It’s hiring time at Yomego, and we’ve been busy sifting through applications for the positions we’re advertising just now.
I am fortunate enough to work with an awesome team which has creativity, talent and a place for everyone to contribute. The CVs have been stacking up over the last few weeks, and it’s clear that it’s becoming increasingly difficult for new graduates to cut through the noise and get noticed. With that in mind, I thought it might be useful to provide my personal breakdown of some of the things that make our ears prick up when we’re on the lookout for new hires.
Be a social superstar
If you want to work in social media, it’s probably because you love interacting online. Not everyone is great at this, so we want to see what you can do.
If you’d rather keep your tweets personal, that’s fine, but think about the skills your employer will be looking for and find another way to demonstrate your talent for communication: maybe you rock on Tumblr, or manage a Facebook page for your band. If you’re active on a gaming forum or have a kick-ass Etsy store, let us know where to find you.
Pro tip: don’t link to your Twitter account if it’s locked down.
Ditch the bot and get human
Universities have a lot to answer for in the style of writing they encourage in students. You might have a great vocabulary and perfectly-finessed academic English, but I’d always prefer an aptitude for unfussy, conversational language that gets the message across and shows off your great personality.
Practise good verbal hygiene
An apostrophe in the wrong place here and there might only drop you a mark off your essay, but the people who care about this really care about it, and one of those people may well be reading your CV. If you’re in any doubt about the cleanliness of your grammar and punctuation, get a friend to look over your writing, or check out some online resources.
Format matters
Whatever recruitment agencies say, we’d rather have a PDF than a Word doc, and if you use your full name as the file name, it’ll make it easier for us to find you. Naming your file something like CVforagencyjobs.doc tells me you’ve sent the same document to a ton of agencies and don’t care much about this particular job.
If you don’t have an eye for design, get someone to help you, or keep it simple. Fugly borders, messy spacing and gimmicky fonts will only distract attention from your winning content.
Make it personal
If you’re applying to work at an agency, chances are, the staff will be visible online. That’s good news, because it won’t take much research to find out who’s recruiting for the position so you can address your email to a real, live person.
At the very least, make sure your CV reflects the qualities and experience the recruiter will be looking for, and your cover letter expresses an interest in what the agency does. In particular, if your background is not directly in line with what the job is about, being clear about why this job is relevant to you and where you see it going will save us all some head-scratching.
...but not too personal
If you have a degree, your B in GCSE Woodwork and award for perfect attendance in Brownies can and should be retired from your resume.
If you’re happy to have your personal profiles wide open, take care with what’s on display. We all know by now (do we?) that pictures of lairy nights out might not win favour with recruiters. Maybe people who know you don’t think less of you for swapping sexist jokes or joining sectarian groups, but these kinds of associations would make me question whether I could trust you to be the voice of our clients.
Have you ever received a standout application? Or do you have any more tips for graduates taking on their first job? Tell us in the comments.
We’re hiring! Take a look at our jobs page for the latest vacancies or follow @YomegoSocial on Twitter.
From Community Manager Annie Macfarlane @anniefiddle #YomegoSocial