How many applicants?!

My confidence received a knock recently following a conversation with some colleagues. One of them had just finished interviewing for a new position at a different company he works for and was relaying some anectdotal notes on the interviewees. Along with the usual comments you get about these kinds of things, there was one figure he kept reminding me of that really put some fear into me.



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For this entry level position, with a salary of £14,500 and no promise of it increasing rapidly, for which applicants are required to be educated to degree level, there were no less than 120 applicants. 120. As someone who consistently preaches that the employment level for students and graduates isn't as dire as people make out, this really shocked me. But for that reason, I decided to get to the bottom of it and here is what I discovered. Take from it what you will but after reading it I don't think that figure will scare you quite as much anymore.

1) 60 of the 120 applications went straight in the bin due to a spelling mistake.

It seems unbelievable that that many graduates would seriously even send off an application without checking it and checking it again. This tells you something, those applications aren't serious, at the most they're speculative and they are not the applications employers are interested in.

2) Of the remaining 60, at least half hadn't adapted their CV.

This job, like all jobs, requires you to have thought about the skills needed for it and requires you to have read your CV recently to make sure you demonstrate those skills. By not changing their CVs these applicants showed this wasn't the field they were interested in as some of them had even left in key phrases like, 'great customer care skills', which was completely irrelevant for the role and suggested they had been applying for other jobs in other areas.

3) This leaves us with 30 applicants.

These applicants were drilled down depending on their knowledge and skills and 10 were invited for interview.

Although I recognise that 30 applicants is still A LOT of applicants, it is a great deal better than 120 applicants. This shows how silly mistakes can leave you without a chance and that extra check really is important. Even if you say, 'but I've read it twice', get somebody else to read it, just like an essay they will always pick out mistakes you didn't see.

It also shows that a lot of graduates still aren't sure what they want to do. By trying to make that decision early you will improve your skill set ready for when you have to make that all important application. Surprisingly actually wanting to do a job  comes across in an application and an interview, and your enthusiasm is likely to land you the position you want.

Don't let figures like this make you shy away from applying for jobs or become run down. Plan ahead, use these tips and really do your research into what an employer is looking for. Remember, there's usually a reason behind a shocking statistic, and the reason usually makes it a lot less shocking.