Eight tips to land your dream job

Waiting sucks. Have you ever been excited to go to the airport and wait in the security line? What about waiting to buy tickets at the amusement park only to then line up for a 45-second ride that leaves you queasy and regretful? Exactly. No one likes to wait.

Waiting is even more difficult when it comes to our future. You know that period between submitting your CV and waiting to hear if you scored an interview or not? It’s like the queasy roller-coaster feeling… just without the thrill.

HR professionals, in my experience, are fantastic at supporting others with their job applications. Here are some reminders and tips for when you look at your own career ambitions and goals and turn them into a reality with a great CV and application.

While I have no tips or tricks for handling the actual waiting time (research says how well you cope with waiting depends on how much of it you did as a child… blame your parents!), I do have eight tips for making sure that you submit the best CV and application possible.

Putting your best foot forward from the start will make the wait easier. That’s a good feeling.

1. Don’t write to get the interview – write to get the job. Recruiters, as you know, read hundreds of applications and don’t have time to dive into every one. If you fill yours with notions and enticing promises, they’re likely going to skip over you for the candidates who presented themselves with precision, facts and experience. They need to see your relevance for the position – immediately.

2. Structure your CV. Most hiring managers start with your CV. Be sure to include a good photo (a requirement in many European countries) and clear contact information. Keep the body of your CV structured. A simple spacing error or typo may be nothing in the grand scheme of life, but it says to the hiring manager that you ignore the small details. Each dot and word on your CV says something about you. Make sure they say ‘winner’.

3. Be crystal clear. How clear is crystal? Very. Everything you include in your CV should be written clearly and specifically. Recruiters are looking for things you’ve achieved and learned. State exactly what you’ve done at previous positions. Think: Managed a change programme that affected 200 staff, responsible for reducing staff turnover by x per cent. Delivered leadership development programme to 75 team leaders over six months. Specifics are key.

4. Answer the dang questions! As a service to both the applicants and ourselves (mostly ourselves) we end all job ads with ‘apply by answering these five questions’. This isn’t a way to take up space on the page – they’re legitimate questions and we’re eager to read the answers. Job ads that don’t have specific questions are still filled with questions. Find them. Answer them. Ignore them and your chances magically disappear like fairy dust. Poof!

5. PDF. PDF. PDF. Never send your CV or cover letter in .docx or .pages format. Always send it as a PDF. This also allows you to control things like spacing and structure.

6. Be you. It’s more important to be yourself than to be funny. If you’re naturally funny, it will show. Keep an eye on the tone with which the job posting was written. Was it written with humour? That’s essential to how you can reply. Companies typically want real (inspired) people to apply – not the stiff ‘tell-me-what-I-should-do-and- I’ll-do-it types’.

7. Make it personal. Even people applying for communication jobs write ultra-long and ultra-boring cover letters… and it’s not a good look. Catch the recruiter at the first sentence and they’ll want to know more. Make reading your application worthwhile. Let me see you on the page. It’s a balance between specifics and personality.

8. Edit. Never rush through the application process. Have a friend read through your cover letter before sending. Write it today and read through it tomorrow before sending. Never toss words on the page and press send… you’ll end up wishing you had added something else or worded things differently.

Essentially, the right person will get the job and the ideal job for you is out there… you just have to find it. Understanding that doesn’t make the process any easier, but knowing that you’ve given it your all will make the wait a bit more bearable.

And if the waiting-induced anxiety gets totally out of control… there’s always airport security.

Daniel Baun is HR Manager for Trendhim ApS. He is also responsible for HR and recruitment in an e-commerce company. Besides HR articles, he is author of Heartcore Business, which is about having meaning in your work life.