Situation Vacant

I've spent the day today shortlisting applications for a job in my team. I wont say where for obvious reasons. But I have to ask how many people realise they are throwing so much away by not spending a little time tailoring their application form to the job being advertised?

I understand there are situations where you have to apply in order to maintain a certain status quo. Believe it or not, we're not blind to that. There are others however, where you think, "ooh this would be interesting I want to find out more". And all you see is a standard reply, probably entered into many other applications too, that doesn't cover everything/anything we are looking for. I understand the need to do so. Been there myself, unemployed for a long time and just filling out forms. But it isn't doing you any favours. Where I work takes a lot of interest and time in sorting out applications and shortlisting. We have to spend an equal amount of time and consideration on each applicant. We can't just throw your application to one side because you haven't deaned to spend a lot of time preparing it. I work in an different kind of job and some of the applications were from sectors who have felt the pinch recently. Believe it or not there were transferable skills. But in many cases there was a bog standard supporting information bit. Our hands were tied.

All I'm saying is in some (not all) cases there are organisations willing to consider you. Willing to put in the extra time to consider your experience and what makes you fit in with what they do. Don't write off putting in applications, or try and do a one size fits all application. Do a little background stuff. Know who you are applying to and let the people you are applying to know that you know. Rant over. It's a shame we had to overlook people.