At what point in an interview process does a job become yours?

It’s Tuesday afternoon, part way through week two of unemployment (there should be a less depressing word to use). I’ve just given the garden what I really hope is the final mow and tidy of the summer. I’m sipping on a fresh coffee whilst typing this, enjoyed a one hour walk with Bella in the woods and even had a post lunch nap. 

What I’m getting at, is I’m really enjoying my break since my Sainsbury’s contract was completed. I’m very, very lucky, this isn’t desperation unemployment, this is a chance for me to slow down, relax and most of all, enjoy it. That said, I’d rather line up a new role sooner rather than later, but in the meantime, I’m making hay whilst the sun shines.

Lining up a new role is what brings me onto today's topic: at what point in an interview process do you start to feel a job is yours?

The reason I ask is that I've recently had three very different interview processes, for three very different roles, with three very different companies, yet the outcomes have all been incredibly similar. Not that I either did or didn't get a job offer, but that all three had me complete four-stage processes, get me pretty much to the point of offer... and then not.

Let's review them separately, all remaining anonymous, of course.

Process one:

A global consultancy, very much my bread and butter, albeit a slightly different, more hands-on role. Two virtual interviews, meeting the different team members, both stages passed. Then a face-to-face interview, which went brilliantly on both sides, they even asked me to come back the next day to meet the COO to 'rubber stamp things'. I did. The interview didn't leave me with a great impression, yet I still had a great feeling about the role and business, and answered each question strongly. Salary-wise, I was at the top end of the band, but that was always agreed from the very first conversation. The agency recruiter called to ask what else I had going on; I mentioned I was in conversation for a role with a higher salary, but that I liked this role and would strongly consider an offer should it arrive. It didn't. Instead, the recruiter ghosted me for four working days. Then they returned my call: they were offering someone else. The feeling was that I would leave after six months to pursue a higher salary.

Process two:

A recruitment solution platform, slightly different industry for me, but they needed someone with a tech background to lead a team of recruiters. Perfect. Two virtual interviews and a virtual task went very well, then came the 'rubber stamp' chat with a member of the leadership team. One question gave me real pause: 'How quickly do you fire people?' Not a question I'd expected, and it told me instantly that this probably wasn't the right culture for me. A shame, as everything else had gone so well. But fine.

Process three:

A Head of TA role with a household name and a business I was excited to work with. Two virtual interviews, both went really well, then a face-to-face interview, again, met two great people and the conversation went well. Then, you guessed it, 'rubber stamp' time! A quick 30 minutes with the Chief People Officer. The conversation could not have gone better; we had a lot in common and she was a delight to speak with, and all the interviewers left a great impression of the business. I expected a call a couple of days later to receive the offer. The call didn't come. A few more days went by, then I received an update: they were now deciding whether to cover this role internally for the 12-month duration of the contract, or offer it to me. I knew where this was going, and a couple of days later I received an email confirming the role was being covered internally. This one was a shame.

Three roles, different circumstances, similar outcomes. Missing out on three consecutive roles at the 'rubber stamp' stage definitely left me wondering what impression I was making at that final hurdle: was I too confident? Was I giving off a bad impression? Was I not likeable? But when you remove the personal feelings from an interview process and look at things in isolation, you can see far more clearly.

Role one: my gut feeling is that the salary conversation with the agency recruiter got a little blurred somewhere along the way; I was probably a little over budget, and there may have been a hope that once I got to offer stage, they'd either be impressed enough to increase the offer, or I'd be keen enough to reduce mine. Neither blinked. It didn't happen. I get it, I've been on the other side of exactly this in my agency days: hold both sides a little apart and hope the excitement of an offer closes the gap. It can come off. This time it didn't, and honestly, I'd much rather have clarity from the get-go and save everyone's time, mine included.

Role two: this was easy. I was asked, in my opinion, an awful question, which made my decision very easy. Whilst I didn't get that offer, I shared my feelings with the recruiter, and I'm highly confident that would have shaped the outcome. I wasn't right for them; they weren't right for me.

Role three: this one was a shame: a great company, with great people, but if they can make the role work without having to hire externally, I totally get it. My frustration is that this could have been decided pre-interview and saved everyone's time on a four-stage process for a contract role.

So, back to my original question: at what point in an interview process do you start to feel the job is yours? My answer: when you've signed the contract. And sometimes even then, wait until you've walked through the doors.

I'm sure there will be further pondering to come over the next few weeks whilst I continue my search, but for today, that's me.

The words are mine, grammar, very much checked with AI

What a recruiter actually sees in the first 10 seconds of viewing your CV

Heatwave’s back. Aircon's arrived. It’s quiet, it’s cold, it’s perfect. I also, like hopefully a lot of you, stayed up to watch England march on to the World Cup Quarter Finals, buzzing, but knackered.

Ok, so the 10 second thing isn’t quite legit. Partly because I wanted you to read on and partly collaborating with the truth. A recruiter won’t read each CV in 10 seconds - but it will take that long to work out if they want to dig deeper into your CV. Think of arriving at the bar for a blind date, do you like what you see enough to want to know more, or have you already made your mind up? (Disclaimer that looks aren’t everything etc etc).

These first 10 seconds are vital and it isn’t because recruiters are lazy, but when you have a role with 300 plus applications, you need to be efficient with time and when you’re an experienced recruiter, you can scan through the core info in a rapid amount of time, to enable the majority of CVs to be viewed through human eyes (see my first blog post).

So, here is where my eyes go on a CV, in order.

1. Your most recent role - title and company. Long and short, if you’re applying to a Java Engineer role, are you a Java Engineer? And where have you been a Java Engineer most recently? You are a Java Engineer? Great, I keep reading. If you’re not and it’s not clear why, I may need to move on.

2. Dates. How long have you been in each role? Myth buster, gaps don’t bother most recruiters anywhere near as much as you may think. Things happen, redundancies happen, health happens, life happens. What I’m looking at is the pattern of length of service. Multiple 6 month stints in perm roles? It’s a question for me to find an answer to. One line can answer these questions often.

3. Location. Sounds simple, matters plenty. If the role is 3 days a week in London and you live in Stoke-on-Trent (big up Staffs Uni), that’s another question that will need answering. If you’re open to relocation or are in the process of it, mention that.

4. The CV format. When I’m scanning your CV, is it easy for me to extract this key info or am I going on a scavenger hunt? It’s not to say I won’t do that, but make the important stuff as easy as possible to find.

So these are the bits I’m looking for straight away. What am I not looking for?

Your personal statement. And, sorry, because it’s personal to you. I will likely read it once I’ve covered off the key info, but the fact that you’re ‘hard working and a great team player’ doesn't tell me anything. Most CVs say this, and if you aren’t those things, you’re not going to add ‘reasonably lazy and doesn’t play well with others’. Leave the generic stuff out, include key achievements and the impact it had on the business.

A photo of you, just don’t.

Fancy designs - maybe if you’re applying for a UX or Graphic Design role, but otherwise, it won’t harm your chances, but it equally isn’t needed.

Buzzwords, please don’t use words like synergy, ninja or dynamic. This isn’t Diary of a CEO (thank god). Plain english and impact, trump buzzwords everytime.

So, these are the things I look for and the things I don’t when scanning a CV. Obviously, they aren’t the only things I’ll read on your CV, but they are the things that make me want to dive deeper. Other recruiters might do it differently, you might think it’s a load of rubbish, let me know if you do, I’d love to hear.

It’s coming home.

This post is written by myself only, not AI. It won't be perfect.

The redundancy blame game

So, time for blog attempt number two.

Last time, I sat firmly in-front of my fan. Fan still going, albeit on a 2 light setting, not 5 lights. This is good. This is cooler. However, I’ve gone a step beyond this week and have a brand new portable aircon unit on order. Coming just in time for the next heatwave. Having a portable aircon pleases me, the cost of it does not. There’s also the environmental impact to consider - would I rather not have an aircon? Yes. Will I be desperately delighted at having it when the mercury hits above 30 degrees? Very much yes. But we’re on a green energy plan, recycle like there’s no tomorrow and I even use reusable straws so I’m hoping there’s a moral trade off.

I wanted to post something about redundancy.

10/15 years ago, it seemed like a bit of a mystical thing to me, or at least something that only happened to pre-historic organisations - like businesses that only made fax machines or a travel agent (delighted to see a few still going strong on the high street). But now, especially in Talent Acquisition, I won’t go a day on LinkedIn without seeing someone post that horrid green banner and then those magic words come out - Open to work.

It definitely isn’t mystical anymore. It definitely isn’t limited to an entire business product becoming obsolete. Nor does it only happen to one type of employee or one type of industry. It’s everywhere. I went through it myself. It’s crap.

For me, the hardest part is the responsibility. If you’re fired, there’s (usually) a very clear reason - performance or conduct. You at least know where to direct your blame, likely on yourself - though I appreciate there’s often nuance.

Maybe you’ve been forced out unfairly, or had a horrible boss, again, you know where to direct your blame - it doesn’t make it any nicer, but at least the blame or anger has a direction of travel.

When it comes to redundancy, more often than not, the blame becomes a void. It certainly isn’t your fault, you could blame org leadership for getting to this point, but often, there are so many circumstances that the blame game becomes impossible. 

You might be level headed and sensible and think ‘well what good does blame do anyway?’ You’d be right to think that, but for those having gone through redundancy, not having that rhyme or reason can be a really confusing emotion to deal with and it often results in you trying to blame yourself, wrongly.

So that’s the thing, above all and everything else, you are the one person absolutely not to blame in a redundancy process. Life can be tricky enough, let alone when going through something as stressful as a redundancy. Even though it sounds simple, don’t be hard on yourself. I’ve said it many times, but your self worth isn’t remotely reflected by a redundancy process, just like when you’re doing incredibly professionally, that also doesn’t determine your self worth.

Being a good person, treating other people kindly, being good to animals, saying thank you when the other car lets you through (regardless of who’s right of way it is) these are the things that determine your self worth (well to me anyway).

This post is written by myself only, not AI. It won't be perfect.