If you have between 0-5 years experience in the field of Human Resources and are unable to get through the application process of an HR Job then this is for you.
I’ve hired for various positions in the past couple of years in my career, involving technical positions, marketing and sales positions, design, and HR as well, but surprisingly out of all, hiring for the HR team has always been the toughest.
While there can be multiple reasons for this, let’s get to the solutions.
Introspect:
Before diving into applying for jobs, first understand in which area of Human Resources your interest lies cause there are too many. While a Generalist or an Executive position usually gets you direct exposure to most sub domains of HR, we have the internet, do some research on all that HR has to offer, shortlist areas you find interesting, read up on what the workday looks like for someone working in that area and if it still interests you, well you just bagged Step 1.
Scope out:
Now that you know what you want, search for those opportunities online. Some places to search: Google, LinkedIn, Naukri, Indeed, Monster and tons of more free job boards. Carefully go through the job description and assess if it matches your interests, it’s not going to be everything that your looking for but your interests should match at least 80% of the JD. Check out company reviews, read up on the company business, the culture, the pay scale, the growth opportunities and using this, shortlist the top 5 companies you wish to apply for.
Target:
5 companies 1 resume right? WRONG! You’re going to have to target each company differently! Tailor your resume to the company and role you’re applying for. Make it as relevant as possible to the job. If a job description has a list of 10 responsibilities and you’ve had exposure to just 6, highlight those 6. Avoid bloating your resume, your college salad dressing competition certificate won’t help if you’re applying for a HR Manager position. Be a miser with words, convey your message in a simple manner.
Yes you should use keywords as well, but don’t make your resume full of it, make sure you know what those keywords mean and overall they should make sense in a sentence.
Shoot?
You’ve scoped, you’ve targeted, now shoot with the application form. The application form is your chance to showcase what value you bring to the table. Use correct grammar while filling out your form, you might want to run this by another set of eyes as well, preferably by someone who is well versed with written communication in English, we often tend to make a few errors here and there that we fail to see. Grammarly might help here too. If there are opinionated or theoretical questions, don’t do a copy paste from articles on the internet. Do an in-depth research on the subject, form your own perspective and phrase the sentences yourself, and if relevant, you can also relate the content to how it can be used to contribute to the company. Plagiarism checker tools are used everywhere, so please don’t copy paste.
Tips:
- Targeting and applying correctly to 5 fitting companies will prove to be more effective than using a one size fits all to 50 random companies.
- What to do if this doesn’t work with the first 5 companies? Shortlist another 5! This is still more effective than the random approach!
- If you don’t hear back on your application, drop a follow up email to the hiring/hr team enquiring about the status of your application.
Good one.
Short but informative.