Picture it, dire Reader.
Deep in HTS's secret mountainside nerve-centre, our lead consultant is scrolling through the latest CV postings on an internet job board. She's looking for a Business Systems Analyst* with strong Business Objects experience (or "strong BO"). Naturally, some of the four million candidates turning up in her search have all the relevant terms on their CVs, but are, on closer inspection, not Business Systems Analysts* with strong Business Objects experience. No: they are golf coaches, mobile aquarium attendants and horse whisperers. But some of the candidates in her search results are Business Systems Analysts* with strong Business Objects.
She smiles.
'A hearty yield,' she says, reaching across the control panel to open the CV document of a promising-looking candidate.
Then she stops. Her finger hovers.
Her finger moves to the left. Drops on a button set into a small box.
'Lemuel, hold my calls.'
Before you can say 'Yes, ma'am', Lemuel has said, 'Yes, ma'am'.
The consultant nods to herself. Something on the screen has drawn her attention.
Some avant-garde maverick has gone and posted a CV with absolutely no cover information at all. Despite the fact that this particular job board enables you to indicate where you live, what your current job is, where you work, what sort of role you're looking for, how much money you're after, whether you're looking for permanent of temporary work, and possibly some other things.
Nothing. To get any information about this cat, the consultant is going to have to open the CV and find all that stuff out for herself.
She looks up. The Boss is approaching. She can hear her ice cubes tinkling. Walking over, the Boss sets down her glass. The crystal makes a thud. 'Something interesting?'
'Just some fascinating daredevil who plays by his own rules,' the lead consultant says. 'Just some straight-talking cattle-hustler who isn't afraid to ask the hard questions.'
The Boss says, 'What?'
'I like this guy,' the consultant hisses. 'I like his style.' A jab at a button. 'Lemuel? Bring me my cat-fur. I've found the candidate I'm looking for - and I'm going to bring him in.'
Alternatively, you could picture the following scene.
Our lead consultant is looking for a Business Systems etc* and her search results bring up five million results and she's zipping through them and she doesn't look at your CV because she didn't even notice it because it has no cover information at all. She might notice it later on, but she might not.
Moral of the second story: if you're using job boards, get the important information up front.
Oh and btw, don't think because it's coming up to Christmas, we are slowing down. Vacancies are coming in thick and fast. WE NEED YOUR CV ( plus cover info of course)
