Over the years I’ve been dissecting and writing about the project management recruitment process, providing advice, hints and tips on how any project management jobseeker can improve their job hunting tactics. Why? Well one thing that has become painfully obvious over the years is just how difficult and frustrating finding a new position has been for many in the project management field.
Here we look at each part of the recruitment process and give an insight to how all parties in the process may work. The objective of this insight is to help you understand why some things happen, what you can do about it and more importantly to identify those things you can’t control which always add to the frustration.
Let’s start at the beginning with the application process.
Application Process
For the jobseeker the application process should be about having a strategy, knowing where to look for new positions; being sure in your own mind which roles you’re going to go for and planning how you’re going to make that approach. Differentiation is key, and one important aspect is ensuring your CV is up to date and is doing the job it is supposed to do – giving the reader an insight into who you are, what skills and experiences you possess and what you can do for them if they hire you. It can be a frustrating process, no doubt these questions are all too familiar – why don’t I receive any responses to my applications? Why aren’t job descriptions and details about the post thorough and detailed enough for me to make a decent application? Why don’t I get called about jobs I applied for? What am I doing wrong?
Let’s look at the other people in the process – the recruitment agencies and the employer organisations that are looking for their next project management professional, and why certain things happen.
- The employing organisation has identified a need and advertised the new role; without the right internal approvals the role might be removed from the marketplace at any point in the process. That’s why some roles you apply for never come to anything.
- An organisation may decide to advertise a new role directly (through the national press, online job boards and their own websites) or use recruitment agencies or indeed both. That’s why you will see the same job advertised in many different places by different organisations. As a rule, just apply through one of the routes on offer.
- When an organisation advertises a role directly they can opt for a number of different ways in which someone can apply for a role; send a CV, complete an application form etc. Application forms make it easier for an organisation to shortlist based on like for like applications and perform competency based profiling. Applications made through application forms are generally better for the job seeker, sure it takes more time but you give a better, informed and thorough response.
- Job specifications don’t make great advertisements; often an organisation’s job description will run to 8 or 10 pages – all great information for a job seeker to read through but not great for attracting people to apply. Many organisations lack the skill to condense the real requirements of a role and turn this into a meaningful advert which will attract the right calibre of applicant. This can lead to frustration on all levels as the “specification” may be too open or closed.
- Recruitment agency advertisements can be also be poor and lacking in any kind of detail which allows you, the very person they want to attract, to make a well-informed decision on whether this is the right role for you and whether you have the skills they’re looking for. There can be many reasons for this including the fact that they don’t want other recruitment agencies guessing who their clients are and making a direct approach for the job. They may also lack the skills to interpret the requirement and just copy and paste from an organisation’s internal job specification. Worse still the client may be “too busy” to brief the agency on the real requirement! As a consequence we see many adverts which bear no relation to real positions on offer – there’s no context.
- Advertised roles can vary greatly in their popularity, some can attract hundreds of applications whilst others may attract none. Whatever the scenario that’s still not an excuse for not communicating with a job seeker even if they were unsuccessful – it’s just laziness and bad customer service, so cross them off your list and choose other organisations instead.
- Letting a job seeker know they are not going to be shortlisted for a position is not the same as giving feedback as to why they weren’t successful; it’s generally recognised to be unreasonable for job seekers to expect any organisation to give you personal feedback on your application – interview, yes, application, no.
Shortlisting Process
The stage of the process where your application has made it passed the first gateway; the organisation is interested in you or the recruitment agency thinks you meet some of the key criteria. Remember, it’s just a paper fit at the moment; you still need to add in those important criteria such as personality, communication skills, professionalism, etc before being selected for interview.
- Agency screening interviews can vary significantly from a short checklist/tick-in-the-box Q&A to a more detailed examination into your experiences. Even if you don’t think much of the recruitment consultant asking the questions, keep it professional, upbeat and enthusiastic, it’s more than just another hoop to jump through on the way to getting an interview. Remember they own the process!
- More and more organisations are opting for telephone interviews before inviting candidates in for a face to face meeting. Telephone interviews are just as important as the main thing – they’re looking to see if there are enough matches on the key criteria of the role, that you come across well, and to gain insight into why you applied for the position. They’re also looking to avoid wasting everyone’s time if you’re not a good fit.
- Now is an ideal time to get sight of the more detailed job description, and if it’s a recruitment agency you’re dealing with, the name of the organisation who are recruiting. There is no excuse good enough for agencies not to tell you the company name at this stage, if it is refused, walk away.
Interview Process
Making it through to the interview stage should be deemed a success and you deserve a pat on the back after all your hard work in putting together a good application pack. You know that the organisation thinks you are a good fit for their business and now you’ve been asked to show what you can do for them. Performing well in interviews is a combination of a number of factors; good planning, research, knowing who you are and what you do, communication, confidence, enthusiasm, etc.
- An interview can’t be prepared for without the full job specification (including personal specification), company name and any insider information on areas like company culture and ethos. Use your recruitment agency to your advantage – ask for all materials available, interviewers’ names, ask for an interview preparation session, if a presentation is required; bounce ideas off your agent and ask them to review it. Remember, your agent knows the individuals who will be interviewing you so make sure you have this information too. After all they have a mutual interest in you being successful!
- When you receive the call about the interview being scheduled directly from an organisation you have applied to, be ready with a list of questions. Often you’re so happy at being selected for interview that important questions get overlooked. Remember the 5 W and H; who, what, where, when, why, how. Who will be there? Who do you report to on arrival? What format will the interview take? What are you expected to bring? What tests will there be? Where do I need to go? When will I need to be there? How will the interview be carried out? It is also another chance to make an impression!
- Even at this late stage, new positions can be pulled and interviews cancelled. This can happen because those approvals were never sorted out at the beginning of the process, as the organisation gets nearer to hiring a lot more people become involved in the process (HR, line managers, departmental managers etc) and stones start to become unturned. There’s nothing you can do in this situation apart from stay in touch and see if the decision is reversed.
- It is too common to hear of people attending interviews who then receive no feedback on their performance and it is totally unacceptable. It’s easier to obtain feedback from public sector organisations due to their own recruitment policies and procedures which dictate interviewed candidates will receive feedback. Keep pressing the HR department until you receive it.
- Feedback after your interview when using a recruitment agency can be hit and miss and it’s not purely down to the recruitment agency. Often an organisation’s feedback will be based on the person who was successfully hired and your comparison to them rather than personal feedback on your performance. Sometimes the hiring organisation doesn’t provide feedback at all – they’ve made a successful hire so all their energies are focused on that. If you want to challenge this status quo of recruitment, be persistent, polite and don’t give up until you receive it.
See the original post and other advice on finding a new project management job.
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