The ‘New Approach’


divergent pathsThis blog is all about providing graduates out there with new and fresh ways of finding that job they so badly want. I’ve been there and know what its like! Those hundreds of hours spent trying to customize your CV and tailor make a cover letter that resonates with the prospective employer. All this effort just to then receive a pre-canned email telling you how they received a record number of applications, and that they regret to inform you that on this occasion you have not been chosen to advance to the next round of interviews/ your application has been unsuccessful. After 20 or 30 rejections you do begin to wonder if you are not wasting your time. I know that I started to become very cynical, and in fact, still am.

I firmly believe that sending a CV and cover letter for a job application is as antiquated as it gets. With all the cool bits of tech we now have at our fingertips, surely its time revolutionize the job application process. After all, once you’re doing the job, personality and passion always trump qualifications. And yes there are already companies doing it, and these are companies, which will most definitely feature on this blog. This is where the “New Approach” to recruitment comes in.

It’s about embracing technology and using the associated communication tools to create a network. Most jobs out there are given to people who are known to the organization. Establish relationships and you will greatly increase your prospects of finding a job. There is no truer saying of “Its not what you know, but who you know”

Below are the 3 tenets of the “New Approach” to graduate recruitment:

1. Focus on the tributaries – Treat your CV as your river, but place greater emphasis on your tributaries. By this I mean promoting yourself through the following: twitter, a blog, zerply, linkedIn, about.me and any other platforms that are relevant to you. The first thing prospective employers do is search your name in Google, and if there is relevant content about you on the web, this can only help to position you better amongst all those other candidates.

2. Build a network from virtual to real – maximize social media to create potential contacts, meetings, and meet-ups, which you can then carry out in the real world.

3. Create a video CV and let prospective employers have a chance to get an insight in your personality before they even meet you