With the new year starting, many young people coming out of school, looking for a gap year, or those who have just finished a degree, or are enrolled at University – the job market is their oyster, so to speak.
The job websites will be overflowing with open job vacancies, and although the unemployment rate in New Zealand is just over 7%, many young people struggle to find a first, second, or even third job.
I've always understood that the first part to getting a job is getting your CV together. Understanding different perspectives is the basis of my life's work, and I understood from an early age, that as a potential employee, even if you have some outstanding references waiting for your potential employer on the other side of the phone numbers you've put on your CV, the other ‘text' in there is really, really important. After all, the CV is the first ‘glance' an potential employer has of you as a person, and it's important not to muck that up. Having said this, I coach teenagers on a weekly basis to help them get that job, and many stay on, as I coach them through the next stages – the interview, promotions, dealing with pressure, and making friends in the workplace.
But this article isn't so much for the young person in your life; it's for you, because as an acting influence in their life (and probably the person reading this!), you have the power to help them get their CV right the first time, if you bring it to their attention.
I have been coaching young people about getting a job for so long, that at one point I wrote an e-book with templates for a CV and a winning Cover Letter. I am proud to say that out of the hundreds of young people I've seen over the last 4 years since I started coaching, only 1 did not get a job. That's like what, a percentage of a percentage. I put my personal guarantee on any advice I give, because I know it works!
Here is part of the e-book I'd like to share with you, which I hope helps – whether you read it yourself and re-tell it to the young person looking for a job in your life, or whether you give it to them to read. There are some key points I hope you pick up – perhaps the job market has changed since you had to look for a job, but there are some small nuances a young person must get when writing a CV. I hope you enjoy:
Many, many times I get asked by parents:
"Why doesn't my teenager just go out and get a job?"
"Why are teenagers so lazy? We all work, why shouldn't they?"
We're not THAT lazy, right? 😀
If you downloaded this off my website, you'll see that there is a Cover Letter as well as a CV, which will take you through the steps that should almost absolutely guarantee you to get an interview.
I'm not lying.
If I was, I wouldn't be writing this, because I know that you can probably very easily find my e-mail on the internet, and come hunt me down.
(By the way, please DO hunt me down if it helps you 😀 )
I compiled my first CV when I was 13 years old. I heard some older girls at our college talking about getting jobs, and writing out CVs, so I figured, why not write up a CV?!
At that point, I didn't completely understand why in the world I would EVER need to send out a piece of paper with things about me to people who had never seen me before, but hey, I thought I'd still give it a go.
Basically, in the end it came down to if the older kids were doing it, it must be ‘cool'.
That night I studied online, called up friends, and asked one of the older girls at college to give me some tips about writing a CV. The next day, I was still at a loss.
My CV looked like this:
Name: Eva-Maria
Age: 13
Nationality: Russian
I will work hard and I do well in English and Maths.
My gosh!
Looking back at that, it looks like a 5 year old wrote it!
It SUCKED!
Trust me, I had absolutely no idea what in the world I was doing.
I had worked in my parents' business for a while doing admin stuff, proofreading documents for mistakes, stuffing envelopes, answering phones, filing, but I never had to go through an interview, nor was a CV ever asked of me.
I figured if my Mum hadn't ‘fired' me for a few years, I must be a hard-worker (which I was), and any other employer knows I'm a hard worker, because as far as I was concerned, I could go into any job, work there for a day, and if they thought I wasn't working hard enough, I wouldn't get the job. No wasting trees on papers and papers of CVs – nice and simple.
But just like the real world, it wasn't that simple.
So, if the world dictates that a CV is the first most important ‘first impression' step for getting a job, then so be it. So I've compiled some key points; make sure you don't miss them when coming up with your CV:
- Hunt down the jobs you really want. It's easy to walk around town and flick off a CV to every café you see, but at least have a plan, especially if you're aiming for more than a minimum wage job. The way I see it, McDonald's will always be hiring if you're ‘just looking for a job', but if you want something a bit more substantial, you gotta have a plan. This takes me to the next point:
- Personalize your cover letters. Most websites expect you to upload a cover letter with every job application. Don't copy and paste. It shows you're not really into it. Work out a basic structure (if you're not sure, you can buy my Cover Letter Template here), and customize it to every job. That extra 5-10 minutes you spend on customizing it may help you land a job!
- In your CV, ALWAYS add in a Personal Summary. This small paragraph at the start of the CV after your full name, date of birth, and contact details will help your potential employer understand who you are, to a degree. The rest of the CV just backs you up, but show who you are in that first paragraph, and make it a separate sub-heading too!
- Add a photo. Imagine being an employer with many CVs on your desk – the one with a photo is the most likely to stand out. Although it's not a guarantee of a job, coupled with your personal summary, it will help the employer get a visual picture of you, which is a great start!
- Include both professional and personal references. Some say personal references are out of date and no one checks on them, but don't be fooled – some employers like to know what your friends, family, and past colleagues (even if you volunteered at the SPCA for two weeks!) think of you as a PERSON. At the end of the day, an employer will be hiring you for a job, but they want to know your personality is one that can work in teams, and that your generally a ‘good' person. Trust me, personality is still important – they can't stress this enough in the HR papers I'm taking at University, so at the very least, that should be proof enough that this is an important thing.
- Include skills you possess that helped you in your jobs. Just because you may have stacked supermarket shelves in a past life, and it doesn't sound so glamorous on paper, think of what skills you acquired on the job, and how you interacted with people. Were you always on time for your job, or completed the shelf stacking in record time? Write you have good time management skills. Did you have to work with other people, and did that well? Write that you're a good team player. Did you follow direction? Write that you have a sense of responsibility, and can work to deadlines or can work independently and follow direction. Anything can be turned into a positive, and showing that you understand the skills you needed to showcase in a previous job (even if it was babysitting!) will make you look more in touch with how you view yourself as a worker in a company.
I really, truly hope that these tips help, and you can share these with the young person in your life, and help them get their dream job, no matter what it is! If you'd like to download the full version of the CV & Cover Letter Templates E-book, just click here.
But what about you? What are some tips YOU can share with other readers here about what you see as being important aspects to put on a CV for young people today? Comment below!