When applying to graduate schemes (or otherwise) there will be numerous application for the position, so how do you make your application/CV stand out? From reading articles, I have found out that recruiters normally look at a single application for about two minutes. This is a very short amount of time so you want to get your skills and suitability for the job across succinctly. This can be done using the STAR method. Situation, Task, Action, Result.
Here is an example of what is normally written:
"During university, I worked in a shop. I served customers and replenished stock."
The applicant is just stating what they have done in the job and is assuming that the recruiter can guess what skills they can bring to the job.
The above example could be written using the STAR method:
"During university, I worked in a shop. I was very effective at resolving customers' issues. One customer could not find the product she was looking for. I listened to what she wanted and told her that I would look in the warehouse to see whether it was in stock. As it was not, I brought her an alternative product. I explained the benefits of the product to the customer. She bought the product and went away happy."
From this the recruiter can see that you have selling skills, communication skills, problem solving abilities and the ability to think on your feet.
You can see that the second option says more to the recruiter than option one. As you have a limited amount of time, each paragraph needs to say something to the recruiter. If you follow this method, on your CV, it is a sure fire way to get an interview.
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