In my last blog post I mentioned I’d participated in a survey recently which asked several questions about our experience as recruiters in the post-pandemic world, one of which asked what are the 3 most important attributes in candidates at this time. Alongside “Resilience” and “Adaptability” I ticked “Innovation”, because, as I said then, I believe we must all be more creative in the way we operate these days, be less afraid of suggesting new ideas, ways of working, etc – as recruiters, candidates, employers, and employees.
Focusing on candidates for now – for obvious reasons – what does it really mean to be more creative, more “innovative” as a jobseeker, and why is it so important, now especially?
You will likely have your own thoughts on this, and I think it would make a good subject for someone far more technically proficient and more adept at public speaking than myself to perhaps podcast about. But for now, let’s start with the OED definition of what it means to “innovate” so that we have something to benchmark our thoughts against:
“To make changes in something established, especially by introducing new methods, ideas, or products.” (In business terms it’s often viewed as the application of better solutions that meet new requirements, unarticulated needs, or existing market needs.)
Let’s look at a short case study that in my opinion neatly addresses both the What and the Why of Innovation from a candidate’s perspective, based on the above definitions:
Showcasing Innovation
A young man in his late 20s, Joe, has worked in the Events team at a renowned theme park for the last 5 years and has a strong set of both specific and generic skills. He now finds himself made redundant, along with many of his colleagues, due to the devastating effects of Covid19 on the hospitality industry. Not only that, but he is now looking for a job that doesn’t exist because what he really wants to do is carry on what he was doing. So, he needs to be Resilient, Adaptable, and accept that he has to look at other options.
One option is to do what we all know many candidates are doing – throwing out their CV into the unknown and hoping that if they do it enough something, anything, might stick. “I’ll do anything, take anything,” is something recruiters hear a lot these days, and it’s both heartbreaking and frightening in equal measure because we know that, in spite of everything that’s going on, desperation is never a good job search strategy.
But Joe has different ideas, and he doesn’t just want to be resilient, he also wants to be relevant. He knows that to secure a job he needs to show that he has the skills/attributes to do THAT job. He wants to demonstrate his strongest, most favoured skills (Creativity and Innovation) in the way that he approaches his job search, and then use that as a means to introduce his other, transferable skills.
Joe starts by using the basic html skills he’s learnt in his career to date to build himself a simple website showcasing his “CV”. Then he makes a list of companies he’d be interested in working for and the reasons why, and then a list of what he could offer those companies, and he uses these lists to create a credible and relevant Profile section on his website. Then he generates a QR code using some free software, customises it to link to his website, orders some printable cake-toppers, and prints the QR code on them. Then he buys some plain cupcakes – come on, give him a break, he can’t be expected to bake too!! – and sticks the toppers to each. He places each one in a postable, self-assembly box, addressed to the MD, CEO, Owner, Director, Head of HR, etc for each company he’s targeting (thank you LinkedIn!), along with a short, individually tailored letter by way of introduction.
Not only will the recipient be more likely to take time to read this “CV”, they will also be more likely to believe what it says, because when Joe states that his transferable skills – those that he can use in ANY industry, not just the one he’s worked in for the last few years – include Creativity, Adaptability, Determination, Ingenuity, Basic Web Design/Development, etc, they’ve already seen them in action. And whilst not every – if any – company that Joe’s targeted will have a suitable vacancy at that time, the chances of them contacting him when they do are high, and could mean that the vacancy never even makes it to a job board, or to someone like me!
Be Like Joe
The use of an “Edible CV” is a brilliant way of showcasing both WHAT it means to innovate – you take something we all use every day, a CV, and you switch it up a bit so that it better addresses/stands out in the current, saturated and messy, job search climate; and WHY it’s so important to innovate – because if you keep doing the same thing over and over again expecting a different result, well, we all know where that leads.
So, Be Like Joe and make Innovation YOUR number one transferable skill. It will ALWAYS be relevant.
