Saturday 13 June 2015

Landing the Job Interview

Those of you who know me, know that I have an unusual hobby. That hobby is reading and rewriting CVs and personal letters.  The process usually goes like this:
Friend: Hey, do you think you could take a look at my CV?
Natalie (internally): OMG OMG I get to read another CV. OMG OMG THIS IS SO AWESOME!
Natalie (to friend): Yeah, sure! Send it over and I'll have a look at it tonight. 
Later that evening.
Natalie (to friend after scrupulously looking at every detail) :  Yeah, so I had a quick look and just have a couple of questions - sends a long list of questions.
Friend(internally): Oh God, what have I gotten myself into?
Some background to my hobby. When we moved back to Sweden we were pretty much starting fresh. We had few people that we knew and we knew little about integrating to the Swedish way of life. This meant that when I was 15-16 my classmates were getting summer and part-time jobs through their friends and family while I didn't even know where to start. Then one day during my usual boring English lessons we got to write CVs. I remember what the English teacher said if it was yesterday:
"If you want to find a job outside Sweden you have to have an English CV. You have to be able to present yourself professionally to a culture you don't know."
Suddenly it was clear that this is what I needed to reach the Swedish working world. A tool that I didn't know existed was suddenly handed to me and I went nuts. I sent my CV to every job at Arbetsförmedlingen that I thought I had the slightest chance for.  I would go to companies asking to see the manager so I could hand over my CV to them. The result of all my hard work? Nothing. Zilch.  Nada. I was never contacted by any of the companies that I sent my CV to.



I had been handed a hammer but forgotten the nail. My personal letter used to be a standard short note just specifying the skills that I was good at. I realised that I needed help from a professional Swede. Half a year of my dad reading and criticising my personal letters to pieces finally paid off. I got a part-time job as a tele-marketeer, selling audiobooks. I hated it and held on for 3 months - enough to save up for my first laptop.


Even though I hated this first job it gave me an understanding of the importance of presentation. We had a script that we were allowed to rewrite and change to optimise for the best selling tactic. I used what I learnt and tried to apply it to my application process. I started reading articles of how to write the best applications and asking people to read my CV. More importantly I asked them to send me their CV so that I could actually see their presentation.


The best understanding I got of writing CV's was by looking back at the applications that had gotten to an interview. By comparing the job ad, the personal letter and CV I started see patterns of how they work together. This realisation was so cool that I want to understand more.

So that is why I get this super-excited feeling when I get another CV on my table. I get to apply my years of job application experience at it while at the same time better see the patterns that evolve from the process. But the best feeling ever is actually hearing the results (Thanks T! 12 hours - that must be the quickest turnaround of an job application to job that I've been part of!)

3 comments:

  1. next CV I write it will be sent straight to your table xx

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