• Be selective. It’s an old recruitment adage but still worth repeating; apply for half as many positions with twice as much effort. Only apply for a position if you consider yourself well suited. Applying indiscriminately for multiple positions does nothing to enhance your chances and creates the impression of “desperation”
• Use the covering letter. Many recruitment consultants place a great deal of importance on the covering letter. Read the recruitment advert or job specification carefully and take time to explain (in 3 – 5 bullet points) how your skills match what is required. Make it easy for the consultant to choose you. Keep the covering letter to a single page
• Invest time in your CV. It’s probably one of the most important documents your will ever write and yet 80% of CVs we receive have at least one basic error on them. Immediately get a head start on the rest of the by carefully constructing a high quality CV. Use section 3 of the Career Manager for executive CV advice.