The intensity of resources used up by sifting through graduate CVs has been highlighted in a recent survey of this year's final year students with the average graduate claiming to send out between 61 and 78 CVs for a first job.
The Forum3 survey suggests the increasing problem faced by many departments in terms of working through CVs. Graduates said they received an average of only seven responses with three to four of those being polite rejections.
Most had to wait an average of six weeks to find out they had been rejected. Large multinationals and private firms with over 50 employees were the worst offenders for not even replying to applications with SMEs and charities being better.
Apart from tardiness on the part of employers, the reasons employers in the survey did not consider applicants suggested a lack of thinking outside of the box in many cases.
Some reasons for rejection included 'trying to be amusing', using 'coloured paper', 'including photographs', and overusing the first person pronoun 'too much usage tends to suggest the person is not a team player' said one respondent.
Potentially heaping up the workload for HR, the survey found a positive correlation between the number of CVs mailed out and the number of interviews gained, leading to the Forum3 recruitment conference project director advising graduates to play the 'numbers game':
'Unless the applicant has really exceptional exam results or can be seen to offer something extraordinary - which is very rare - then the search for a job is very much a numbers game.
'The more applications you fill out and CVs you send relate directly to the number of interviews you will be offered' said Debbie Hockham.
The survey also suggests that 60% of CVs are mailed to the wrong person, mostly the managing director, with candidates sending CVs and letters without spelling mistakes being 61% more likely to receive a reply and 26% more likely to be given an interview.
