What recruiters want
What recruiters want
By Liam Campbell
As someone who manages recruitment for a ski holiday company finding seasonal workers each year fills me with both joy and dread.
I recruit around 30 members of seasonal staff each year and for those positions I receive over 1,500 applications!
Whilst I love nothing more than speaking with people who share my passion snow sports and the mountains; it still proves to be a slog to get through the applications and complete the recruitment process.
Most of those applications don’t make it through the sifting process. Those who proceed to an interview get the opportunity to really show what they have to offer are and live the dream out in the mountains!
So how can you boost your chances of being able to work a season and your chances of getting an interview?
Here are my 5 tips for your application to work a season:
1. Work experience
It all starts before you send the application in. Recruiters are looking for people with a good set of skills in the area they are recruiting for. If it’s a customer facing role, they will look for a history customer service and hospitality experience. If you haven’t already get a job in a similar style venue or job before you send in your application. Seek that experience and it will help open the door to you being able to work a season. It also means you will have a few quid more in your pocket when you get out there!
2. Research
Found your dream job position? That is great, now how are you going to make sure you get it? Do your homework. Read the job description, fully understand the role and all its requirements. Do you have the right experience? Is this what I want to do? Why do I want to do it? Learn about the company you will be working for?
Recruiter’s love hearing about themselves. That doesn’t mean they are vain, but it shows you’ve done your research. So, make sure you know about the company, what resorts do they operate in, when were they founded, how did they grow, what makes them different to the rest of the industry and most importantly of all, why do you want to work for them rather than anyone else.
3. Well written CV
If someone sends a one page CV with little to no explanation of what they have done, the recruiter probably won’t even bother reading it. If an applicant can’t be bothered to put the effort and attention to detail into writing a proper CV; why should they put themselves out to read it? You only get one chance to make a first impression; if your CV suggests little time and effort has been put into its creation, it’s natural to assume you lack energy and enthusiasm and what does that say about the effort they would likely put into their job.
Recruiters are not looking for your autobiography and what you have for lunch on a Tuesday in February, but you need to paint a picture of what makes you tick. Two pages tends to be more than enough. Explain your previous roles and responsibilities but keep it succinct, keep it focused, keep it punchy, and keep it you.
4. Covering letters
Don’t just send a CV and hope for the best, you will just be a name on top of a piece of paper with some jobs written below it. It isn’t very interesting and unlikely to grab the attention of the recruiter.
They want to know who is applying! Introduce yourself, why you want to work for the company, show them your relevant work experience, what your passions are and why should they pick you.
5. Be personal
There is nothing worse than having a bland and generic application sent to you. It is so obvious when you copy and paste an application and send it to 50 different companies. You don’t have to rewrite your whole CV and covering letter but tweak it to keep it relevant to the role and company ethos to every position you apply to. Make sure to read the job description and understand what the key skills are the company want you to show and demonstrate them in your work experience.
It takes a little more work, but I guarantee it will help you stand out from the crowd.
So that is 5 things you can do to increase your chances of working a season.
Anyone can do it but few actually do.
If you put a little bit of time into and focus on these points then suddenly you stand out head and shoulders above the rest and that gives you a better chance than others who haven’t made the effort.