Category: Careers

There is a stark difference between successful applications that receive offers to interview and those that do not! Are you certain YOUR application is ready?

With the Spring accounting recruiting season (Public Practice Recruiting) in full swing, many students are submitting their applications in hopes of landing a position that will support their goals of completing their CPA and landing employment in their new accounting field. Even though many would agree they need to have every competitive advantage, some students do not think that getting career support to make sure their application is ready to go and ready to make an impact is part of their successful preparation. However, for most, it absolutely is…

Here Are Seven Reasons Why YOU Need Help!

1. Validation – Even though many students are competent with their preparation including their resume and cover letter writing skills, they often still feel a slight feeling of anxiety when they click send to submit their applications. A meeting with a skilled career consultant or firm rep can bring validation to an applicant’s thoughts, approach and ideas. This can help with building confidence as they await a call to interview.
2. Blind Spots – The thing about having “blind-spots”, is we don’t usually know when we have them! And, sometimes we don’t see them until it’s too late. Over the years, discussions with Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) have helped me realize how much my knowledge was lacking in one area or another. If I would have tried to move ahead with my lack of knowledge, it might have made me look ill-prepared, produced a lesser result and possibly failed altogether. We have all thrown our hands in the air at some time and said, “Who knew!” Well, somebody did! And, if we had of gotten their perspective, we might have answered differently and ended with a better result. An important realization is to know you m ay not understand everything you need to about your application leaving you with blind spots that could hinder your efforts. If you are able to see this, have enough vision and take the needed steps to get the help you need.
3. The Power of Discussion – To some this might sounds like receiving psychological help, but it really is about talking about your ideas and approach as well as getting feedback on your documents. I know, talk, talk, talk, that’s all people do sometimes. But dialogue can be so powerful, especially when it raises the unknown or reveals something that was missed or forgotten. Often when I enquire about what people have done in their work, and what they are trying to convey in their resume statements and cover letters, I hear them verbally describe so much more. In these descriptions, they often reveal more impacting information when they are simply talking about what they have done. These discussions then become quite exciting and turn into new and more impacting content. Resumes, cover letters and interview preparation go the the next level of quality content and delivery.
4. Leveraging Others Expertise – It is always better when we can learn from another’s mistakes and gain knowledge without “the school of hard knocks.” It saves so much wasted time and even some bumps, bruises and disappointments along the way. When connecting with a career consultant that has done thousands of successful application reviews, you are able to leverage that experience and increase the impact of your application. Many times, it’s not what you know, but who you know, when it comes to leveraging knowledge. So many students have asked me to review applications “after they have already sent them!” Instead of me helping them present themselves better, the discussion is more about what they should have done instead. The appointments are not very enjoyable.
5. Add Value – Once small edits or complete revisions are made to applications, the percentage of the effectiveness significantly goes up. When certain things are added to (or removed from) a resume and or cover letter, they can be the reasons an application turns into an interview offer. After working with my clients to add skills to a resume or relevant connections to cover letters, the documents have increased in effectiveness by 2-3 times. Many clients have said they felt so much more confident with their new revised documents than they were prior to getting help. This can happen for you as well.
6. The Look – Often people get so focused on their content that they miss the things that makes the first impact – the look. The visual look of documents is very important and can make an impact on the reviewer even before they read one word about you. So, having someone to give you feedback about your personal brand, the look of your layout and the consistency of your documents can go a long way toward displaying the competencies that are expected and proving what we will say we are good at. Margins, headers, fonts and section layouts can all distract from the strength of the words and academics when documents are not formatted successfully. When done well, the content is quickly focused on and the impact on the reader is much greater. It is worth the effort to get your application checked so that you don’t read over your own mistakes or lose sight of the very important impact of your application’s first impression.
7. You Paid For It! – Your student fees have been at work for you already creating content and making help available for you when you need it – and you probably do need it more that you know. With student fees being as expensive as they are, why wouldn’t you take advantage of what you have already paid for? It’s like leaving money on the table during a business deal when it would have been better to profit from decisions that would have moved the money from the table to your pocket. Take full advantage of the opportunity while you are in DAP, because when you have completed, the door closes on the kind of support you can have during your DAP experience. It would be my pleasure to help you increase your success!
   
   The DAP Office will continue posting and advertising regular career coaching, Spring recruiting application review opportunities and interview preparation workshops and appointments with Russell Garrett, your Career Consultant. You can register for these through COOL now. Some approaching dates are May 2, 3, 12, 15, 16, 23 along with the Interview Preparation Workshop on May 9th.
   
   If you are unable to locate any scheduled career coaching slots on COOL at the present time, or for some reason these appointments do not coincide with your work schedule, you can reach out to Russell, your DAP Career Coach, through email at dapcareersupport@sauder.ubc.ca to set up a random online meeting instead.
   
   So, do a quick shoulder check, you likely have a blindspot! And, take action to move forward with success!

Best of Luck,

Russell

Russell Garrett is the Owner of Protocol Business Solutions, a Certified Career Consultant and your DAP Career Coach. Russell will be delivering workshops for DAP and BCom students in collaboration with the Business Career Centre. Russell is also available to DAP students for coaching appointments secured through COOL, or students can set up a random online coaching appointments set up through email requests. Contact Russell at careercentre@sauder.ubc.ca.