Save the Rhino International


	Feedback on applications for the Michael Hearn Internship Programme 2010-11 The application process is now closed. We received 218 applications, and are very grateful to all of those who took the time and trouble to apply for the Michael Hearn Internship Programme. Seven candidates have been invited for interview, and we expect to make an appointment by Friday 30 July, with the successful candidate taking up his or her post on 1 September. 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. The first sift 67 applications were excluded immediately for the following reasons: They did not include a cover letter as requested in the job application pack They misspelled the name “Michael Hearn” or “Save the Rhino”. We had Hern, Ahern, Micheal, Rhyno. You might think it’s harsh to chuck someone out for a – let’s be generous – typing mistake, but if someone can’t get the job title or organisation name right, what chance they can do other things well? Some were over-qualified, with a Masters degree. The job application pack set out eligibility terms, specifying that we would not accept students with a Masters (second) degree Others graduated too long ago. Again, the job application pack set out eligibility terms, specifying that we would only accept school leavers or those graduating in 2009 or 2010 Some letters and CVs were way too long. We binned any letter that covered more than 2 pages, and any CV longer than 3 pages. Again, you might think this is harsh, but employers just don’t have time to read pages and pages of stuff in the hope that somewhere, there might be something relevant 1 person was not available for interview on the specified date of Wednesday 28 July. You might think that this is tough, but please bear in mind that recruitment takes up a lot of time for employers: drawing up the job description, reviewing all the applications, arranging the interviews, doing the interviews, making a job offer, checking references, and then letting the unsuccessful interviewees know the outcome. Dragging interviews out over more than a day just makes the whole process unfeasibly time-consuming The second sift On closer inspection, we found that 17 people did not support their professed interest in conservation in their CVs. It’s all very well to talk about your commitment to and participation in conservation issues and practice in your cover letter, but you must then evidence or demonstrate that in your CV. Choosing the seven interviewees That left 134 letters and CVs to look at in detail and from which to choose 7 candidates for interview; still an enormous task. Our usual approach is for each of the five members of Save the Rhino staff reviewing the applications to marked each application 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. However, because we had so many applications, we decided that any application clocking up two “nos” would be disqualified immediately, to save everyone else having to read applications that were not going to be good enough. 65 applications fell at this hurdle. We ended up with 15 applications that had 4 or 5 yes marks, and reconsidered these in detail, discussing them at length to select the best candidates to make up the full seven, the most people we can see in one day. As a small charity, with lots of normal work to do, we simply can’t give up more than one whole day to conducting job interviews for one post; hence the ceiling of seven. We chose three reserves, in case anyone subsequently decides not to come for interview after all. Avoiding pitfalls The two main reasons for rejecting applications were: Not explaining why you want the job Applicants did not adequately explain why they wanted to work as Michael Hearn Intern at Save the Rhino. 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. It’s not good enough just to tell us how marvellous you are. We were very clear that we wanted you to tell us why you want to work at Save the Rhino. This means tailoring your letter to the job in question, not just knocking out the same old thing. Save yourself some time, if you’re not going to bother tweaking your letter to the particular employer, then don’t bother applying at all. So no joy for the person that told us they wanted to be a personal banker – not an activity you’re likely to be asked to carry out at Save the Rhino. One poor devil sent us a cover letter for another job entirely (wonder what the other organisation made of their aptitude for rhino conservation?). CVs were very badly laid out I’m not sure why, but this year we saw a lot of real horrors. Tiny type (8 point); horrible tabs that didn’t align; cramming everything onto one page but in an illogical manner; mixing up education and employment; not including key dates; not bothering to format the CV at all; bullet point lists of qualifications or jobs with no explanatory information to say what you did that was exceptional or demonstrated more than merely turning up. Put yourself in the shoes of your potential employer. You have a minute at most to scan a letter and CV. If you can’t work out quickly what someone has done and when that is relevant to the job, you give up – it’s not worth the effort. You have another 100+ applications to look through. Other problems Be aware that word documents (and cover letters in emails) can change formatting with different printers. So if you want to make sure that the carefully crafted letter and CV looks the same at the other end as it does on your screen, I suggest you turn them into a PDF – that way, your formatting will be preserved. There’s nothing more irritating (particularly for a conservation charity) than printing out a letter which spills over onto a second page by one line. I hate a waste of paper. One person left in source coding, which made us think they had simply copied something off a website – this does not look like someone who takes care over their work. Make sure your numbering / indents / bullet points are consistent throughout, and don’t have too many different fonts going on. You want the employer to be reading the content, not distracted by the appearance. If you’re not good at proof-reading on screen, print out your letter and CV and check them. Get someone else to check them too if you can. Don’t gush. Yes, we are looking for someone who is deeply committed to conservation, but saying you love animals, or have a lifelong passion for xyz is too gushy. A job application is a serious document, not a love letter. And don’t preach. We lost count of the number of people who told us that conservation is important / that the planet is in danger unless we all do something. We know. And why tell us you are vegetarian? It wasn’t specified in the job application pack. Two current members of our team happen to be vegetarian, but if you read the “About us” page on our website, you’ll have seen that we are pro-sustainable use. It really is vastly irritating to be told how to live your life by a prospective job applicant – I can’t think of any sector where this would be appropriate. Next time lucky? So you cleared all those hurdles, but still didn’t get selected? Things we particularly liked were: 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 References to Save the Rhino’s field programmes or events, which showed that the person had done some research on our website or other places Reference to a strong interest in conservation or wildlife, not just in the covering letter, but also backed up in the CV. (Yes, we know you’re probably applying to at least 20 other organisations at the same time, but we want to see a tailored letter and CV) In this case, when trying to make the final selection, we found that the covering letters were where some candidates really stood out, because they conveyed something of the applicant’s personality. We work in a small open-plan office and, to be honest, we need to feel sure that we’ll like the person we’re about to interview. A well-judged couple of sentences that tell us a bit about you and what drives you, that bring your CV to life, can make all the difference. 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. Cathy Dean Director Save the Rhino International