I am thrilled to be able to introduce Jaime Tsimiklis to you as our real world women interviewee for the month!
With everything going on in the world right now and with many people reading this article potentially looking for work, we felt it was a great opportunity to share some tips and tricks with you direct from someone who knows!
Jaime has a HUGE role as the Group Recruitment Manager (Australia and NZ) for Accent Group Limited – A large Australian and NZ based retail and E-commerce business with world class global brands including: VANS, Dr Martens, Sketchers, Timberland, SPERRY, The Athletes Foot and more!
Having ranked in the Top 4% of LinkedIn Recruiters globally, Jaime’s HR and Recruitment experience includes sourcing top talent across a range of roles from entry level through to senior & executive management – basically, Jaime REALLY knows her sh*t, so if you want to know how to stand out on your next job application, read her advice below!
Thank you so much Jaime for taking the time to share your insights with us. Firstly though, tell us a little bit about who you are and what you do?!
In a nutshell, I am a Recruitment Manager, fitness lover, people person and a crazy cat owner! I have a degree in Psychology, but I have always worked in the retail industry. I started my career in HR many years ago and fell in love with the recruitment and talent side. I have been fortunate to work with some amazing brands and alongside very inspirational leaders throughout my career.
I am very passionate about the industry and what I do and literally do not switch off. That is where the fitness comes in as it keeps me sane and balanced from a very busy job. So, after work you will find me at the gym lifting some heavy weights and sweating it out.
How do you stay motivated and how did you work out what you wanted to do in your career?
My motivation comes from my passion. Because I enjoy what I do so much, I don’t see it as just a job. Being in recruitment we get to connect and network with so many people every day. No two days are the same and every role is different. I love being able to match people to careers and support their journey. It makes me feel so good and gives me a sense of purpose when I see people doing well.
You have an amazing background in Talent attraction and Recruitment. Tell us a bit about what you think are the best ways that candidates can stand out when applying for a role?
We are so lucky to have platforms where we can connect and network with people – such as LinkedIn. I would encourage people to follow the companies they want to work for and try and connect and network with the leaders in that business. Networking is key to standing out – its shows you are taking initiative and being proactive.
I remember when I was working on the shop floor in store at Myer and I just wanted to get into HR. I had this burning desire but back then platforms like LinkedIn didn’t exist, so I built relationships internally to try get in. A position came up to support with recruitment at Head Office and I told the manager at the time, I would literally work for free to just get my foot in the door and some experience. I just wanted to show how bad I wanted it. It worked and the rest is history!
PLEASE tell us – what are some of the major mistakes that you see on resumes? What should we NOT do?
This is a good one as we don’t spend a lot of time reading the whole resume and look for key things.
You have about 30 seconds to make an impression to a recruiter with your resume so you must ensure details such as Company, Job title and length of time in the role are all on there.
Make sure your resume also reflects your LinkedIn profile – we do check both!
Ensure you also list your key achievements in the role and do not leave these out as they showcase what you have done rather than just your responsibilities.
Always list your experience with the most recent job first. Do not start with your very first job and have a recruiter scroll 5 pages to get to the current one.
Keep it concise – only a couple pages and not too long. Make sure grammar and spelling is all checked as this shows your attention to detail.
When it comes to selling ourselves, women so often shy away from this with fear of being ‘braggy’, or ‘tooting their own horn’. What is your advice to women who get nervous when it comes to promoting themselves or selling themselves in interviews?
I can absolutely relate to this, as I also used to hold back a lot as I was afraid of the perception that promoting myself gave off. However, I now completely believe that an interview is your opportunity to demonstrate who you are and there is a way to do it without appearing as ‘braggy’. If you are genuinely passionate about what you do and what you have achieved – the confidence will show naturally instead of over doing it.
What would you say is the best way to showcase that your skills are transferable when applying for a role in another industry? This is something particularly relevant with soft skills. What is the best way for applicants to present themselves as being capable in an industry that they haven’t worked in before?
When it comes down to it, soft skills stand out more than experience for a lot of roles because they are transferable. I guarantee a lot of jobs will have one or two sentences about experience and about 5 dot points of soft skills in their selection criteria. Hence, it is essential you speak to these during a phone or face to face interview. Particularly your communication skills, ability to adapt to change and how you work as part of a team. Also be prepared to talk about these with examples, because you will be asked!
Have you ever experienced Imposter Syndrome or a time where you have felt like you weren’t good enough, smart enough, experienced enough etc? How did you deal with this? What advice would you have for other women who struggle with self-doubt and low confidence?
Absolutely! We get so nervous because we place high expectations on ourselves and start to doubt our own ability. For me personally, I value feedback and always ask for it but sometimes I can sit there dwelling on things and start to doubt myself by overthinking and over analysing things.
The funny thing is, we get so stuck in our own heads and do not realise that other people don’t see us this way. It’s mostly us who put this unrealistic pressure onto ourselves.
It was actually when I did some coaching with Claire a couple years ago – that she made me realise that WE hold ourselves back, and that others do not see us this way so we shouldn’t either. Since then I have kept reminding myself of this every time the self-talk, or inner critic starts.
Often when looking at job roles, women will not formally apply for a role unless they meet at least 90% of the criteria advertised, whereas men often will even if they only satisfy half of the role criteria. What advice do you have about how important it is to meet every aspect of a job role before applying, versus just giving it a go anyway?
This is very true and something I see myself regularly! Men apply for more roles than women believe it or not even if they have zero experience to the job – they will still throw their hat in the ring!
I always say to candidates, read the job profile and think about the aspects of the job that you think you could pick up and learn, especially if it’s similar to what you have done or a role above what you would normally go for. Give it a shot and go for it! You have nothing to lose, but by not putting yourself out there, you’ll always wonder what could have been.
With the current challenges given the global pandemic we are currently facing there are many people now looking for work. What advice do you have for people reading this who are currently looking for a job? Where should they start?
It saddens me to see how many people are looking for work now. The market has flipped dramatically and there are more people on the hunt than job roles available. I have seen this as job applications are up 200% at the moment because people are applying for anything and everything.
I would encourage anyone who is currently looking for work to stick to what they know rather than applying for anything and everything. My biggest tip is to sign up for job alerts on job boards like Seek and LinkedIn. Both platforms can send you daily or weekly emails based on job titles and companies you want to work for. With this method you will be the first to know as soon a position of interest becomes available. Right now especially, you need to apply as soon as the job gets advertised because of the amount of people who would be applying.
Finally Jaime, tell us a quote that you live by?
I am such a quote fanatic, but my daily mantra is:
"Wake Up, Think Big, Kick Ass, Be KIND, Repeat".
If you are looking for work right now, I hope this interview with Jaime has given you some tips and insights into how you CAN stand out. Don't give up hope - you've got this!
If you are someone who struggles to sell themselves with confidence, then you need my Sell Yourself With Confidence program!
