One of the first steps you take when looking for a new job is actually applying for it. In Australia, this involves clicking on an “Apply Now” button and uploading your resume and cover letter. As this is one of the most simple steps in the entire recruitment process, you can imagine my surprise and disbelief when some candidates fail to it correctly - or at all. For all the roles I’m recruiting, I regularly have one or two candidates apply without including a resume, or uploading something so random I think they’re trolling me. I’ve had a selfie in front of Notre Dame, a birds eye view photo of Bondi Beach, concert tickets, single sentence documents referring me to their SEEK profile (something we can’t look up) and cover letters applying to roles not run by myself or people2people at all.

At first it was surprising to me when I received these, now it’s bemusement, largely because of how often it happens. Having high attention to detail is a huge part of most roles, so falling down at the first stage of applying to a new position doesn’t look good. We will reach out if it appears there was a technical glitch in uploading, but we simply don’t have time to call you if you’ve not done it properly. My advice is to really concentrate when you’re applying for jobs.

Don’t do it late at night or when you’re distracted. Don’t apply for lots of jobs all at once, and ensure that each CV and cover letter is relevant to the position. This is a message preached time and time again, but only because the same issues keep happening. Realistically, it’s nice to see a picture of you enjoying yourself, but I’d rather see work experience!