ALIA Career Starter Kit Webinar 3 – The Written Application was on the 5th of September.

Who was in the chat?

Kim Sherwin – Director of Knowledge at Aurecon (A design, engineering & advisory company)  (Special Library)

Danielle Ambriano – Library Network Lead at Sydney South East TAFE

Rebecca Jeffree – Manager, Services at the State Library of  South Australia 

Zola Maddison – ALIA’s Direction of Events and Training

The Webinar discussion:

Q1: What are the basic expectations in your sector regarding the written application?

Kim (Special Library):

There is no right or wrong answer for an application.

Not every application is the same. Not every hiring manager or recruiter is going to ask the same level of information or insight.

Articulate yourself in your Cover Letter and Resume aka CV rather than a long application form. Provide similar examples and tailor it for the organisation you are applying for.

Rebecca:

What are the basic components of an application? State and Local Governments in SA are very descriptive about the Selection Criteria, Cover Letter and Resume.

Be specific about the roles, skills and attributes, your knowledge and experience that you can bring to the position advertised. You don’t have to be in the same roles in the past as skills are transferable.

Understand the selection criteria and demonstrate your experience.

Danielle (Academic Library/ VET TAFE)

Academic Library & VET TAFE applications are descriptive. You need to demonstrate you have simmilar experience if you are from a different background or industry.

Academic focus on Cover Letter, CV (Resume) & how you address & demonstrate selection criteria.

VET TAFE Library focus Cover Letter, Resume and Essential Selection Criteria.

Q2: What are the opportunies to express yourself and excite people in your application?

Danielle: There is room to show what you have done and opportunity to express yourself & experience.

Q3: How long should a Cover Letter/ Resume be?

Rebecca:  Local government no more than two page Cover Letter -describing your experience, knowledge and skills succinctly.  How to do this? Use senarios and explanations of projects, work situations and workplaces you have been in, where you can say I have demonstrated the experience in the selection criteria. No more than three pages for a CV aka Resume. 

Don’t assume that someone reading your CV aka Resume will understand they can demonstrate the skills in the job description based on what their CV says. Cover Letter should paint a picture of yor skills, experience & knowledge, and hw they relate to the job you are applying for.

Kim: Make an effore in making your CV stand ouy with “personality on a page”.

How you present yourself is reflective of what you may be like as an employee. Think about it from a recruiters perspective.

Zola: Think about the hiring manager and team that you will be working with.  Try to put yourself in that team. Think about what they would want to know in the cover letter to show you understand what the job is and what from your past experience is relevant.

 Imagine you are introducing yourself to your new colleages.

Q3: What happens behind the scene in the recruitment process?

Zola: Your Cover Letter and Resume will go through an Applicant Tracking System (APS). A computer will look for keywords in your documents to make sure you have some of the baseline qualifications. Make changes to ur resume to fit the job description.

Make sure the languages matches and you are sing the same wording and language to talk about the job.

Read the instructions for sending the application  & use the correct file format the employer is asking for. Eg. Word document or PDF

Danielle:(TAFE)

Check if their are word limits.

Read the job ad correctly and follow the guidelines they have sent out. Not following the guidelines will cost you not being selected for an interview. Tick your boxes- Have you addressed the selection criteria or targeted questions.

At TAFE they have a selection pannel (3 members + 1 Convenor/ Hiring Manager). The Interviews are panel interviews.

The panel grades the applications.  Who will cull the applications and select who will be selected for interviews. 

Rebecca:

Local/State government – Panel of 3 or 4 (Chair person, 2 other panel members) Who are provided with a short listing matrix which lists the selection criteria. Applications are reviewed against the selection criteria. *Use the same wording as application in cover letter. In this stage the panel will look for the keywords and language to see if you meet the selection criteria. Afterr scores are compared the chair person will invite the shortlisted candidates to the interview.

Can you use generalised industry language?

Rebecca: Use the same terminology in the job desription Eg. Help Desk or Concierge kiosk or Customer Service Desk.

Kim: HR or recruitment team will screen applications. Recomendations will be for who should be hired .

Can a person not be selected for showing too much or not enough personality?

Zola: Get a sense of who the organisation is and team is. Thinking about your cover letter and who will cover letter be compared with. Fining the right ballance. Have you shown enough of who you are to make the person viewing your applicationsay they have a good feeling about your application.   The cover letter is about you and the organisation. Don’t go overboard making the cover letter all about you. It’s about you + organisatin. Show that you are meeting the team, show them who you are and that you are excited to learn more about who they are. You want to contibute to the team.

Danielle: Red flags are that you have not addressed anything or reused a cover letter you have not checked or updated. Good  Cover letters are succient and show what a good match you would make for the organisation.

Rebecca: Good Cover letter: Research the organisation and understand any challenges are facing. If in South Australia view the repository of position descriptions. Describe your skills in the cover letter.

Kim: Red flag being too creative in your CV. No excuse for spelling mistakes. Use tools to check your documents. Eg. Grammarly (See our ALIA SNGG Continuing Professional Developement page for link). Good: Back up your examples. Address any gaps. Eg. Sickness, Travel or  study.  Be consistant in your history.

CAR or STAR?

Rebecca:

Put context in your examples. Don’t make loft statements. You are sharing context about a situation that you faced or incident that state this is how I handled the situation or result of the outcome. STAR

Recruiters on panels would like to see you understand the role by building a picture to show your demonstrated knowledge/ soft skills or experience.

What kind of strategy to you have for answering questions?

Think about answeing these questions in terms of foundational and practiced knowledge. Did you take a course or have a certificate. Do you have practiced knowledge where you have had to apply these principles. Eg. Core knowledge or foundational knowledge.

What do the best Cover Letters have?

Zola: Show excitement and show skill set to deliver the job. Perspective to resolve a problem with a unique stance.

Kim: Very clever with how they right letter showing their personality on a page & what they can offer the library.

Danielle: Best shows personality and is well written.

Rebecca: Best build a picture and hint in the application what they can offer the organisation. Are researched.

The final part of the Webinar spoke about our new ALIASNGG ALIA Students and New Graduates Group Site/WordPress Blog

Explore our ALIA Students and New Graduates Group Site/ WordPress Blog. Our Resouces Menu for our > Continuing Professional Development Ideas page. The place to find our #ALIASNGGResumeReviewService link.

#ALIAMembers can have a resume reviewed for FREE up to 3 times a year.

Reference:

ALIA (2023) Career starter webinar 3 – The Written Appliction. (Vimeo).

ALIA Students and New Graduates Group Site/WordPress Blog (n.d). Resources_Continuing Professional Development Ideas.

ALIA Students and New Graduates Group (n.d). ALIA SNGG Resume Review Service. (n.d).

Email alia.sngg.rrs@gmail.com