I have been lucky enough to have a few phone interviews today. Woo Hoo...It really does make you feel like you are not just wasting your life away by applying to non-responsive recruitment types...
The interviews were with companies who had received my CV when I responded to their ad directly (not through head hunters) but the companies were anonymous at the time of application, so trying to tailor my CV involved all sorts of international espionage, second guessing and translating euphemisms (much like reading a real estate ad and having to know that 'renovator's delight', really means 'about to be condemned'.)
Do you find that? You may see an ad that says "must understand complex organisations" - how vague is that? Then they ring you and ask if you have worked in the automotive industry, because theyonly want automotive experience. Hint: If that's what you wanted, it should have been in your ad.
Worse still, if you don't think on your feet and re-tailor your CV verbally to the specific industry/company they want, when they call, you don't get to the next stage. It would be so much better if it wasn't such a guessing game. Sunny days if you crack the code!
For example ads should be more bloody specific like 'Must have have security clearances for Department of Defence. Deep understanding of politics and knowledge about International dispute and conflict resolution" (or something)
Instead they say"Must have been to Canberra, and like to wear dark earthy colours in warm tones for this mystery job. Experience debating would be handy."
Thankfully when it came to the interview I DID get, I tried the casserole technique in my last post "the truth about men and women." I was also (coincidentally) lucky enough to know a bit about the company, and have some experience as a customer to hark back to, so hurrah, I have made it to face-to-face stage. I talked about what I like about the company from a customer base and tied in my professional skills, even though I have never worked in that industry.
I haven't heard back from the other company whether I made the face-to-face stage. They didn't invite me straight away so possibly not. It turns out the enigma code that was their ad was a for a pharmaceutical company that specialises in women's hygiene. Like the other role, I have also been a customer of this company, but it is hard thing to talk about by phone. Hell! It's a hard thing to discuss with your best friend,so you tell me to demonstrate product knowledge and experience and discuss tampons in a professional way on the spur of the moment with a complete stranger then?
There's a high chance your customer experience story may fall flat in this scenario. I fear mine did! Oops.
But back to the other role at hand. Now I have to work out what to wear and prepare for the myriad of possible interview questions for the first role. I am confident I have all the criteria listed from the ad (except having experience in the industry involved, but I will go with the casserole analogy again)
Any suggestions on outfits??
Oh and here's a bit of recommended reading:
Here was me thinking my thoughts were unique, and perhaps I was uncharitable to consultants, but I discovered a very interesting blogpost today that resonated and so I wanted to share with you.
http://evenitup.wordpress.com/2009/01/21/dealing-with-recruitment-agencies/#comment-4115
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