Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/890548
maltatoday, SUNDAY 22 OCTOBER 2017 VIII Careers Making a good first impression with recruiters How a woman's body image impacts her career Ever wondered what happens once your CV lands with a recruiter? You can probably imagine that this person has a fair few similar documents to get through, and on a busy day only a percentage of these will get read past the first page. Fewer still will make the shortlist of resumes that go to a client. But how does a recruiter come to this decision? By knowing what they look for first, you can increase the chances of your CV being added to their 'yes' pile. THE first thing your consultant will want to know is why your CV is sitting in front of them. What's your career journey been like so far, why are you applying for this role now, and why should their client take an interest? Your personal statement is the first thing the recruiter will read to answer this, so with the above in mind, make sure yours is tailored to the job in question. Tell your consultant concisely who you are, what value your skills bring, and why you're go- ing for the role. This last point is essential. It must be brief so keep it to two to three sentences focused on your experience and why you are suited to what you know of the job. A key point here is not to be tempted to write about what you are looking to achieve next in your career! Instead focus on how well you fit an organisation's needs, as this will help sell you in at the next stage. What sets you apart? You also need to communicate the fact that you have suitable skills and experi- ence. This could be done by placing a short list beneath your personal statement, almost a snapshot of your main skills. Bullet points starting with those most pertinent to the job and your technical abilities will quickly get the message across that you're a valuable asset. Can you prove that you did it? Once you have captured their attention with your personal statement and key skills, the next task ahead is to provide evidence of your skills and career history. List your relevant career history to date, chronologically. The job title and organisa- tion are crucial, and a nice touch here is to hyperlink the company name so the reader can check out who you worked for easily. A few bullet points detailing your respon- sibilities and achievements should follow, and always remember to phrase this in a way that mirrors the keywords used in the job description. As you list your responsibilities and achievements, also provide facts, statistics and links to your work. For instance, if you listed web content management as one of your key skills, you should mention how much daily traffic your content drives to the site, plus any other relevant KPIs. You should also link to some of your online content. If any past roles aren't relevant to this opportunity, simply list the name of the company, your job title, and the dates you were employed. This shows you were em- ployed during this time, while freeing up space to elaborate on your more suitable experience. Make sure your usefulness shines through. At this stage, the recruiter will have more than likely made their decision about whether to add your CV to their 'yes' pile or not. Now it's simply a case of ensur- ing you tick the final boxes. A consultant will often ask themselves the following: • Would this candidate be a good fit? While personality and cultural fit is best assessed face-to-face, certain areas of your CV can give a glimpse into what you're like at work, and give you that competitive edge. Don't be tempted to do this by listing your hobbies and interests though; they are irrelevant to your ability to do the job in question. • Do they pay attention to detail? Mistakes in your CV are the fastest way to come across as lazy or sloppy in your work. They reflect badly on your attention to detail and how conscientious you are in your work. It's wise to proofread your CV for formatting, spelling and grammar. Make sure all the hyperlinks work, and if you have time, send it on to a friend for a second opinion. • Can I reach them for further discus- sion? Check your name, phone number, email address and LinkedIn URL are cor- rect and place them right at the top of your CV. Make sure both your LinkedIn profile and CV are aligned, as mistakes here will raise questions. A successful recruiter can have hundreds of CVs to review each week. To catch their attention one needs to make an instant, positive impact. The above insights allow one to gain a better understanding of how to optimise and tailor a CV. This kind of checklist ensures a better chance of mak- ing a good impression and moving on to the next stage. JULIA CARPENTER STUDIES show that managing appear- ance is a fine line for professional women to walk: there's both a bonus and a pen- alty to being attractive in the workplace. Some research suggests women who take more care in their appearance earn higher incomes; other studies instead posit that attractive women are seen as less capable or less qualified for their positions. According to Traci Sitzmann, man- agement professor at the University of Colorado in Denver, something as simple as hair colour really can make a differ- ence in how a woman is seen at work. But those perceptions can really hurt women in the workplace. "We all have stereotypes of what it means to be a brunette, what it means to be a redhead versus a blonde," she says. "The problem is you want women to go to work ... and rise to the upper echelons of the organisation. Not to sit there and manage their hair colour." University of Chicago professor Jaclyn Wong says there are two aspects to what we consider "attractive:" the things we're born with (symmetrical features, height) and the things we work on (groom- ing, makeup, wardrobe selection). Her research found that the latter makes the biggest difference in how women are perceived. "So our interpretation of our findings is that for women, all of these beauty practices are more about controlling women's behavior than it is about 'oh, we love beautiful people,'" she says. Wong also points out that this percep- tion is different for women at different stages in their careers. Women who are perceived as more attractive may be rewarded for it earlier in their careers, but when they cross into the C-suite, that changes. "Once women get into managerial posi- tions, positions of leadership, positions of power, beauty becomes a liability because our stereotypes around beauty are that they're incompatible with capability," Wong says. "So if you're too beautiful, maybe you're not that competent. Maybe you're a 'dumb blonde.' That's a lot more true for women than it is for men." Sylvie di Giusto, an image consultant who advises clients on their profes- sional appearances, offers one key piece of intelligence: if your appearance is a topic of conversation in the workplace - whether because you're perceived as "too attractive" or as "not attractive enough", something has already gone wrong. "The consequences of that are that you dis- tract from all the amazing things you're doing," she says. But what you're wearing and how you're wearing it matters less than how you appear to feel, Di Giusto says. Confidence leads to more effective first impressions, and your demeanour can direct people's attention away from your appearance and back to your accomplish- ments. So if you're too worried about how peo- ple are perceiving your appearance, your confidence could take a hit, which makes it especially difficult for women to walk the tightrope. That could have a negative effect on your career. "The more time and resources you're devoting to your hair colour and what you wear and how people perceive you," Sitzmann says, "the less time you have to think about work and hone those skills that are actually necessary to rise to the top of the organisation." While many women lighten their hair, replace glasses with contact lenses and wear high heel shoes to make themselves look more attractive in the workplace, Silicon Valley CEO Eileen Carey did just the opposite. She told the BBC she grabbed glasses and dyed her naturally blonde hair darker, all to "be taken seriously" by her colleagues in the tech industry.