Finding the right person for every role we advertise is one of the most important contributions I can make as a hiring manager. A company’s success hinges on the skills and abilities of a team, in combination with the way team members interact with one another.
Here at Designlab, we look for people with the potential to add immediate value, but who will also learn and grow quickly. Each team member needs to add constructively to our team culture and strongly represent our company values.
Recently we advertised a role in our internal team and within five days had over 1,500 applications. With that many applicants, we needed to find ways to screen candidates both fairly and quickly. This got me thinking about some advice I’d like to share for anyone on the job hunt.
Here are some things to keep top of mind when you’re submitting your next job application. These are all things we look for to qualify or disqualify candidates during our very first round of screening for a position, and likely most other hiring managers do as well.
1. Spelling counts (srsly!)
There is nothing worse than reading a great application where the applicant is insightful in their answers, relates well to the role, and clearly knows about the company, but whose work is littered with avoidable spelling errors.
Your application is where you put your best foot forward. Check over what you’ve written and make sure it represents you and the quality of work you’re capable of producing.
If you don’t take the time to run a quick spell check at this stage, then I start to wonder how detail-oriented and thoughtful you’re going to be with your work once you actually have the job.
And—spell the company name correctly. The company name for the position you’re applying to will almost always be referenced multiple times in the job advert, and the questions themselves.