Prepare to be shocked, Career Confessions appalled and amused! We interviewed a graduate recruitment consultant to find out what really happens to your CV when you apply for a job through a recruitment agency. If you want an honest insight into the recruitment process, you’re in the right place. The person we interviewed has asked to remain anonymous. Get ready to find out why!
I often look at a CV for as little as three seconds, but I look at some CVs for as long as two minutes.
I always look at the hobbies on people’s CVs. They tell you quite a lot about the person and sometimes they’re really hilarious. I had one today that said they were an enthusiastic member of the handball society. Another one of my favourites was: “flying my bird of prey.”
Someone else listed one of their hobbies as living at home with their partner, dog, cat and rabbit. Hobbies can definitely tell you if people are nuts or not. Sometimes I call them, just so I can see what they’re like.
I don’t really care if somebody’s CV is longer than two pages. As long as they’ve got what I’m looking for and it doesn’t look stupid, I’ll look at it. Lots of graduate CVs are one page with really small font, which I think is quite cool.
For one basic admin job, paying £16,000, I once got 3,000 CVs in a week. I physically don’t have time to open every CV I receive.