That elusive first job - Birds on the Blog

I don?t suppose many of the readers of Birds on the Blog are [a] in the position of looking for their first job or [b] can actually remember what they did to get their first proper full-time job.

Having said that, times have changed and there is lots of advice and guidance about job hunting for first timers from school leavers and graduates. So why is that lots of these willing, able and talented potential candidates ignore even the basic words of wisdom?

Let?s give you an example.

A new business has just started up in the High Street where I live. It?s an excellent Italian bistro, home cooked food and Italian family run. For four months PRIOR to the opening, the family (along with odd builders) were constantly on the premises renovating, decorating and preparing to open. Signs went up notifying change of use, licensing arrangements and new menus. All these had the new owners full name and contact details. A smaller sign went up in the window suggesting that potential staff could leave their CVs for consideration.

Initially when the restaurant opened the family used just family for waiting service and kitchen portage. However, they quickly realised that to meet the expectations of their customers they needed more staff and that was where I came in. I was asked to short-list potential waiting staff for the busy owners.

I looked at over thirty five CVs from local applicants, mostly school, college or university leavers and this is what I found:

• Spelling mistakes
• Poor layouts
• Bad presentation
• Handwriting illegible
• No personal contact details on CV
• Long lists for academic and educational history
• Job experiences listed with no skills or achievements recorded
• No personalised accompanying letters
• No research about the hospitality / restaurant business
• No use of the proprietors name

It was easy to short-list to a handful of possible applicants who had (allegedly) some previous experience of working in a restaurant or bar and even a couple who mentioned they were fluent in Italian.

On closer inspection and following conversations to invite the ?possibles? to interview I discovered that one ?Italian speaking? applicant with 3 bar jobs listed actually hadn?t studied Italian at all but had visited Rome on holiday and the jobs turned out to be one job which had lasted one week in a sandwich bar. Hmmm.

I was not impressed.

Then another ?possible? was too busy to cancel going to the beach with friends to come for interview and ?could they come another time??

And so it went on.?

Did these youngsters really want a job?

What could I do?

I was contracted to the restaurant to find some likely willing local candidates to work in customer service. They needed to not only look smart but to be quick thinking, work on their own initiative as well as part of a team; be able to respond to customer enquiries and be level headed and friendly. Some mathematical skills might be required as well as good communication skills.

Where was this information on the CVs?

I?d like to think sometimes it was hidden but mostly it didn?t exist at all. Had no-one told these youngsters that they probably already have some examples of when they have spoken nicely to people, when they have worked in a team and resolved simple people problems.

No forethought at all had gone into submitting these CVs for restaurant work and sadly this is not unusual.

I wanted to take the pile of CVs and contact each and everyone of the applicants to give them feedback, give them some advice and help them really present themselves so that they could be considered for an interview and a possible first job. But of course I couldn?t and I wouldn?t.

But who will prepare our school leavers and recent graduates in the art of job hunting? Who will help them to help themselves and achieve their dream jobs?

Sometimes I despair.

So if you know any youngsters who are starting out on their job search, do them a favour. Read through their CV and check it has some meaning, some relevance and that it shows off their skills. ?Let them show they have the initiative to find their first job.

And of course has NO SPELLING MISTAKES.

photo credit: open-arms via photo pin cc

@LynnTulip

HR & Career Management Consultant - job search, CV writing and interview techniques for current employment market. Outsourced HR as well. Ask me anything

Interview Checklist - ?The interview is planned for later in the week. Preparation is key and you have a number of... http://t.co/K2ofHzhk - 2 hours ago

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