In the past, most applications were initially screened and handled by HR administration or HR professionals, these were the people who first eye-balled your application and would shortlist by simply skimming your application, searching for certain phrases or buzzwords. Here’s the tricky thing … not all applications are read by human eyes anymore. Many employers and HR departments that employ large numbers of staff, utilize scanning software to search for keywords in job applications and ONLY when the computer pings with matches, will they read the applications!
Let’s explore the Excruciating “Writing Part” for Key Selection Criteria
Firstly, you must respond to the Key Selection Criteria. If you only send in your Cover Letter and Resume for a job that has a request for you to respond to Key Selection Criteria your application will immediately be discarded… outch!
Don’t assume that employers or the selection panel will pull the information out of your application package and pick up the salient points. They will not! Even if they had the spare time for such insight, they are not allowed to infer anything.
Resumes are your best sales and promotional flier!
“Is your resume getting you that interview?”
If it is, then you have a good resume, however, if it does not get you in front of a potential employer, it’s doing you NO favours! It should read like a sales document, it should “sell” your skills, experience and qualifications… it should make you like highly marketable!