Getting Hired: Unusual Tips From an Agency Insider
Let’s assume you’re familiar with the basics. Check your grammar, dress well, talk about how excited you are to grow with the company, and be sure to prepare a few questions for the interviewer.
We get a lot of applications that tick the boxes, but few people really blow us away. I thought it would be a fun exercise to take a look at some of my personal experiences in recruitment and reflect on a couple the finer points of that are often overlooked by people applying for positions here at MADE.
The New Cover Letter
Nearly all job applications and internship requests we receive arrive as emails. This means that what’s in your email is likely to be the very first contact we’ll have with you. It’s your first chance to land a great impression, but also an important moment to summarise why the position is important to you.
You may be qualified for the job, but the most important indicator of cultural compatibility is when someone understands what makes MADE different, and believes in the same things that we do.
If you have done any research into what makes a good job application, you will no doubt have encountered a rant about how shotgun-style email blasts are a terrible idea. And it’s true — The emails that I pay the most attention to are the ones that clearly address either MADE Agency in an authentic way.
In fact, I don’t even open CVs or portfolio links preceded by copy-pasted bulk mails that start with “To Whom It May Concern” or even worse, “Dear Sir/Madam”.
But beyond writing a personalised note to prove you’re not just forwarding your previous job application to us, you’re missing a trick if you don’t take the opportunity to start building a relationship with your future employer.
Read The Crowd
Let your personality shine, but be careful of overcompensating.
We’re a pretty easy-going organisation, and we have a reputation for being a little anti-establishment when it comes to our positioning in the industry. But we’re a business nonetheless. We are looking for people who will take their work seriously, and make us look great in front of clients.
I recently received a job application that was trying so hard to prove that the candidate was cool and easy going, that the mail was brash, and in places, downright offensive. The over-relaxed tone of the email had the opposite of the intended effect, and left me thinking that I would never want this person in a room alone with one of our clients.
As a rule of thumb, it’s better to err on the side of formality: Remember that coming across as a little too formal is forgivable under the circumstances — you’re applying for a job after all. It’s easier to assume that someone will relax a bit after the interview process than it is to convince yourself that a candidate will get their act together if they are offered the position.
On Rating Yourself
Nearly every design CV I have ever received makes the mistake of rating abilities on a system of imaginary points. They assign a subjective numeric value or a star-rating to competency in various design software, or worse, to more abstract qualities like “Teamwork” and “Staying Calm Under Pressure”.
This system is completely relative, and tells your future employer very little about how skilled you really are. You could be 200% more competent in Photoshop than you are in Illustrator, but at the end of the day still totally suck at design.
It’s a much better idea to advertise your competencies and personal attributes as a simple list, and let your portfolio, experience and the overall quality of your application speak for itself.
If you feel it necessary to differentiate, you could add simple descriptions like beginner, intermediate or advanced to give the interviewer an idea of where your strengths lie. Being new to something can be seen as an indicator of willingness to learn new skills, provided it’s not one of the priority skills in a job spec.
Punch Near Your Weight
Be ambitious, but also be realistic about your qualifications. Don’t waste time applying for a job that you are desperately underqualified for, and don’t ever misrepresent yourself.
It’s better to take a small knock to the ego and be turned down based on your qualifications than it is to be hired and outed as incompetent later on. The resulting harm to your reputation in the second scenario could stay with you for years to come.
The same goes for being true to yourself. If you are a poor cultural fit for a company, you will soon become dissatisfied with your environment and leave. Being honest with yourself about whether a company is the right place for you is likely to mean working with people who share common ground with you, and will result in a rewarding working relationships.
Know People
We trust our people, and we value their judgement.
You’re not entitled to an internship if your aunt is one of our clients, and we’ll still carefully review your application if your friend works in Client Services, but an endorsement through one of our staff is a fantastic way to get a foot in the door.
Bonus Points: Google Yourself
This item appears on a lot of these lists, but perhaps it’s worth reiterating anyway. The first thing that I do after scanning a résumé is to type the applicant’s name into Google and see what comes up.
Do you have a well managed and up-to-date portfolio?
What are the first results an employer will find in an image search?
And what does your social media presence say about you?
An online reputation requires constant maintenance, and can be a difficult thing to properly curate. In my personal experience it’s a case of less-is-more. By limiting the number of places you are available for scrutiny online, and considering what privacy settings you apply to social certain social properties, you make it easier to represent yourself in a way that makes you look professional.
