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Feedback on the application process

 

The application process for the Michael Hearn Internship Programme 2008-9 is now closed. We received 140 applications, and are very grateful to all of those who took the time and trouble to apply for the Michael Hearn Internship. Seven candidates have been invited for interview, and we expect to make an appointment by Monday 4 August, with the successful Michael Hearn Intern taking up his or her post on Monday 1 September 2008.

As we are unable to give individual feedback on each application, we thought it would be helpful to give the following explanation of our selection process and general advice to those who were unsuccessful in reaching the interview stage.

First stage – agreeing what we were looking for in the applications
We spent some time coming up with selection criteria: what skills and experience did we want candidates to have, and how important was each criterion? For example, one might decide that the chosen person should have an interest in conservation, and that this was weighted as being worth 10 points. When we get to the interview stage, we will score each person against those criteria, to get an overall result. The person with the highest mark will be offered the job.

Second stage – rejecting applications with basic mistakes
We weeded out 45 applications immediately because the applicants had failed to follow the instructions given in the application pack, or did not fulfill the eligibility criteria.

When applying for a job, remember that employers receive lots of applications. Although it might seem harsh, we have to start somewhere to refine the list of applicants, and if you make a basic error you can ruin an otherwise excellent letter and CV.

  • 8 people misspelled “Michael Hearn” or “Save the Rhino” or “rhinoceros” or got the wrong job title. We appreciate that you may be filling out several job applications a day, but we need to see evidence that you have taken care over the application and read it through before submitting it. We draw up transfer instructions for project grants, and if we mistype the name of the bank or the account number to which the money is being sent, we risk losing that money. Accuracy is important
  • Several people emailed us beforehand to say that they were not available for interview on the specified date (30 July), and would we be able to see them on another date, if selected. Unfortunately not: for equal opportunities reasons, as well as for our internal logistics and workflow, we need to see all interview candidates on the same day, to ensure that we use the same benchmark when assessing them. 2 people sent in applications anyway, explaining that they could not come on the correct day, and we had to dismiss these from our considerations
  • We specified that applicants must be school leavers or have graduated from their first degree in 2007 or 2008. We had 21 applications from people who graduated several years ago, and 7 applications from people who were over-qualified for the post. The Michael Hearn Internship is intended to give someone their first step on the ladder in a career in conservation, and is in memory of Mike Hearn, who volunteered at Save the Rhino for six months after leaving school, before going to Namibia to work for Save the Rhino Trust. He later went on to complete an MSc and was working on his PhD when he died in a tragic accident. The post, therefore, was created and funded so that someone else might have the same opportunity that Mike had. We’re sympathetic to the difficulty that many people have in trying to get into the conservation or charity sector, but this post was not designed for MSc graduates, or for those who have already been working for several years
  • The job application pack requested a CV, which should demonstrate skills and experience and a covering letter, which should explain why applicants want the job. 7 applications were rejected because they were missing one of these. If people can’t follow simple instructions, then I cannot be sure that they will do what is required of them in the office

Third stage – detailed reading of the applications
We were left with 95 applications, which gave us a massive task, and choosing which seven candidates to interview was very difficult. At this stage, we read the letters and CVs in depth, looking for evidence of particular skills or experience but, even more importantly, a well-written, carefully thought out letter.

The five members of Save the Rhino staff plus an MSc student currently working with us therefore read each application in detail, marking them with a “yes”, a “no”, or a “maybe”, depending on criteria set out in the person specification and on other qualities for which we were looking.

Things we considered included:

Presentation
You may think we’re old-fashioned about this, but when we say we want a covering letter, we want either a well-laid out letter, or a carefully composed email, together with a separate CV. Quite a few people sent letters that just spilled over to a second page by one line. It would look much better to adjust the margins or font size, so that your letter fits onto one side of A4. CVs also suffered from problems with tabs and changing indents. It’s a good idea to make sure you use a standard font throughout (like Times New Roman or Arial) that will work on all PCs or macs. If you’re not sure about your CV, email it to a friend and get them to print it out and check that the pagination etc all looks good

A tailored letter
It became obvious very quickly that many applicants had done all sorts of relevant things: volunteering, doing fundraising events for charities or universities, some conservation field work etc. So we had to look for people whose letters really stood out. Things we particularly liked were:

  • References to Save the Rhino’s projects or events, which showed that the person had done some research on our website or other places
  • A succinct letter that articulated well what the person hoped to get out of the experience of working for Save the Rhino, as well as what they would bring to the post
  • Some reference to an interest in conservation or wildlife, without simply resorting to specific projects done as part of a degree course

Dislikes

  • Long letters that repeated most of the information on the CV. We had very specifically asked for a CV that would demonstrate the skills, aptitude and experience outlined in the Person specification, together with a covering letter that would say where the person saw the advertisement and explain why they wanted this post. Two different documents were required and people often didn’t make a clear distinction between them
  • Other typos, inconsistent capitalisation and punctuation horrors. It’s just sloppy
  • Evasiveness. Some applications omitted degree results or even the institution studied at, or left out dates of study, or periods when nothing seemed to happen, work or study-wise. It’s best to be open about these things
  • Personal empathy with animals is fine, but we are not an animal welfare organisation, as was made clear in the “about us” section of the job application pack, and we were put off by letters that waxed over-lyrical about animals and the environment. Job applications aren’t love letters; they are, or should be, business-like. (A certain amount of humour or levity is fine if well-judged)

Fourth stage - drawing up the list of people to interview
Having read all 95 applications – no mean feat – we then counted up the number of ticks on each. This is where it got really hard.

Usually, we would have about five with six ticks, and so then consult the ones with five ticks to fill the rest of the interview slots and have one or two reserves in case someone withdrew their application.

This year, we had 15 applications with six ticks. (11 with five; 6 with four; 10 with three; 6 with two; 12 with one; and 33 with no ticks.) So it seems to have been an exceptionally good year for standards – maybe some of you have read my feedback on the previous Michael Hearn Intern recruitment processes!

So we had to go through again, reading all 15 in detail, and re-scored them all. Seven people have been selected and are being contacted; three others are being held in reserve.

Fifth stage – the interviews
Interviews will take place on Wednesday 30 July. Unsuccessful interviewees will receive detailed feedback, if they wish, from me on their performance, but I regret that I cannot offer individual feedback to those not invited for interview.

Next time lucky?
Finally, if you were not selected for interview this time, but you think you avoided all the pitfalls outlined above, then here are a couple of tips that might help you break into the conservation charity world:

  • Make your experience relevant to the job in question. You may justifiably be proud of your thesis on “The anger reflex of Greater Spotted Newts” (I am making this up), but unless you are applying for a post with the Greater Spotted Newt Society, the finer academic detail will not be of much interest. So, focus instead on what research techniques you used, or how you evaluated different methodologies or incorporated opposing views. Most employers, including us, are looking for a good all-rounder who works hard, has problem-solving skills, experience of one kind or another, shows initiative, and who has done their homework on the organisation to which they are applying. Anything extra is a bit of a bonus
  • Get some good office experience. So many of the jobs available are about fundraising or administration or events that some useful general office work may be more help then doing another field trip or academic paper. There are hundreds of people out there who volunteer abroad for a summer or two, which demonstrates interest; but the core experience of most jobs in fundraising is, like most other jobs, based in an office
  • If you can possibly afford to do so, volunteer in an organisation of the type you would like to work for, whether it’s one day per week or one day per month or just at evening / weekend fundraising events. If you make yourself useful around the place, next time they recruit an entry-level post, they are likely to encourage you to apply

I hope this feedback has been helpful (I wish I’d known at 21 everything I know now), and thank you again to everyone who applied. It’s great to think that there are so many people out there with an interest in developing a career in conservation.

Cathy Dean
Director
Save the Rhino International