Career counseling #18: Flexibility in job applications

Starting from the comments in my Career Counseling #15 article, I am writing about the flexibility in your job application.

From previous experience, I found that, in order to get pass the CV screening, you have to write the keywords that the screening software is looking for. YES, most companies are using screening software and even the perfect candidate won`t get passed it if the CV isn`t formatted the right way.

Mea culpa: Omission can be useful sometimes. 

If, for example, during the summer, you work in a fish canning factory in Alaska for some extra money, it might not be useful and, sometimes, it can damage your application. If you are applying for a junior consultant position in EU Affairs (let`s say), the skills that you acquired might not be relevant for the job.

Going further on the flexibility subject.

Taking out the irrelevant stuff (education, experience, hobbies) can and should be done.

But be ready to cover the time period with something during the interview. You cannot say simply that the period is irrelevant for the job. In my view, it should be something like this: “I worked on improving my skills on … (team play, project management etc.) by working in a team of skilled professionals”. This sentence will most likely get you the question: “where did you work?”. But you have a starting point.

Thanks to Inkposts for the subject.