Hello lovely people! As we all know, April marks the beginning of a new financial year in the United Kingdom. Companies tend to hire most during the beginning of a financial year as new hiring budgets come into effect (Indeed, 2021) (Forbes, 2021). During the last months of a financial year companies tend to avoid spending in order to increase their chances to hit their financial targets. Things like the hiring budget are put on hold until the new financial year.
As this is the best time of the year to find a job, here is a better understanding on some common misconceptions in order to be prepared for the new job hunting season:
The longer your resume the better
The best way to understand this is to put yourself in the shoes of a recruiter or a hiring manager. They will look at resumes all day long trying to find the right candidate and the last thing they will want is to spend an hour reading a single resume. The commonly accepted length in the United Kingdom is 2 pages or one page double-sided.
One resume fits all
If you are applying blindless to job opportunities because you do not have much time to invest in looking for a job then I would understand having a single resume to send everywhere. However, if you really want to increase your chances to get employed I would recommend adapting your resume for every application making sure that you have an answer to their requirements on your resume.
Hiring managers will ghost me if they’re not interested
Hiring managers are incredibly busy and many times they receive an incredible amount of applications for a single job position. When a hiring manager or recruiter starts getting applications they start checking in the order they receive them and as soon as they have enough good applicants for an interview they will stop reading. What can you do to improve your chances? Apply as soon as they are published!
Applying to advertised job positions is the best and only way to find a job
People will be surprised to know that most of the job positions are filled in different ways like networking. A survey in 2016 by Lou Adler, CEO of Performance-based Hiring Learning Systems, showed that 85% of people found their job through networking! The percentage might vary per location and year but the reality is we should not limit ourselves to just apply to jobs online. Connect with hiring managers on LinkedIn, approach companies you like and ask them if they have any vacancies, keep contact with recruiters in order to approach them next time you are looking for a job…
No one reads a cover letter
A Cover Letter is like the resume’s ugly stepsister, no one pays it attention and people find it annoying. Well the truth is not many recruiters read cover letters, Addison Group, a Boston-based employment agency, found only 18% of hiring managers rank the cover letter as an important element of the hiring process.
So should I forget completely about it? The truth is that a cover letter gives you the chance to say more than what you can put on your resume. It allows you to justify why you are the right candidate even before an interview! Limit the writing of cover letters for jobs that require writing and when you are applying directly to the hiring company.
Lower your salary demands to make yourself more attractive
This should never be your first thought! Salaries are set by market demands and hence you should always check what the common salary for your role in the location you want to work in is. You can check it in places like LinkedIn jobs or Glassdoor. Some recruiters will try to lower your salary expectations in order to increase the chances of having you hired and them receiving their bonus.
If you do not have job experience you will never find a job
If that were true no one would be ever working! If you are fresh out of school looking for your first job you can rely on experience during internships, volunteering or side jobs in order to justify your professional experience. On the other hand if you have no experience whatsoever then you can opt for apprenticeship programs or if you have a master’s degree you can opt for graduate programs. Another option would be to look for entry level positions that require no experience (They do exist!).
If you are over 50 you will have a hard time finding a job
First thing to know is that it is illegal in the UK to discriminate based on age: you do not need to include your DOB in your resume and they are not allowed to ask your age at any point during the application process. On the other hand, being over 50s normally can make you quite experienced and more likely to stay in the company until it is time for retirement. So really it does not depend on the company but really on whether what you are looking for, and what the hiring company is looking, for are the same.
Hopefully these tips are helpful and don’t forget that I am always here for that extra help that you may need 😉
