You may think the job is perfect you, but companies need to know if your fit for the job. Each job should have a person specification, for example in my vacancy; we can see exactly what kind of person the company wants.
The company will need to let the public know that they have vacancies. Adverts will be placed in newspapers, employment agencies and Job Centres. Depending on the job, it will be advertised differently. Unskilled jobs might only be advertised in local newspapers because the company knows there is a plentiful supply of the sort of person it needs. More advanced jobs might be advertised in national newspapers or specialist magazines, for example a computer job is more likely to be placed in a computer magazine. Argos doesn’t place adverts in newspapers, but rather it forwards it’s vacancies towards agencies and it relies on people to visit its website.
Once the closing date has passed, the selection process begins. The first stage of selection is to draw up a shortlist. During the short-listing stage people who will be involved in the selection process examine the applications and compare them to the job specification. The purpose of this is to decide who to interview and who to reject. Some of the organizations will ‘grade’ each application against each point, whilst other companies will give an overall grade. The applicants who meet the requirements of the job are then invited for an interview.
Interviewing applicants is just really a conversation between the applicant and firms representatives to find out more about each other and to see if they are suitable for the job. Interviews can be stressful and it is important that both parties are well prepared. The best advice for applicants is to arrive a few minutes early, obviously it’s not your fault if the bus is late but showing up late isn’t going to go down well. Make sure you dress smartly but so that your comfortable as well. Get as much info about the organisation as you can, this way you can ask sensible questions. Interviews are advised to prepare a list of questions that the applicant can be expected to answer. Make sure you make the applicant at ease, don’t let the interview be interrupted by company and encourage the applicant to answer each of your questions fully.
As well as the interview, companies will use other tests and methods of selection to judge persons compatibility for the job. On the day of the interview applicants are usually shown around the building, this gives the applicants to meet some of the people who they could be working with. Jobs that require particular skills might involve a test as well as an interview. For example secretaries might have to type a piece of work to show how fast and accurate there typing is. Some firms use personality assessments for certain types of jobs. For example organisations that sell pensions and insurance might require individuals being considered for jobs in the sales force to complete a questionnaire about their attitudes and ambitions.
Most application forms will ask the applicant to name at least two referees. They will write you a reference. Employers might be expect to be told about your appearance, whether you are reliable and so on. Some firms will use references to decide who to interview; others will decide who to interview and then ask for the references as part of final selection process. Most firms are expecting you to use your previous employer as a reference and if you don’t they will be suspicious. If this is your first job then you obviously won’t have a previous employer and in this case you can use something like a school teacher, college lecturer. You should avoid using close relatives, as potential employers may think that it is simply biased.