Even before you find a job to apply for, it is worth investing time in building up a ‘bank’ of evidence of your skills, experiences and attributes. This will mean that when you write a job application and prepare for an interview you will already have a stock of evidence to select from. This will not only help you to access more opportunities, it will also help to boost your confidence as you see your collection of evidence growing.

 

To use an analogy, think of each of your ‘pieces’ of evidence of skills as part of a ‘Tangram’ (see the figure below).

 

 

Imagine that each of the shapes in the left-hand image represents a piece of evidence that you could present to an employer. Every job that you apply for, and every employer that you apply to, will have an ideal ‘shape’ of applicant that they are looking for. Your job is to find out as much as possible about what the shape looks like from the employer and the job advert. See section D4 (Write effective applications and cover letters) for some advice on finding this information. 

 

You then present each of your pieces of evidence in the shape that is desired. For every job application you will construct a new shape by emphasising and prioritising some skills and experiences more than others.

 

The more shapes you have, the more opportunities you will have, and the greater the chances you have of showing that you are the right ‘fit’ for the job.

 

You can spend time now collecting as many varied shapes and sizes as possible (and undertaking development activities to create more and more)