Thread: HR help - Stupid CV's

Originally Posted by Brian Hjelm

If applying for public service jobs, you will, if you make the cut, be facing a selection committee consisting in most cases of people who have not done the job in question and know little about it. They are extremely politically correct these days, watch your p's and q's. Preference in APS jobs seems to lie in favour of the sisterhood nowadays, so best of luck.

I've had a few Qld govt interviews. Never got a job out of one. I have had a few jobs with them where I didn't get an interview though.
I've also had to compile applications for jobs there.

As has been said. Keep it short and to the point. These days they are getting applications in the high tens to low hundreds where they wouldn't have gotten many if any before this gloom and doom started (different industry to you).
So you don't want to be one of the long winded ones that gets tossed.

As for the Qld govt interview process, although I think their application process sucks balls and rewards those who have a high opinion of themselves, the interview panel actually consists of three people. One will be your manager/supervisor, one will be someone from the workgroup/team and the third one will be someone from outside the workgroup to give another point of view on you (sometimes the local HR person).
Also all the applications are forward
I've always had two guys and one female but that is probably just the areas I have applied to (to have the token female in the panel).

Good luck.

Just to add, in Qld govt, the people who sort through the applications are the same people who are on the panel. All the applications are given to them once the closing date passes.
It is the ones that go through recruitment agencies where the panel may never see your application I find. They just send along the ones they feel are suitable. Which is funny as I've had my application forwarded for jobs that I didn't apply for that I've told the person ringing that I am not suitable for! Even one from somewhere in New Zealand!

Originally Posted by Col.Coleman

Sent to your hotmail.

CC

Alright,

Check your email. I've sent you some things to do.

[QUOTE=Utemad;999661 the interview panel actually consists of three people. One will be your manager/supervisor, one will be someone from the workgroup/team and the third one will be someone from outside the workgroup to give another point of view on you (sometimes the local HR person).

Good luck.

[/QUOTE]

A long standing joke that circulates in the APS and is considered by many to be so close to the truth it is not funny says that selection panels usually consist of a third world immigrant, someone in a wheelchair, a lesbian, a raving loony feminist and a social worker, none of whom know anything about the job.

My experience was that rarely was the manager/supervisor on the panel, probably so they could later say in any appeal they did not show any favour to the successful applicant, just in case the applicant was manager's pet, relative, concubine, or notorious brown-noser.

Originally Posted by Brian Hjelm

A long standing joke that circulates in the APS .......

What exactly is the APS?
I did me a google search and came up with: Australian Public Service Commission - Home page
But besides making up buzzwords I couldn't figure out what they did.

Can you enlighten those of us who are not in the know?

Originally Posted by maca

What exactly is the APS?
I did me a google search and came up with: Australian Public Service Commission - Home page
But besides making up buzzwords I couldn't figure out what they did.

Can you enlighten those of us who are not in the know?

Australian Public Service
Federal public servants such as from Foreign Affairs and Trade or Defence.

Originally Posted by Brian Hjelm

A long standing joke that circulates in the APS and is considered by many to be so close to the truth it is not funny says that selection panels usually consist of a third world immigrant, someone in a wheelchair, a lesbian, a raving loony feminist and a social worker, none of whom know anything about the job.

My experience was that rarely was the manager/supervisor on the panel, probably so they could later say in any appeal they did not show any favour to the successful applicant, just in case the applicant was manager's pet, relative, concubine, or notorious brown-noser.

Every time we have recruited in our project the supervisor was on the panel and also one of the people who went through the applications. In our section since there is only 3 of us permanents we will all look and rank the applicants and then discuss our views. The projecy manager and soection supervisor with a third party supplied by hr then interview. Third party is there to make sure the interviews are fair.

As an employer - I like to see a SHORT CV. All I am looking for initially are some keywords. Point form is perfect.

If the person sounds interesting you can fill in all the gaps and get references & etc later on.

Depends upon the industry a bit. In IT (which is where I have done the employing) you are looking for a specific skill set, and generally it is a few short acronymns I'm looking for. Probably not so applicable to your Business Development Manager type of application, but when you have to go through 20 or 30 applicants the ones that get tossed are:
- poor spelling
- poor presentation
- waffling - telling me what they did for an after school job 15 years ago
- wrong qualifications

It's really hard to tell what a person is like from a piece of paper, so your way of talking direct to the person doing the employing is fantastic.

Also - if someone makes an effort to call before they send in the CV to "clarify things" that makes a good impression (to me anyway).

Good luck. It's hard work, and I hope you find something soon.
David

Originally Posted by Brian Hjelm

If you are over 40, do NOT include your date of birth. Age discrimination is rife, and gets worse in times of high unemployment.

Not wanting to hijack the thread, but I disagree Brian. I've hired some 40 techs and engineers over the last few years and I'm far happier with an older bloke. They are more loyal, more experienced, and far less trouble overall. The only real issue I've with this age group (as far as hiring tradesman is concerned) is computer skills.