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As someone who's worked in Human Resources for some years now and has carried out many interviews with potential staff, I felt the need to share my perspective on job applications that I've received over the years.

Firstly when you respond to an advert, be it through a direct advert placed by the company that is recruiting or by a 3rd party agent who is dealing with the company - please make sure you have the basic essentials required - if the advert says you need to have commercial experience of web design; two weeks in your uncle's company at Christmas whilst studying for your degree does NOT count. Commercial experience usually means paid work with an employer (not a family member) for at least 6 - 12 months.

If an advert specifically states that the applicant must have a good honours degree in a specific subject, there is a reason for that requirement. If you've done a 6 week part time course whilst working at Pizza Hut, I'm sorry but that is nowhere near the same thing as someone who's been to university for 3 or 4 years and got letters after his or her name now. Harsh but true.

If the advert says you must have permission to work permanently in the country where the job is based, this does not mean you will be considered if you are on work permit because you feel your skills are better than everyone else who has applied. It is specifically stated on the job advert for a reason - because the company does not get involved in work permit renewals or sponsorship of candidates who are not residents of the country. I have lost count of how many people have applied for jobs with only a student visa and no commercial experience and only 1 year into their degree. I wonder if they actually read the advert for the position or just saw the job title and thought "Oh yeah, I can do that"...

Another favourite of mine is when you ask people to include their required salary in their covering letter along with a summary of their relevant skills. I've lost count of how many people actually just send their resume/CV and hope this will suffice. It loses them brownie points because I or someone else then has to decide whether to bother or not with dropping them a line to ask for the info to be provided. Mostly we don't bother, so be warned...!

I mustn't forget another point which is quite important - if there is a name of a person to write to, unless you know for sure that person is a male or female, don't make assumptions. In response to adverts asking people to write in to the HR dept, I receive many that assume HR dept is a man and they're addressed "Dear Sir" - not good when I am a woman! The opposite is true too, don't assume the HR person is a woman. To be on the safe side, address your correspondence to "Dear Sir/Madam" or "Dear Mr Smith" or "Dear Ms Jones" if there is a title specified in the advert.

The best thing to remember when sending in your CV/resume and/or cover letter and/or application is to basically follow the instructions provided. If it says send covering email/letter, make sure you do, if it says not to send a resume/CV but just an application form, just do that. We employers have our reasons for making those requests and most of us do have very busy schedules - i.e. we do not sit there all day sifting through mountains of application forms, covering letters, resumes and the like. We might actually be doing other things throughout the day such as actually conducting the interviews for all these applications too...

Good luck in your job hunt!

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