Multiple Job Application Rejection

(reject) 66. that damn field again...
Creative Commons License photo credit: ben matthews :::

Kate asks: I am currently on redundancy consultancy due to my office relocating and I can not find a job. I have spent the past 5 years working in the construction industry as a PA/Office Manager, most recently in London,  but I can not find anything out there! I have applied for over 70 similar jobs, although not in construction, but due to the fact I come from the wrong sector I am not even being considered. I am registered on almost every internet recruitment / job site there is and I search for new jobs on a daily basis – I am running out of ideas!! Does anyone else have any?

In answer:

Firstly, sorry to hear about your situation Kate – I hope you find work soon.

Getting down to business, what do you want to do? It sounds like it could be three things: TEFL, PA/Office Manager, Construction industry. I am betting that your CV touches all three, and hence hiring managers are thinking you are a jack of many trades but master of none. If you don’t focus your application on that job, hiring managers get confused

Secondly, think about your skills from the HR professionals view point. Those used in the past 3years are deployable, those in the past 5years valid, and before that – rusty/historic! If you want to move back to TEFL, then accept a retrograde step in grade/pay.

If you are applying for jobs, and your interview to application response ratio is less than 1:10, then you are either not applying for the right jobs, or are not communicating your skills in your CV. See our article on Why Was I Rejected

Pick a career you want to do (you are either a PA or an Office Manager or TEFL – don’t confuse the hiring manager), and then focus on applying for jobs in those sectors. Do some research on the companies you are applying to, and rewrite your Cover Letter and intro/personal section of CV before applying for each. If you are applying for more than 1job per hour, then your application is not focused enough, and you are probably suffering from Any Job Will Do syndrome.

Good Luck!

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