CVs with wrong information on it

 There is nothing new about how important your CV is on a job interview. This is not an original topic at all. However, I am afraid we still need to talk about it. As a Recruiter, I see terrible CVs on daily bases. This document can affect the image you give as a candidate and even eliminate you from the recruitment process.

A good interview should go beyond the text written on your CV. But the CV could be a starting point for the interview, or maybe the Recruiter might want to talk about it or about some specific aspect of your curriculum at certain point of the interview. The CV is a document that you present to the company you are applying for, so you should take it seriously.

I have seen thousands of CVs every month at work. Some were normal; some made me feel impressed; some had very unique pictures; some were so short that it seems that the candidate took literally three minutes to write it; and some had so many spelling mistakes that I could barely understand what was written on the paragraph.

There are many websites already talking about how to write a good CV, and sharing helpful tips. At the end, you are free to choose how to create your CV. There is not only one correct way to do it. But my point is: which impression do you give to the Recruiter when you present your CV? It doesn´t matter how you format your CV and which information you decide to write on it: the CV is a document that represents you and it will cause an impression on the Recruiter.

During the interview, keep a copy of your CV printed on your hands. A similar idea works also for Skype interviews: you can have your CV open in one-half side of your computer screen and the Skype open on the other half. It is very confusing for the Recruiter when the candidate say some information that is different from what he had written on the CV.

Let´s imagine the Recruiter asks you how long you worked for the company “X”, which is listed on your CV. You reply three years, but on the CV, you had written only one year. Giving a different reply to the Recruiter than the one on your CV can mean two different things:

You are not telling the truth in person or by Skype to the Recruiter now, or you were not telling the truth when you wrote your CV.

Maybe this interview is not “that important” to you, because you didn´t take the time to review your document before presenting it.

In any case, those two situations won´t make you look good at all during the interview. It´s better do not risk, take the time to review your CV, and have a copy of it in front of you.

If you have written one thing on your CV, and now you are telling a different story to the Recruiter, your interview will probably take longer than it was planned to last. The Recruiter might need to write down or make notes about the different information you are adding, or correct the dates on the file, or also do any other adjustment on your document that will increase the interview time.

In general, Recruiters have a busy interview agenda, sometimes even with one candidate scheduled for interview right after the other. Loosing time because the information you are giving is contradictory can cause some delay on the daily interview agenda. Maybe this unplanned delay will create the feeling to the Recruiter that the interview is a waste of time. If the candidate didn´t care and worked on his CV, why should the Recruiter spend his time with this person? Yes, it can be cruel, but that´s the reality.

You can be a good candidate, but if you create doubts on the Recruiter´s mind during the interview due to inconsistent information, you are playing against yourself. The Recruiter needs to make a decision about giving you a job or not, and there is a chance he won´t be comfortable giving you the job if he has doubts about you. Try to minimize the chances of creating hesitation in the Recruiter´s mind.

Let the Recruiter doubt only about things like “Candidate A has more work experience then candidate B, but candidate B can speak Chinese and candidate A can´t, so which one should I choose?”. Do not add unnecessary vacillation in the recruitment process, especially about if you are a trustable person or not. Doubts like this could lead to stop your process soon.

If you have to do last minute changes on your CV for any reason, please make sure you mention that as soon as possible to the Recruiter, ideally at the beginning of the interview. You can also have an extra copy of your CV for the Recruiter, so he will be able to conduct the process having the updated information in hands. You might also want to have the new version on a file that can you send by e-mail immediately, so the Recruiter can open it even before the interview begins.

The CV is something you can prepare before the interview and take all the time you need to show the best version of you. Go for a real, objective and professional way to reflected that. It can only help you on your recruitment process.

Do your best and go ahead!

As you know, English is not my native language. I use it because I can reach more people and share my experience with you. Feel free to visit my blog at julianarabbi.blogspot.com and find more articles and videos.

Click here to watch the video on You Tube.

Click here to subscribe to my YouTube channel.

Do you speak another language?

 In a job interview, there is a big chance that, at some point, the Recruiter will ask you about the languages you can speak. For some positions, a foreign language (or even more than one) is mandatory, so you should be ready to answer this question eventually. Even if it is not a requirement for the position, your communication skills in a different language can still be used as an aspect that could make a difference in case there are two candidates with a similar profile, and we have to choose only one.

There is a funny thing I heard more than once in my interviews when I started speaking to a candidate in a language he wrote on his CV he had a bilingual level:  “I was bilingual, now my level is lower”. Whether you are bilingual or you are not! There is no such thing as “I was bilingual, now for some reason I will try to explain you, I am not anymore”. Please name things right.

If you have an official language certificate that confirms your fluency level in a foreign language, make sure you mention that in details on your CV. If you do not have any official certification for your language level, try to make your real level as clear as possible in your CV. Let me repeat that: REAL level.

What is the point of writing “English” on you CV with no other information besides that? If you write only the word “English”, the Recruiter can´t guess, by magic, if it means that your level is basic, intermediate or advanced. We can´t deduct if you can read better than you write, or if you just started taking classes related to that language 2 weeks ago. It´s better not to leave space on your CV for confusion.

If you write “English” (or any other language on your CV), please make sure you specify:

-  Reading, Writing and Speaking Level – some people classify the levels in “Basic, Intermediate and Advanced”, others use percentage (like English speaking 70%), and other use the European Language classification (like A1, A2, B1, B2, C1 and C2).

-  Specify which your Native Language is. Make this information clear.

-  Mention language courses you have done (places and dates).

-  You can also mention relevant experiences you had related to that language – for example: I lived for one year in the UK in the year 2008; I have been using Spanish daily at work since 2013.

Don´t be surprised if the Recruiter starts the interview with you speaking directly in Portuguese, in case it´s written “Fluent Portuguese” on your CV. I have done it myself many times.

Writing on a document like a CV that you are “Fluent” in a certain language can be risk. If you write you are fluent in Russian, but you are not, and the Recruiter decides to switch languages and speak to you in Russian, it can make you feel nervous. You might lose your concentration and show without further doubts that you were not telling the truth on your CV.

If you write “Fluent” in any language, our expectation as Recruiter increases, and most likely, we will want to check that fluency during the interview. It is better to be realistic and fair with yourself.

Another interesting aspect about speaking a different language is that you not always need to speak it fluently to reach the level the Recruiter is looking for. Depending on position and requirements that the company asks for, if you are able to communicate, write and ready in a reasonable way, your language level could be fine.

If you can communicate in a foreign language and people can understand you; if you say or write something and people can get your message, sometimes this can be enough. I emphasize that the language requirement is directly connected to the job position you are applying for: the higher the position, the higher the expectation about your language skills.

Don´t panic if you are in the middle of a sentence and you can´t find the exactly word you want to say. If your mind goes blank, probably you will stop the sentence you were saying, and will keep trying to find “the” exactly word you want to say. This situation will probably increase your anxiety level, you might lose the idea you want to say, and the Recruiter will probably lose his interest on you.

So what to do in those cases?

- First, make your peace with that. Sometimes we can´t find the right word that express perfectly what we want to say. If it happens, we can always go for a synonym or a similar word that gets closer to the idea we had in mind, but could not express before. Not finding the word in the moment that you are speaking happens even when you are speaking your native language, so imagine when you are speaking a second or a third language! Do not be so hard on yourself.

- If you still can´t find a synonym or a similar word, try to explain your point in as many details as you can. Doing so, the Recruiter will be able to understand clearly what you are talking about, even if you didn´t mention the specific word for it.

- You can exercise that at home with any word you pick up, just to see that it´s possible to manage that.

For example: Imagine that I am a Cook and I want to say I was doing fruit carving at my previous job, but due to the nervous during the interview I can´t remember the word “carving”. I can explain my point saying: “I was using knives and other objects to create different shapes with fruits and vegetable, in an artistic way, making then look like roses, or animals, or even faces”.

- Last, but not least: We Recruiters understand that you are under stress during the interview, and probably won´t show your best language performance in that moment. So you won´t lose the job just because you made one or two grammar mistake.

We have been in the candidate´s position before, and we had to speak in a foreign language in front of somebody that was evaluating us, so we know how hard it is.

The worst thing you can do is to be blocked and do not say a single word in the language that you wrote in your CV that you could speak. It´s always better to try to say something, and show the Recruiter your positive attitude about it, then just say excuses like “Sorry, but there is a long time I don´t speak this language”, or “Can we just skip this part of the interview?”.

If you are thinking about saying anything similar to that to the Recruiter when he starts speaking to you in one of the languages you wrote on your CV you could speak, please review the language level you want to write on this document.

There might be also a background and references check about you during the recruitment process. That complementary information can show the Recruiter a different reality then the one you illustrate until now. Misleading the information you write on your CV or the one you give during the interview can cause automatically removal of your application from the process. Don´t play with that.

Do your best and go ahead!

As you know, English is not my native language. I use it because I can reach more people and share my experience with you. Feel free to visit my blog at julianarabbi.blogspot.com and find more articles and videos.

Click here to watch the video on You Tube.

Click here to subscribe to my YouTube channel.

Shall I send an e-mail after the interview asking for some feedback?

The Recruiter working schedule is normally busy with many interviews, reports, meetings, and other tasks. Shortly after he interviews you, he might not have time to reply to your e-mails asking for feedback.

Some candidates like to send a new e-mail to the Recruiter every two or three days emphasizing how good they are for the job, how much they need it, and asking for some news. It´s normal that the person wants to know his interview result, but patience is the main key here.

Too many e-mails from the same candidate asking for the interview result can give a bad image about you. It can sound desperate and impatient. Imagine if all the interviewed candidates decide to send a single e-mail to the Recruiter to wonder about the result. The Recruiter won´t do any other thing during his working hours but reply to those e-mails!

Luckily, every time more and more companies work with internal candidate tracking systems, which already sends an automatic e-mail to the candidate once the recruitment process is over. If you were the candidate, you would receive at least a typical feedback like “Thanks for your time, but we decided to choose another person”.

Those e-mails can seem a bit a cold, like “copy and paste” (and they are template messages), but at least there was a reply sent to you. At least you won´t be waiting for weeks or months without knowing what happened with that interview. I know we all want to hear that we got the job. Although when we talk about job interview results, a “no” is better than an eternal silence.

I try to be very careful with the candidate´s feedback, because I consider everybody deserves a reply. It can be painful and frustrating not knowing what happened after your interview, if you are still on the process and it is just taking longer than you thought, or if there is somebody else already there working on that position.

Apart from that, if you are in an active job search, you might receive another offer while you are still waiting for that reply, and you don´t know what to do. So, for me, even a “Thanks, but no, thanks” feedback is better than ignore the candidate forever after the interview.

Some candidates would like to receive a personalized feedback from the Recruiter, with the details about the reason why there were not select. There are people that send e-mails or call me after the process is over to ask for the specifics about why we choose another candidate.

The person can justify it saying “I want to learn from this situation to improve myself for future opportunities”, or he can just say he is curious about it, and both options are fine. The problem is that most of the time, we, Recruiters, can´t give you much information about it.

Sometimes, due to confidentially aspects and commitments we made with the company, even if we wanted, we would not be able to share more details.

There are times that the reason why the other person got the job offer and not you is very objective and clear. For example, the other candidate has three more years of experience than you, or he can speak an additional language that you can´t. Other times, it´s a mix of many things that we need to consider when making the final decision about who will get the job offer.

If the Recruiter´s answer for you is a “Yes, we would like to make you a job offer”, you will know it. Believe me, we will find you in 99% of the cases (sending an e-mail, calling you, leaving a text or voice message on your mobile phone, writing you a private message on LinkedIn, etc). If you do not receive any answer or feedback at all about the interview…. then, better start planning your next step in a different direction.

There is nothing wrong if you decide to send an e-mail to the Recruiter after the interview, thank him for his time and ask for your interview result. Some Recruiter´s strongly recommend a follow up e-mail as a way of showing that you are interested in the position. Just consider that any recruitment process takes some time, and that by sending one e-mail per day, every single day, to the Recruiter, won´t help to make things faster. 

If you decide to do it, do it once and please wait at least one week before you send it. By doing so, you give sometime to the process; respect the Recruiter´s agenda and at the same time, show that you are still interested in the job. Then maybe, you will get your reply.

Do your best and go ahead!

As you know, English is not my native language. I use it because I can reach more people and share my experience with you. Feel free to visit my blog at julianarabbi.blogspot.com and find more articles and videos.

Click here to watch the video on You Tube.

Click here to subscribe to my YouTube channel.

Why the Recruiter was not friendly with me?

We all like to feel welcome when we are doing a job interview, right? Who disagree that a big smile on the interviewer´s face, a friendly tone of voice and a nice behavior helps to make us feel comfortable since the very begging? However, because the Recruiters are humans, it does not always happen.

I have been in the candidate position many times in my life, in different countries, having different Recruiters in front of me, and I know exactly how it feels to be there. Even if you are very good at what you do and you are an expert in interviews, there is always a bit of stress involved in this process. You know that the other person is evaluating you and needs to make a decision that will affect your life.

What you might not know yet is that the interview process affects the Recruiter´s life too. Yes, you read it right: the interview process also affects the person who is interviewing you.

Candidates normally don´t see the interview situation from the Recruiter point of view, and that´s normal. The candidate is already doing his part in keeping himself together and trying to cause a positive impression,  and that is a lot! However, let me tell you one thing: the main goal the Recruiter have in his job is to fill up an open position with the right person, in other words, hire somebody for the job.

It doesn´t mean the Recruiter should select the first candidate he sees (although sometimes it happens). But believe me, the Recruiter wants to give you a job if possible, because that´s his job, match the candidate with the position requirements, finish that, and then go to another position, another candidate and start it all over again.

Doing interviews all daylong can be tiring. Like in most of the jobs, Recruiters needs to try to keep the same energy level, concentration, interest and professionally with the first candidate early in the morning, and with the last one of the day.

The interviewer needs to be friendly during the interview, even if he has a big headache or didn´t have time to eat lunch because there was a delay in the previous interview. He should treat you in a professional way even if he just left from a meeting with his boss and the feedback he received was not good at all.

I guess I can imagine what you are thinking right now: “Yes, I see that, it all sounds real and possible to happen, but as a candidate, I don´t care. This is MY job interview, can´t this Recruiter do at least MY interview in a nice way, and then release his stress in some other candidate but me?”

Well… I wish I could say you will never have to deal with a Recruiter with a long face, or not smiling at all during the interview, or giving signs that he seems to be busy with something else. However, that´s not the reality, sorry. There are bad Recruiters, that´s a fact, and there are good and professional ones, but even those might have a bad day… and you might be right in front of him in one of those days, to do your interview!

There are no excuses for the Recruiter´s inappropriate behavior, and this is not what I am trying to do here at all. Respect the candidate´s time and availability to do the interview should be the background for every single contact between candidate and Recruiter, it doesn´t matter if the person is qualified for the position or not.

We can never guess the sacrifices the candidate in front of us made to be there. Maybe the candidate is taking a day off from work to be available for the interview. Maybe he paying a cybercafé to have a good connection in case of a Skype interview. Maybe he decided to buy a new suit to look good for the interview. Maybe he is coming straight from a night shift without sleeping to do the interview. Maybe he was not working, but he couldn´t sleep at all due to stress, thinking about the interview. I have seen all those cases myself, and many others.

My point is: do not take it personally if the Recruiter seems a bit impolite with you and does not treat you the way you wish and deserve. This situation probably has nothing to do with you personally, but with his “bad day”.

As I mentioned before, I know it should not happen, but if it happens, it might increase your nerves during your interview… So please, do yourself a favor and don´t assume the problem is with you. Don´t take it personally.

We Recruiters are humans, just like you. If we do not manage to deal with stress, bad days, work schedule and pressure during your interview, I hope at least we will be able to manage that later when making a fair decision about your process. In any case, you can´t control the Recruiter´s behavior, so do your part, keep confident and let´s hope you get a positive reply!

Do your best and go ahead!

As you know, English is not my native language. I use it because I can reach more people and share my experience with you. Feel free to visit my blog at julianarabbi.blogspot.com and find more articles and videos.

Click here to watch the video on You Tube.

Click here to subscribe to my YouTube channel.