Competency questions – what are they really asking?

Sometimes when faced with a competency question (on an application form or at interview) it isn’t always immediately obvious what it is they are looking for.  Taking the time to work this out is important, as you will be able to focus your answer and give examples that provide evidence of the skills they are looking for.

So how to do this?
Ask yourself: What is the question getting at? What is it designed to find out about me?

Practice makes perfect. Here are some examples of questions along with their underlying meaning and topics you could cover in your answer (depending on the situation and job role):

Can you give me an example of when you’ve had to change someone’s opinion on an issue?

• underlying meaning = persuasive communication

In your answer you could give an example of a time when you demonstrated the ability to influence and persuade. You could also mention things like effective communication, the ability to adapt your communication style to your audience for best effect, or being considerate of other viewpoints yet confident in your own.

Can you give me an example of when you persisted with something even though you were beginning to lose hope of success?

• underlying meaning = achievement of goals

In your example you could mention your ability to create well-defined goals and responsd well to pressure.  Other ideas:  having the persistence and energy require to meet or exceed your objectives,  demonstrating resilience, or possessing the ability to look at things from different angles.

What do you think will be the most important issue/s facing this sector in the next five years?

• underlying meaning = commercial awareness

Show you have an interest in business and knowledge of how an organisation operates, particularly in your chosen field.  An obvious way to do this is to show that you keep up with news in general and with your own industry area in particular.  You could also demonstrate that you are aware of the ways external factors such as government legislation, new technology, war, extreme weather conditions, or global issues can affect the operation of an organisation.

Tell me about a time when you completed a task without all the resources that you would have ideally needed.

• underlying meaning = adaptability

Your example will give evidence that you are able to adapt to a situation which is not ideal and still produce an effective outcome.  Within this you could highlight having a flexible approach, the ability to think creatively, staying positive in difficult circumstances or being resourceful in responding to major changes.

Can you give me an example of a situation in which you have had to analyse complex information in order to make a decision?  How did you approach it?

• underlying meaning = problem solving

This could entail your ability to analyse and solve practical problems and evaluate tasks or situations in a logical manner. You could mention being able to generate new ideas, think creatively, or bring different elements of a problem together and formulate an effective solution.

How do you determine priorities in scheduling your time?  Give some examples.

• underlying meaning = organisation and planning

Show you take responsibility for the completion of tasks and ensure that detail is not overlooked when involved in a project.  You could highlight times when you have used your time management skills, prioritised tasks effectively, and / or  managed multiple tasks.  You could include that you understand the need, on occasion, for re-prioritisation if the unexpected happens.

Group Exercises for Assessment Centres – What You Need to Know

Group exercises play an important role in assessment centres because they allow recruiters to see how well you perform and communicate with others as part of a team. The most common type of exercise is a group discussion where you need to tackle a given topic with other candidates, whilst being closely observed by the assessors. Here are some things they will be looking at:

Your Contribution to the Discussion

• Initiating the discussion or bringing in new ideas
• Asking questions to keep the conversation going
• Suggesting a solution or answer to a challenging issue
• Inviting the contribution and support of other team members.

How You Interact with Others

• Paying close attention to other people’s opinions
• Encouraging contributions and supporting others’ points
• Using colleagues’ contributions to either paraphrase or add to them
• Constructively presenting counter-arguments for other members
• Asking questions to clarify others’ claims.

How You Helped the Group

• Tactfully avoiding digressions or bringing the discussion back to topic
• Reinforcing awareness of both goals and time constraints
• Diplomatically seeking to deflect tensions or conflict between participants
• Summarising the discussion as a whole
• Gaining agreement and reaching a consensus within the group.

At the same time, the employers will be looking out for negative behaviour which can impact the group as a whole. Be sure you avoid:

• Lack of participation or disengagement with the topic
• Off-topic contributions or comments
• Ignoring or not paying attention to other candidates’ opinions
• Interrupting or talking over other participants
• Disagreeing with or dismissing someone’s contribution without justification
• Behaving aggressively and trying to dominate the discussion.

If you want to know more about group exercises and assessment centres, visit our website or drop by our office to pick up some resources. You can also make an appointment to talk about your assessment day with a careers consultant. Just come to room WG3 in the Queen’s Building or give us a call at 020 7882 8533 to book a session.

Raluca – Maria Chereji
2^nd Year French and Politics student

The CV journey – what happens to it after you send it?

You have painstakingly prepared your CV or application form and clicked send. You imagine an employer receiving it, perusing what you’ve written and then emailing you back. You wait. You wait. You hear nothing.

Sound familiar? It’s a common experience and a frustrating one. So too is the experience of sending in an application form you have spent hours over, then receiving a rejection almost immediately.

So what’s actually happening to you CV or application form once you click send? We’ve done a survey amongst a small sample of employers to get the inside perspective and combined this with known trends in recruitment to bring you the following insights.

Once you click send…
Your CV or application form lands in a (probably very) busy recruitment team. It will join a large number of others awaiting screening. It’s unlikely that someone will look at it straight away.

If this is the case, why did you get a rejection reply so quickly?
That’s where technology comes in. The employer may be using screening software to sort applications and reject automatically those that do not appear to meet key criteria (e.g., academic results, technical knowledge and employability skills). This software is being used in more and more cases, although not all. None of the employers in our survey were using software for the first stage screening. However, all are using specialist software to store and process applications through the recruitment process.

Aren’t employers missing some great applicants by automating screening?
That may well be happening, but with large numbers of strong applicants and pressure to reduce recruitment costs, that may be a risk worth taking. To avoid being the one who gets missed, make sure your CV contains terms which directly link to the competencies and qualifications needed for the role. These will match the search terms in the software and make your selection more likely.

So it’s just about matching some key words really?
It’s much more than that. The full content and presentation of your CV and application matters a great deal. As one recruiter fed back to us “I believe candidates do not feel that attention is paid to their CVs…This is not true… some do spend the time both at screening and throughout the process to read the CV fully.”

Impact matters.
How long do you imagine a recruiter will take to read your CV fully? A trained eye may view it for 60 seconds (or less!). You need to make an impact in that time. The same goes for application form questions which are often competency based. “We … read through the answers to the competency based questions to look for good examples that the candidate has given and score these”. So it’s not just about having an example, but having a good and clearly set out example (e.g. of team working) to make sure that your evidence can score as highly as possible.

Is it only Human Resources who read my CV?
No. Our survey showed that people from the business line (i.e. those working in teams you may join) are also involved both early in the selection process and, of course, later if you proceed through to interviews. They will be sent copies of your application materials and have read them, so expect to be able to back up what you said!

What happens to my application once it’s all over?
“If the candidate is successful then the CVs, application forms and any other information about the candidate will be passed over to HR to store in their personnel file. If the candidate is unsuccessful, their details are stored separately to the main database as we sometimes find that candidates may come back to us in future to be considered for other positions. All candidates are informed that their details will be kept on file for future vacancies.” This survey response is typical of many employers. A couple of points to note. Firstly, remember that a previous application may be looked at if you apply to the company again. Be consistent. Secondly, when successful for a role, your application information will be kept on file and could be referred to at any point, so think twice about being ‘economical with the truth’ in your content.

To get advice on increasing the impact of your CV and applications, contact Careers.

Read more in the Wall Street Journal about the journey of a CV from aUSperspective at:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204624204577178941034941330.html

So you wanna work in Marketing or PR…?

Last Monday QM Careers hosted their annual Marketing and PR Panel discussion. Members of the panel ranged from a variety of firms within the field, including representatives from Ketchum Pleon (PR communications agency), the V&A Museum of Childhood (Marketing and PR) and Kantar Worldpanel (consumer insight company). The panel welcomed a wave of insightful questions raised by QM students.

So you think it’s for you, but what type of person did our panel of experts think would make it in the harsh yet rewarding world of Marketing and PR?

• Shy? Reserved? Scared to voice your opinions? NEXT!!! Now this doesn’t mean you have to be bossy, loud and overbearing. Blowing out the candles of others so yours shines brighter comes across as arrogant. But being too modest or quiet may make the interviewer think you’re unsure of yourself and consequently unsure of the job.

• Appreciate social media. Use it, immerse yourself in it. Understanding how a totally innovative platform, unavailable just 10 years ago, can be used in Marketing and PR is essential for anyone looking to go into this profession. Knowing about the world around you is the mark of a good PR or Marketing person and social media is an amazing way to achieve this. If you are still yet to set up that twitter account, do it now! (even if you don’t want to tweet about what you had for breakfast this morning).

• Don’t sit back and expect to take take take. A lazy “what can you do for me?” attitude from graduates is off-putting. Instead ask “what can I do for you?” Whether it’s making a cup of tea or making some phone calls, give it your all. Yes of course you want to be more involved, you want more responsibility, you want your creativity to really shine through, but we all have to start at the bottom. Get stuck into whatever you’ve been given. If they see that you can commit yourself to ANY task and do it well, you’ll prove yourself as a reliable and positive member of the company. As a trusted employee, increased responsibility will soon come your way. Remember no one ever choked to death from swallowing their pride.

• A degree in PR or Marketing is great but not essential to get into this field. Members of the panel were graduates from a mixture of degrees, including English, Economics and even Music!! Showing passion, interest and competence are fundamental.

So now you’re certain that this is the career for you but how can you stand out from the crowd?

• Experience. Experience. Experience. Universities are a great place to try out something new and gain some new skills so get involved!! Whether organising events, becoming a student ambassador or writing for the university paper, take part. Organisational, management and writing skills are key for any branch within Marketing and PR, so don’t wait for the opportunity to fall into your lap. Seek it out!

• Spend time on the cover letter. There is no point in having a CV that you laboriously laboured over for days accompanied with a covering letter that you barely spent half an hour on. Believe it or not they are equally important. Most employers will just skim over the first couple of sentences. If they don’t like it they won’t even look at your CV! So make it good and as obvious as it sounds check for spelling and grammar errors, especially if you later boast about your amazing writing skills.

• Tailor make your cover letter. Employers can tell if you’ve sent out a cover letter so generic that twenty other firms have received the exact same one. Do your homework! Know the company but don’t regurgitate information from their website. They already know who they are. Instead explain how you would fit into their company; convince them why theirs is the only company you want to work for, even if it’s not entirely true. Well you have to keep your options open.

Shakira Browne
QM Linguistics Student

Getting Work Experience and Making Your Application Stand Out – Tips from the BBC

As you may know from our blog post last week, the BBC has launched its Production Talent Pool scheme for people interested in working in broadcasting and media.

The speaker also gave tips on getting work experience as well as  how to make your application stand out. His excellent advice is useful for applying to media opportunities in general – not just if you are interested in the BBC.

Application Know-How

• Tell your story in a creative and compelling way – the BBC is interested in entertainment, so make yourself a protagonist, not a secondary character
• Read and consider their questions carefully
• Don’t be afraid to think outside the box – avoid dull, standardized answers that don’t reflect who you are, but keep to the point!
• Don’t think about what the BBC wants. As long as you’re creative and original, the BBC wants YOU!
• Be specific – when discussing your past roles and experience, clearly state what your role was and what tasks you accomplished
• Talk about what’s unique about yourself, whether it’s writing essays or film scripts
• Post weblinks to your blog or website to provide samples of your work

Short on Experience?

Getting work experience in the media isn’t just about doing a 3-month internship for a glossy magazine. It’s also about pursuing your interest by making use of all the resources available to you, such as the Internet. Here are some great ways to build a portfolio for yourself and gain valuable new skills:

• Get involved in anything, whether it’s a student newspaper or promoting a local charity, to show your interest in the field
• Start a blog – great for honing your writing skills and showcasing your work
• Create a media presence for yourself – start using such social media platforms as Twitter, LinkedIn or even Tumblr to make your voice heard.
• If you’re politically engaged, join causes and forums and participate in online discussions to support your ideas
• Contact organizations and groups you’re interested in to ask about work experience schemes

Raluca Maria Chereji
2nd year French and politics student at Queen Mary

About to send an application? Read this first!

It’s the time of year when application forms are piling up thicker and faster than falling leaves.  With hundreds of applications littering their desks or, indeed, their desk tops, what do recruiters want? Originality for one thing. They can spot a standard answer – as sent to at least five competitor organisations – at a thousand paces.  Beware importing text from one form to another.

Next, detail.  Ensure that you provide plenty. Your replies are scored like exam papers. If crucial evidence isn’t there, it means nul points.

Detail is essential, waffle is not.  With scenario based questions, earn brownie points for structure by using the acronym CAR: Context, Action, Result.  The greatest emphasis should be on Action.

What else? Remember that recruiters despair of the clichéd response (“I am a hard working graduate with good communication skills”).  So nothing there to differentiate you from every other eager applicant. Which brings us to the final quality needed: personality.

What’s special about you?  It’s not the worthy survivors of summer internships who stand out, but the students who moonlight as disc jockeys or run market stalls.  My favourite? The girl with no work experience whatsoever who “spent the summer in a Bolivian animal sanctuary looking after a jaguar called Katie.” Don’t bury gems like these in “Additional Information”: they bring your answers to life

Follow these tips and your applications won’t be swept up and discarded like autumn foliage: they will magically morph into the next stage of the process – winter interview season.

Gill Sharp
Careers Consultant
QM Careers

Commercial awareness – what is it and how to I get it?

What is commercial awareness?

Commercial awareness is sometimes also referred to as ‘business focus’, ‘client focus’, ‘business understanding’ or ‘passion for business’. Basically it is about having an interest in, and an understanding of, the business world that organisations operate in.

This includes:

• familiarity with the company (its customers, competitors and suppliers)
• knowing what is happening in the industry (and how this impacts the company)
• an awareness of the importance of business issues such as efficiency, cost-effectiveness and client care
• an awareness of broader economic and global issues such as the current economic climate
• an ability to see the ‘bigger picture’ and appreciate  external challenges, pressures and opportunities

Why is it important to employers?

Organisations  need graduates who can quickly understand the company and their customers, and be able to make good decisions on how best to develop their business. Students may have learned the theory at university, but need to be able to apply this in practice in the real world!

Recruiters will also want to know that you have a genuine interest in the commercial world and in particular they want to know that you are passionate about their business and the industry they work in.

How you do this will depend on the industry that you are applying to. If you want to get into finance then you should follow the financial news and know what is happening in the financial markets. If you want to get into healthcare or medicine then you should know about the changes taking place in the NHS. Interested in teaching? Then you must be aware of the current trends in education. Thinking about journalism, then you should know about the move to multi-format and web journalism… and so on for each industry…

How do employers look for your commercial awareness?

On an application form and at interview, the following type of questions are designed to test commercial awareness:

• What do you know about this company?
• What do you know about our competitors? What are the differences between them and us?
• Who are our clients? What are our main products/services?
• Tell me about a recent business story that took your interest?
• What are the greatest challenges facing our sector in the next five years?
• What changes have there been in our industry recently?

Business / Finance specific questions:

• How do you keep up to date with what is going on in business?
• What is the current Bank of England base rate?
• How many euros would you get today in exchange for £10?
• What is the FTSE 100? Did the FTSE go up or down yesterday?
• What was our share price this morning?
• If we were to open a new office abroad, which country would you choose and why?

At an assessment centre you could be given  case studies or business scenarios, where you would be asked to analyse and make recommendations on how you would tackle particular business situations.

Employers would assess how you interpret data, consider risk and financial implications, offer creative solutions and make sensible recommendations. These exercises could be done individually or as part of a team (where they would also be looking at your team working skills).

How can I develop my commercial awareness?

The first step is to read the company’s website thoroughly. Check the ‘news’ and ‘about us’ pages, as well as the sections for clients, potential clients and staff. Review their annual report. Find out the size of the workforce, the turnover and profits of the company, its share price and key activities which interest you. Know who the organisation’s competitors are.

Keep up to date with business news. The business section of the major broadsheet newspapers should cover most of the information you need. The FT and the Economist will be essential if you are applying for a research/analysis role.

One student told me that she found it initially difficult to follow the FT.  So she would read a financial news story on the BBC website first to understand the background information, and then read the version in the FT to get more in-depth details.

Don’t leave this research until you get invited to interview. You could be asked a question about current affairs from 6 months to a year ago. Try building keeping up with the news into your weekly routine. Think about how what you read may directly (or indirectly) effect the organisations you are applying to.

Read specialist magazines. These are often available online. Accountancy Age, The Lawyer, The Engineer etc will keep you up-to-date with developments in the relevant sector.

Don’t underestimate your own work experience. You may have done retail work to earn some extra money, but this can also be used to gain an insight into business. What are the good and bad points about the business? Who is its target market? Who are its main competitors? How would you improve the company’s image or profitability?

Advice from the experts – make yourself more employable

What can I do to make myself more employable?

As a Careers Consultant this is one of the questions I am asked the most at the moment (both from recent graduates and current students).

This is my advice…

1. Get some experience – this could be internships, work shadowing, summer jobs, part time work, volunteering, a year in industry, work placements – anything and everything! These experiences demonstrate your skills  such as teamwork,  organisation and communication skills.  It will also give you commercial awareness (business understanding), which is what most recruiters really want from you and will help you stand out from the crowd.  Often the more you have, the better your chances of getting a job.

2. Start job hunting early – Don’t leave it to the last minute to start looking. Many vacancies open early in the autumn term. So look now for jobs and internships starting in July.

3. PROPERLY tailor your application – Don’t just copy and paste answers into application forms and don’t send the same CV to all companies – making an effort with your applications really pays off. It’s better to make a few good applications than knock out loads of almost identical ones which aren’t really targeted to the job.

4. Research the Company – When writing a cover letter or answering the question “Why do you want to work for this company?” never just look at their website for two minutes. Make sure you do lots of research into the company – what they do, who their clients and competitors are etc.  It will really show how motivated you are to work there.

5. Talk to people – Ask lots of questions and don’t be afraid of speaking to people in the real world. Ask questions about them, their job,and what they do day to day. You can also ask for advice about what you can do to get an advantage when applying for jobs, where to look for vacancies and who else you can speak to for information and advice.

FAQ: Is any work experience better than none?

Competition for graduate jobs is becoming increasingly stiff! Depending on the sector, employers can have many more applications than they have jobs available. They have the luxury of being picky. Employers like to see well-rounded individuals that are both work-savvy and academically capable. The gold standard would be work experience in the relevant sector for the job you are applying. However, any work experience shows that you have used your initiative and have gained some skills along the way. Working as a waiter/waitress involves dealing with the general public and working under pressure. Working in a shop helps develop commercial / buisiness awareness, as well as customer service and sales skills. Sell the skills that you have gained in a way that will be attractive to employers, even if they were acquired from a ‘less than perfect’ job. Come to Careers for some more advice on how to do this.

Employer visit: Deloitte

Recently on a visit to Deloitte I was surprised to find the total number of hires for 2011 is now only just under the peak 2007 hiring level, and looking to grow for the 2012 start. They had 1100 full time places across the business (just a note they are still hiring for people to start in this cohort, despite having opened the 2012 vacancies).

Competition is pretty tough for these places though and I was chatting with Head of Graduate Recruitment Rob Fryer who said that they had around 15,000 applicants although from the sound of it most needn’t have bothered as they fail at the first stage simply because their application forms are poor.

So why are these applications so poor?

Lack of motivation demonstrated on the application

Each application is read, and they look for motivation in a number of ways from the content through to the accuracy of the spelling. The age old story of the wrong company name or job title on the application sprung up. Please don’t embarrass yourself by doing this! Get a friend to proofread your application form, or at least spell check! Not doing so shows you don’t really give a damn about the job.

Research about the role and company

A large number of people simply regurgitate EXACT copy from the company website when saying why they want to work for an organisation, and often don’t actually understand the role they are applying for.

One way to do this is to recommended that you try and do an Internship at the firm, and many of people from the business I spoke to found out during their Internship that there was a totally different role that was an ideal fit for them be it the type of work, hours, or pay.

Another thing to do is to keep an eye out for the company you want to work for at events either on or off campus. Get involved with these and talk to the people attending.

A final tactic is to simply ring up the Graduate Team and ASK. Remember faint heart never won fair lady!

James Weaver
Employer Liaison and Events Officer