The perfect job is out there somewhere…
Sometimes, there are job seekers you get to work with whom are just that little bit special. Something about them makes them stand out. This is what we recruiters love.
Whilst this has been an incredibly rapid recruitment process, I did feel I really got the opportunity to know Danielle Lapham. A passionate digital marketing lady, she seemed a little disillusioned with her job search when I first spoke with her. She’d been made redundant, she’d been pushed into interviewing for jobs she didn’t really want and was now a little disheartened as to whether the “perfect job” was out there at all.
Luckily I knew that it was – and it’s exactly why I had got in touch!
I was looking for someone with precisely her skill set; and boy, was I thrilled when her personality matched my expectations! Personable, vibrant, ambitious and keen to continue her journey of professional growth, Danielle was going to be the right person for my client. Having assisted in the hiring of a number of their existing team already, we knew what works for this employer and Danni set about proving it to me from the offset.
Reading her CV, and then talking with Dani, I felt her CV didn’t do her justice. I could see why she wasn’t getting the interviews for the jobs she really wanted. I encouraged her to consider what an employer would think when they read it. For her to write down what she had done in her job, what she had achieved and what knowledge, skills and tools she had used to deliver those results in her job would make for a much greater impacting CV.
This is what an employer wants to know about her. Not what the job allowed her to undertake, but what tangible results made Danni special in her job. We even referred her to our popular blog post on How to Write a Great CV.
With a couple of refinements, we had a CV worthy of Danni.
Sharing it with the Hiring Manager we quickly got Danni in for a first initial meeting – which she nailed. She’d done her prep work, harnessed her nerves and been able to show that she lived up to the CV.
With positive feedback from this meeting, we then invited her back for a final meeting where she’d deliver a response to a task. Again, Danni demonstrated her merit. She did her research, showed her expertise by delivery on point to the task but she also went above and beyond in her professionalism. The presentation was clean and she knew it inside-out.
With this, I am delighted to say from the moment we “found” Danni to the moment when she has walked into her new job… it had only been 10 working days!
Danni has been kind enough to send us a synopsis of her job search and specifically her experience of working with our Digital Recruiters, who have led her to her new career with Hotcourses!
Redundancy before Christmas is a scary place to be.
I went very quickly from embracing the situation: “these things happen”, “I’m still fabulous”, “the app store optimisation job probably wasn’t right for me” and “I’m going to find a better one” to “I lost my job because I’m useless”, “who would ever want to employ me again” and “heck I love ASO.” Up until now, I have been very fortunate to have digital job opportunities present themselves to me rather serendipitously; this was the first time I found myself in a situation where I must job ‘hunt’. I felt very vegetarian.
Job search is rather akin to working in sales, the sourcing, the lead generation, the research, the adaptation of your pitch, the follow-up, the rejection. I really wasn’t ready for the rejection. My best friends, both of whom work in film, were really supportive…I started to wonder whether I could use quotes on my CV.
“Dan, she’s the most employable person I know…” TK, Star Wars.
“Fantastic marketer; does a great Cher impression….” RS, Mary Poppins.
Other friends suggested self-employment, “I’ll give up my job too and we can start a 60s tribute band…we can ourselves the Shangri-Lards”.
Some weeks later with little progress made, my lack of immediate success brought about so many questions and knocked my confidence sideways – it translated into the sorts of jobs I was applying for too, within a month I’d gone from senior digital marketing to junior admin assistant and was getting nowhere fast.
Conversations with recruiters weren’t conversations at all: they were tick-box exercises designed to hit a sales target. If my answers didn’t fit the square box, regardless of the well-roundedness of my riposte, their interest quickly waned. “I’m going to work really hard to match you with a job, but also you may not hear from me for a few weeks…”
Then there was Natasha; my first contact with Natasha felt like the first genuine conversation I’d had. In the first instance, I felt like she’d actually read my CV, not simply scanned it for relevant keywords. She took the time to get to know me, to understand the personality behind the resumé.
From search ads and mobile marketing to search engine and app store optimisation, I was struck not only by Natasha’s in-depth knowledge of the digital landscape but also by her ability to drill down on my motivations, the challenges that I faced and the steps I needed to take to get the interviews I wanted. The experience was much like a career coaching session: I felt clearer about the direction I needed to take, and the fact that clockworkTalent had invested the time in me to refine my CV – make those ‘tick-boxes’ easier to identify – made me feel so much more confident about my value.
After that, the job search was a lot less stressful. Not only was I securing interviews outside of the recruiter process but Natasha had put me forward for an incredibly exciting app marketing role. Upon securing an interview, Natasha mentored me through the whole process, from calming pre-interview nerves to debriefing sessions. I’d fallen in love with the job description, the company, the location: it was a perfect fit. I felt Natasha had matched me to the job, not made me fit into the client’s box. Two rounds of interviews later and I have been awarded this fantastic job as Digital Marketing Executive and can’t wait to begin my new adventure.
What’s more, the job involves app store optimisation too so I’m back doing the ASO that I love. I’m so thankful to have discovered clockworkTalent and cannot recommend them enough: for their digital knowledge, their professionalism and their kindness.
Alas, the Shangri-Lards will have to take a backseat, though I hear there’ll be a karaoke at my new employer’s office Christmas party…
Danielle Lapham, Search Engine Marketer, Hotcourses.
I am sure you will join me in wishing Danni all the best in her career with Hotcourses.
If you find yourself in a situation like Danni where you’re looking for a recruitment agency which knows the digital marketing landscape and can hand-hold you through the job search process within their extensive network of contacts across the industry, get in touch by emailing natasha@clockworktalent.com or call 0203 7514108 so we can help you critique your CV, discuss your experience and subsequent ambitions, and help guide you into an exceptional job opportunity.
