I have been involved in some recruitment processes and I can see why most job applicants are unemployed even with bogus educational qualifications, with the best results and grades.
I am not a Human Resource manager or a professional recruiter but I manage a law office and sometimes we do seek to recruit new legal associates; NYSC associates; legal interns/ extern. I also serve as a retainer and secretary to some companies and most times I get involved in the recruitment process of those companies; when we advertise for roles or openings to be filled, on many occasions the things I see from job applicants do especially through their Curriculum Vitae make my body itch.
Let me remind you that when an employer is seeking a person to employ, the employer is looking for someone who is fit and capable for that role and can as well be loyal while on the job. They, therefore, need you to convince them that you are fit for the job and that you can do it and you will be loyal while at it. Your curriculum vitae (CV) containing your educational qualifications and past work experiences is just a means of convincing the prospective employer that you are fit and capable for the job; you have what it takes; you have done it before and you are capable of doing it again.
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The first point of selling yourself to the recruiters or standing out from the numerous applicants applying for the same limited slot with you is for you to present your CV very well; a well-packaged and presented Cv goes a long way in getting your feet at the door of the company. The importance of a well-drafted (in professional font size) Cv cannot be overemphasized in landing a job seeker the job. Also, a concise and brief cover letter of you telling the employer who you are and why you are fit for the role goes a long way as well.
Recruiters and human resource managers are busy people and they have numerous CVs to sort from, hence why they won’t think twice in discarding an applicant’s submission that the Cv was not properly drafted or presented. Your Cv is the first impression you make with your prospective employers and the wrong impression a bad Cv creates in the mind of recruiters is that if an applicant cannot present a proper Cv then his capability in executing tasks when employed will be in doubt.
As a matter of fact, there are not too many jobs or companies to provide employment for the teaming unemployed in Nigeria, hence when a role is being advertised may be what the company needs is just one or two people and you will have more than thirty persons applying for that role. The only way you stand out from the rest of the applicants is by presenting and submitting an “eye-catching” Cv since it is through the Cv you will be making your first contact with prospective employers.
A company that has me as their retainer once tasked me with helping them get an in-house legal associate for the company. Immediately we sent word that such a company needed in-house counsel, we got about twenty applicants flooding my email box with their CVs in less than 24 hours.
The first thing I looked at was how the Cv was presented and how he or she is able to sell himself on the cover letter. I can tell you that most CVs I got were turn-off. Some forwarded their CV without captioning it; When applying for a role or sending your Cv through email for a role, you are expected to add the role you are applying for with your name as the subject of the email so that your email won’t be mixed up with other emails. If you cannot present your Cv very well then it will be difficult for me to believe that you will be a fit for the role no matter how good your academic results are.
There are professional CV writers around, it will be helpful for you to pay them to package your Cv for you since it is what you will be using to create the first impression in the mind of prospective employers. Do not wait till when you are invited for a physical interview to wow the recruiters, without a good Cv you will not even get invited for an interview, so start wowing the recruiters with the CV.
On the final note; there is a clear difference between a Curriculum Vitae, a cover letter and an expression of interest. Each of these should be on a different page of the document and should never lump up together as some job seekers do. There should never be an all-purpose or multi-purpose cover letter and expression of interest. A cover letter should be tailor-made specifically for a role you are applying for at a particular time.