you can ‘tighten up’ your performance for the future.

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Marking

You will receive marks for the following :

• Covering letter
• CV
• Your interview for the post
• Acting in the role of interviewer
• Acting in the role of ‘rapporteur’ giving feedback to one of your colleagues as interviewee.