Are you a candidate for a vacancy that is out of work, perhaps your a graduate seeking their first job or your a more experienced person who has lost their job and is now looking for a new roles?
There are two different ways that people approach this situation, the first is to take a highly selective stance insisting that a chosen vacancy meets a strict criteria and nothing else. The other approach is the complete opposite, to apply for anything that you can!
In my opinion, there are merits to both approaches, however many recruiters believe that a major factor that many candidates fail to realize is the impact of being perceived as being 'on the shelf' for any period of time.
You may not think this is correct, but it within a humans nature to believe if something that has been available for a while (a house or car for example) and has not been snapped up, then there's something wrong with it! A candidate who has been out of employment for a while could also fall under this banner.
For example in the pharmaceuticals sector, it is not unknown for entire sales teams of up to around 60 people made redundant in one go. Recruiters would expect the top performers to find placements within a few weeks. After a month or so, a few of the good members of the team could be left over , but by month three, the ones that were unable to gain employment would be considered weaker members of their former team.
With this in mind, you should be aware of what vacancies that you apply for, if you have recently graduated, or are out of work. If your fresh out of University, you may want to walk straight into your dream job, or perhaps just to relax for a while.
However you should be aware that the longer your unemployed, the more your chances of securing that vacancy may be affected.
There are exceptions or valid excuses that are considered to be ok, such as a house renovating project, or traveling. However my advice is to gain some form of employment within a short timespan, it doesn't need to be your first choice, or ideal job, but try and get something with "some" relevancy towards your ideal role.
As an example, if you are pursuing a career in medical sales, taking a tele-sales role whilst looking for a medical sales role isn't a bad option. Your experience in a similar field will put you ahead of somebody who has been unemployed for the past few months when applying!
In summary, if you want to be picky about the sort of graduate vacancies you will apply to, my advice would be to get 'a' job whilst you are looking. The more relevant your temporary job is to the one you would really like, the greater your chances of success.
This article is written by John Bult
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