My gad! There is a lot of randomness out there; people applying (I assume) for anything and everything. Gone are the days when you had to consider your job-applying time and ROI. Today you can auto apply for everything on the market. Like spam-avoiding phone tools, there should be some kind of “Confirm you are a human being thinking logically and understand the job description,” before they let you apply. 

There are A LOT of new immigrant graduates looking for work. Canada is a country of immigrants – I am one of them. I always understood we had an immigration guide of 1% a year; then there were a few years recently when it went a bit crazy, especially through the college / higher education sector. Small town colleges with 30,000 foreign students kinda thing. The end tail of that free-for-all is playing out in the job market now. It looks messy.

Learn how to PDF your documentation. I worked to overcome my instinct to reject all Word documents out of hand.

I included an embrace of AI in the job profile. Therefore, I have to acclaim those who used it in their applications. You know when people write sentences that are just too aligned with your needs, like they are inside your head? I once took a neuro-linguistic programming course and part of the practice was to hang out with a fellow-student and mirror their actions to win them over. We went to the pub and drank too much as we folded our arms and crossed our legs in unison. Not sure if that was the right way to do NLP but we are still in contact 25 years later. Anyway, I am working hard to overcome my creative instincts and say brava! to those who are using the tool available; just as they would in the role.

Everyone is a digital maven these days. I am hiring for a comms role, and there is a blurred line between the two, of course. But very few applicants have any comms / stakeholder / strategy background. These days everything is about eyeballs I guess. Only challenge is, eyeballs / reach is easy to automate. Relationships are still where humans lead the automatons, for now.

I am a sucker for a cover letter. very old-school. WRT point 1, it at least shows someone has actively considered the role not just auto-applied. Easiest way to an interview, map your skills to the role in 2 paras. It simply and effectively says, I see you. Well, I see you too.

We are using video (recorded) phone screens, all answering the same 4 questions. Very effective to get a good vibe for people, and my work is nearly all vibes. 🙂

It is something I wish I was better at myself, active outreach works. Pattern interrupt works. Who wants the role?  Someone who says hey, sorry for the interrupt but can I just introduce myself, find out more about the role, know more about you, how to get ahead? Those people always go to the top of the list, no matter their background. I one had an intern turn up to my office with two friend and perform a rap for me to get a job. There were other, more aligned candidates, but I gave him an interview anyway. He later told me it was an act of kindness that pushed him onwards faster in his career, but really, the gift was him to his future self. He showed up.

To all the people out there looking for their next gig, good luck and work out how to show up bigger and bolder than the next candidate.