Archive for 2011

How To Apply For A Job In Fashion (or anywhere for that matter)

In the last ten days or so, I have individually read over three hundred job applications. I won’t go into the details, just take it from me that’s a lot of sorting.

There are some people out there who know how to throw together a decent application. What I have been incredibly surprised at however, is that the vast majority of people haven’t got a clue how to successfully apply for a job. With this in mind, I thought I’d share my tips for applying for a role in such a way that you’ll get an interview.

Some notes:

1. If you think the job looks interesting, chances are other people do too. Remember this process is competitive and you need to stand out in your application – and for good reasons, not bad. Proof read and spell check at least three times before sending the application.
2. The devil is in the detail. If the advertisement asks for something specific in the application, make sure you not only include it, but make it VERY EASY to get to. Don’t ask the interviewer to click on things and navigate to places to find what they want to see. It’s WAY easier to just reject your application.
3. You’re looking for a first date, not a marriage proposal. Remember: the purpose of an application is to get the organisation interested enough in you to ask you for an interview. They’re not supposed to hire you on the strength of your application alone.

About cover letters…

These aren’t optional. Not only MUST you have a cover letter, it must be customised. It must address the selection criteria outlined in the advertisement and it must be correct, articulate and succinct. If the job you’re applying for has over 300 applicants, do you think the reviewer wants to read a page or more of wordy text about your life history?

They don’t.

Here’s the basic formula I use for cover letters. You’re more than welcome to pinch it:

Dear [First Name]

I wish to be considered for the [role title] position as advertised on/in [location of advertisement], reference number [number].

I believe I have all the skills necessary to excel in this role including:

[bullet points addressing criteria from advertisement]

Most of all however, I’m really [passionate / excited / interested / whatever] about working for [name of company]. [Here you need to do your research about the business and include a sentence outlining WHY YOU WANT THE JOB].

Thanks in advance for your consideration and I look forward to hearing from you soon. I can be contacted via reply email or on [phone number].

Regards,

[Your First Name]

Here are the important things to note about this template:

1. The letter is specifically addressed to a person. 90% of the time this name will not be in the job ad. It’s your job to find out what it is. Make a phone call, stalk them online. Work it out. About 0.5% of the time you won’t be able to find it and that’s OK – you can write ‘To Whom It May Concern’. Just for goodness sake make sure you spell that sentence right!
2. The bullet points address the specifics in the ad. Just by glancing at this letter, they’ll be able to tell if it’s worth reading your resume or not. Sometimes the ad will outline the selection criteria. Sometimes, you’ll have to work it out yourself. For example, say a job ad was only two lines and said something like ‘Fashion designer looking for assistant to help with running of label’. You can instantly work out stuff like:
   a) you’re going to have to know about fashion
   b) you’ll need to be organised
   Then you can look at their website or do some research and find out the specifics of the business. If they do all their manufacturing offshore then it might be really helpful that you speak another language, if they have no social media presence and you know how to build Facebook fan pages then that might be handy. If you have extensive experience as an EA that’ll definitely be worth outlining.
3. You’ll need to tailor the language used and tone of voice in your cover letter to reflect the advertisement. I saw a job ad a while ago that advertised for zombie killers. The actual job involved video game programming. To me, logic says that you wouldn’t write the same cover letter for these guys as you would for a bank but everything I’ve seen in the past few weeks tells me not many people think this way. Just take it from me as true.

As for resumes, well that’s probably another post in its own right. What I will say is that like your cover letter your resume should be largely customised to suit the type of role you’re applying for. I have four resumes. Each one of them is 100% accurate, they just each talk about different aspects of the jobs I’ve held.

Whilst I’m on the subject, less is more when it comes to resumes. Here’s what you DON’T have to include:

1. Your age or date of birth
2. Your marital status
3. Sexual preferences (don’t laugh, I’ve seen this one in the last few weeks)
4. Home address
5. Contact details for referees
6. Your hobbies (except in extraordinary circumstances where they’re relevant)
7. Blow by blow details of each and every single job you’ve ever had (unless you’ve only held one or two)

This post is rapidly becoming extremely long, so I’ll stop here and cap it off by saying that above all, don’t make yourself look like an idiot. If you’re going to say you have amazing attention to detail, don’t spell the word detail wrong. If you want to say you’re committed and loyal, you’d better make sure you’re not using your work email address and have been in each of your jobs more than 18 months.

Good luck!