ContractorCalculator recently advertised for a new salesperson. We received 54 pretty shocking applications and won’t be looking to recruit any of the candidates. However, the lessons to be learned are instructive for contractors, whether they’re struggling to find a new contract, or are always in contract but never quite getting the plum projects they’d really like.
We know exactly how many of the 54 applicants actually read the advert in detail: four. That’s because only four of them applied online via a website address clearly specified in the online job ad. Contractors take note – if a contract ad says apply online, then apply online.
It gets worse. Further evidence that the applicants had not actually read the job advert was clear when:
- The application was written for another job entirely. One candidate, a qualified accountant, was “enthusiastic & passionate by the exciting opportunity this Finance role offers”
- Other applicants had no experience, skills or qualifications in sales, which the ad clearly demanded. We had waiters, warehouse managers, barkeeps and a dental nurse apply
- Several covering letters/emails were obviously cut and paste jobs that could have been for applications for almost any job
- One applicant wasn’t even based in the UK.
The next lesson for contractors is focus and relevance. It seems obvious to say it, although the evidence suggests that it needs saying again: don’t apply for a contract assignment without having the right skills and experience specified in the ad. Oh, and if you are not in the same country as the assignment advertised, at least say you plan to relocate for the duration of the contract.
Having binned those applications that were not from salespeople looking for a sales role, we then started looking at the remaining CVs again, but in greater detail. We thought it couldn’t get worse, but it did.
It was striking that not a single applicant has taken the trouble to look at ContractorCalculator’s extensive section on CVs, because not one CV even remotely resembled anything approaching CV writing best practice. Here are some of the more obvious examples of bad practice that we found:
- No profile or summary page – CV dives straight into a chronological list of work experience
- Ambiguous job titles, for example: “Team Manager/Trainer”. Great, in what, precisely? We’re looking for a salesperson. Is the applicant a Sales Team Manager, and a Sales Trainer?
- Putting education first. The role is for someone with at least two years of sales experience, making education a little irrelevant. Skills, experience and a demonstrable record of success are far more important than education, unless it is a graduate role
- Personal statements included saying what the applicant wants out of life. One CV had a half-page essay for their personal statement. It wasn’t until the second page that we even knew what work they did!
- No lists of achievements or key skills, or lists of personal achievements, rather than commercial successes
- Using long paragraphs, and long-winded sentences instead of bullet points
- Using either tiny font sizes or very large ones in multiple colours
- Not listing the job title next to each job, leaving us to try and work it out from the description.
- Achievements that are personal ones, not what they’ve accomplished for their clients or employers
- Achievements that aren’t really achievements. They are just things they have done. Many were totally unrelated to our business or requirements.
We could go on, but you probably get the picture. The final point of interest was that, despite applying for a sales role that required speaking to clients by telephone, as specified in the ad, not a single candidate even bothered to behave like a proper salesperson and call us directly to try and secure the role.
When applying for a contract, you have literally seconds to impress the agent or client before your CV goes in the bin. You can maximise the chances of your CV being re-read by packing the information about yourself: a) exactly as the contract ad specifies it; and b) in a format that allows a stranger to understand exactly what skills and experience you have that can benefit their business, or their client’s business.
Take the time to check out ContractorCalculator’s guides on Contract Search and CV Writing. And whenever you apply for a contract carefully write a CV tailored to the contract ad’s specific requirements. Otherwise, like the 54 people who applied to work for us, you could find your application being taken no further.
Or worse, you could be joining the ranks of the unemployed.
Published: Tuesday, November 15, 2011
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