Pitch Perfect

Depending on the job you’re applying for, some recruitment processes may include "homework”. Usually it’s a hands-on task, aimed to test your practical skills. And like any homework, such tasks often come hand in hand with deadlines 🫠

While preparing a good solution is important, don’t forget that the deadline itself is also, in a way, a part of the task. There are 2 skills that recruiters can potentially test when setting up a deadline: time management and communication.

Now, I think it's not eye-opening to say it’s important to meet previously discussed deadlines (duh, Sasha - time management 🙄), but let’s make it a bit more interesting and imagine the worst-case scenario. Your deadline is coming up and you’re nowhere near completing the task 😱 What can you do?

That’s where your communication skills are put to a test. The thing is, deadlines can often be moved 🫢 Unless it’s a corporate environment with mass recruitment processes, you have a good chance to get some extra time if you *communicate* your need in advance. After all, the main goal of a hands-on task is to check the skills you’ll be using in your role, and communication is usually a crucial one ☝️

Here’s what you can do:
▪️ Reach out to your recruiter in advance and let them know you’re already working on the task, but won’t be able to complete it on time. Stress that you would love to do your best and ask if it’s possible to push the deadline.
▪️ Make sure the new deadline you propose is realistic.
▪️ Commit to meeting the new deadline 🙂

Good luck! 🍀

In 2018, a job site Ladders conducted an eye-tracking study to learn how exactly recruiters scan CVs. Let’s take a look at its results and see what you have to do to catch a recruiter’s eye 👀

First of all… the famous seconds. Roughly 7️⃣ seconds is what recruiters would spend per CV on average 🚀

Does it mean recruiters will never stop and read your CV in more detail? They will! 🤞 But you have to make sure you grab their attention and focus within these first 7 seconds. Here’s how to do it 👇

What did the top performing CVs have in common?
✅ Clear and simple layouts with clearly marked section and title headers.
✅ Layouts that took advantage of F-pattern and E-pattern reading tendencies (e.g. bold job titles supported by bulleted lists of accomplishments).
✅ A personal statement at the top of the first page.
✅ Clear fonts.

And the worst performing ones?
❌ Very little white space: long sentences, walls of text, and multiple columns.
❌ Poor layout that did not draw the eye down.
❌ Keywords stuffed without any context.

Wondering how to apply this research to your own CV? Drop me a DM and I’ll be happy to review what you already have or create a new one from scratch 🤗

If you’re in the process of looking for a new job, sooner or later you’ll have to start scheduling interviews 🗓️ In an ideal world we’d just accept the recruiter’s first proposition, but… life is life, we all have our commitments and more often than not, calendars just don’t match. How to address that in a professional manner, yet not sounding too stiff?

Let’s start with a few ways to say that a proposed time doesn’t work for you:

▪️ Unfortunately, that time doesn't work for me / that doesn't fit into my schedule. Can we pick another slot?
▪️ How about we try another time?
▪️ Is there a different time we can meet?
▪️ Can we reschedule for a different time?
▪️ Is there any flexibility to schedule this at a different time?

If you’d like to ask for someone’s availability, you can say:

▫️ What's your availability like this week?
▫️ Do you have any openings/open slots in your calendar?
▫️ What's your schedule like for the next few days?
▫️ Could you let me know your availability?
▫️ Is there a time that works best for you to meet?

Finally, if you find a suitable time slot, here’s how you can confirm it:

🔸 That works for me. Let's lock it in for [proposed time].
🔸 Sounds good! I'll mark my calendar for [proposed time].
🔸 I'll go ahead and confirm that time for our meeting.
🔸 That’s perfect, let's go ahead and schedule it for [proposed time].
🔸 Sounds great! See you on [propose date and time].

Save this post for later and give it a like, if you’ve learned something new today 😊

Dear Sir or Madam, hi, hello! 👋🏻 Writing that first line of an email, when you aren’t used to communicating at work in English, can be a stressful task on its own. Which email greetings are appropriate and which ones to avoid? 🤔

Those of us who mostly learned English at school still remember the classic “Dear Sir or Madam” or “Dear [Name]”, and might feel like a casual “Hi” isn’t formal enough. In reality, “Hi [Name]” is the most common and safe email greeting that’s suitable in 99% of the cases. Let’s look at some other options you could use 👇🏻

▪️Hello [Name] - just a tiny bit more formal than “Hi” and also suitable in most cases. A simple “Hello” without a name is a good alternative to “Dear Sir or Madame” when you don’t know the name of the person you’re addressing.

▪️Good morning / afternoon / evening / day [Name]- these are also considered polite and friendly greetings, on a slightly more formal note. You can also use these when you don’t know the name of the person you’re addressing.

▪️Greetings - another option you can use if you aren’t sure what name to use or how to spell it.

▪️Dear [Name] - you can use it in response to an email that also started with a “Dear”, but otherwise I’d avoid it - while perfectly correct, it does come across a bit old-fashioned and stiff, and business English is becoming more and more informal.

What other greetings would I avoid? ❌

▪️Dear Sir or Madam - yep, that’s right, it hasn’t made the “good” list. Just like “Dear”, it’s also correct, but even more stiff and impersonal.

▪️To whom it may concern - in the same category, overly formal in most cases.

▪️Hi [Misspelled name] - couldn’t leave this one out 🥲 Always make sure you spell the name correctly, and if you aren’t sure, use one of the general greetings I listed above. I’ve had my name misspelled a countless number of times and while it doesn’t immediately affect my hiring decision, it is annoying and makes me wonder about the candidate’s attention to detail 🤷🏻‍♀️

That’s about it. My final piece of advice for you as a candidate is to pay attention to the style and tone of communication of the person on the other side and try to match them 👌🏻