3 tips that will help you to get a role via an agency?

At some stage in your career you are likely to apply for a role via an agency.
It might be your first job, it could be changing to a new area of the country or perhaps looking for that next step up the ladder.

Here are three things that will make your application flow more easily:

Apply for the relevant roles only

Read the job spec thoroughly; by applying for every job without reading the spec you could alienate Resourcers and Consultants.  

It's not simply a question of applying for as many jobs as you can without being remotely suitable.  Consultants will not have enough faith to submit you for the right role if you have not been reading the job specifications.

Apply only for the relevant roles and your stock will increase in value.

Make your CV relevant

I'm always impressed when I see that an applicant has worked on the CV to maximise the relevance of his or her skills and or experience.   Sending a generic CV for all jobs is not putting one's best foot forward.

For instance, you might be an Analytical Chemist with a few years of experience.  If you apply for a Raw Materials testing role the job specification might call for experience with Pharmacopoeia (BP, EP USP) but your generic CV might not mention this.   Similarly you might next apply for a Method Development role but your generic CV has not included all of your experience in this respect.

Relevant people are what we are paid to look for, so it's worth the extra effort to do your bit to help us to help you.

Clearly State your eligibility

First of all a willingness to work in the UK is not eligibility.   Agencies are tasked with checking that an applicant has the right to work in the UK ie is an EU or UK national or else has a valid visa to work in the UK (not tier 2 requiring sponsorship).
There will often be screening questions on job boards to screen out people who do not have a UK or EU nationality or Apply for roles that you are eligible for and not for the ones.

Assuming that you are eligible to work in the UK, always declare your nationality and if you have a visa always put that down too and clearly state the Visa type and the expiry date.

Consultants are pressed for time and don't appreciate getting to read CV's in depth, shortlist a person, call, leave messages, txt and or email only to find out later that the person concerned is not eligible to work in the UK.

A good agency should clearly state the eligibility requirements in the Vacancy description if it does not state that sponsorship is available then it won't be.

It is a legal requirement for agencies to check eligibility of applicants.   Hiding the fact you have a tier 2 visa , for instance,  will not change the requirement.   It will seriously annoy the Consultant if they have spent time working on your application when you have ignored the requirements.

Summary

So now you apply only for relevant roles you will save yourself enough time to place greater emphasis upon your relevance to each role.   The Consultants will love you for it and you should be applying for more relevant roles with greater focus and sense of purpose.  

Good luck with your job hunting.

If you would like advice on more topics please email info@macscientific.co.uk

By putting in the extra effort you should turn the Conultant and REsourcer for the role onto your side.

Customise your CV

In over 30 years in recruitment, the second most common problem is that an applicant often sends a generic CV.  Your chances of obtaining an interview increase between 10% and 50% (assuming you have applied for a suitable position) if your customise your CV.

A concise CV without missing the important parts
A two page CV is the ideal (unless you have a PhD and several pages listing your recently presented papers, posters, seminars and conferences).
Managers usually have to sift though a heap of CV's , concise CV's that match the spec will go in the "keepers" pile and the others go in the "weepers" pile.
However, the CV must contain relevant skills and experience or it will not make the cut.
The emphasis is initially placed upon rejecting most of the CV's.

The problem is that as your experience grows so does the task of restricting your resume to two sides of A4.  You might be organised and keep several versions of our CV or else edit it each time before sending it off to a prospective employer or recruitment agency.

If you do not Customise your CV then you are already at a disadvantage.
Before you apply for a role need to look very carefully at the job description/specification within an advertised job vacancy.  If you are not suitable then don't apply.  If you are you need to maximise your chances and to do that you need to check that our CV best represents you in the light of that job.

HOT TIP:  
Do not apply for a basket full of jobs with one click and send a generic CV off for different roles.   Unless you are lucky you will be passed over in favour of persons whose CV has been meticulously worked on to increase relevance.

Making the most of your CV 

You might be thinking "That's fine in theory but how do I make the most of my CV?"

Or "How long will this take?"

It's all about Focus and once you have that it only takes a few minutes.
This 5 step process will assist you:

1. Turn your CV over or better still put it in a drawer.
2. Print out the job spec from the advert.
3. with a magic marker highlight all the text that matches your experience quals and skills
4. Now take your CV out of the drawer and with a critical eye check to see if it contains all of the info that you have highlighted in the job spec.
5. Finally, if there are key things highlighted in the job spec that are missing from your CV then you must add it.  

Hot Tip:
Don't be tempted to add just a keyword to a list of skills, you must make it relate to you in a prior role and allow the person vetting CV's to see you in your best light.

Finally, be accurate in your claims, don't exaggerate and never ever claim to have done something when you have not.
Good luck!