Finding my sparkle the robotics of the job application process

 I met an old boss a few weeks ago for coffee, I am feeling battered and bruised because I have been out of work since last October and have had 8 unsuccessful interviews in the past 9 weeks. He said what I had to do was to re find my sparkle because that's what made him hire me.

So why have I lost it? this blog post will attempt to explore the process and show why I have lost my sparkle

Job application forms and person specs  have become more unrealistic.

This has been a trend since the economic crisis of 2008 organisations are trying to keep up the same level of service with less money. In reality this means combining jobs and paying people the same to do more work.  What this means for person specs is that the Essential and Desirable Criteria are becoming more lengthy. The Desirable matter because if the candidates  show they have 3 of 4 and another application  has 2 of the 4 then the candidate with 3 of 4 is more likely to get the interview if both have met the essentials. Organisations need to think if they really need a person with all the points on the person spec as they rarely exist

This means for application forms the additional information section is now critical but organisations have changed the way they recruit accordingly. The additional information is now dealt with by character length and not just  word length so candidates have to work out how to say they fit the lengthy criteria. in roughly 15 full length tweets  or 2000 characters  sometimes more. For word length its about 500 so imagine a 12 point person spec and working out a way to cover all the important points in as much detail but as briefly as possible.

This has turned me into a robot who can recite pretty much from memory my examples for applications and doesn't leave much room for the extra stardust which may get the interview.

Interviews are now literally box ticking exercises.

I am disabled but the ticking of "interviewing the disabled person box" is not what I am talking about  here. I am talking about the fact  interviews are now competency based so they follow the STAR model. Situation Task Action Result. So Tell me an example of when you worked in a team? What they are really interested in is the Action or What you did in that situation This again has turned me into a robot because what the interviewers will do at the end of the day is add up who said what into a score and the person with the biggest score wins. For me this is hard because i give solid interviews and use my personality at the interview to try and show I would fit in at this organisation, but that counts for nothing as I haven't the highest score so again my sparkle is lost. It has become so prescriptive, that very rarely now the panel decides Person X did not score the highest in the interview but they have have something we can work with or improve so lets go with them.

 Feedback

At the end of the interview process it is vital to gain feedback even if you are successful because each interview is a learning opportunity but employers can be reluctant to provide useful feedback.  With this I can than improve the other 2 parts of the blog. The pressures on organisations time means they tend to be robots  as unless the recruiting manager has the time or you push them  for it. The feedback is    "There was a high standard of candidates all of whom were excellent and you did well to get to this stage." This is not helpful at all as I can't tweak my answer or take something out of my application. So recruiting companies should be made to constructive feedback. I mentioned previously my personality. It has often been brought up in my feedback  how engaged I am with the panel and how great I would be to work with

I lost my sparkle because the job application process is now so robotic that I am worn out by it

So for me to regain my Sparkle I need to find a way to be the best robot that there is via the job application and hopefully the interview process, then  get the one thing that has not changed in recruitment have a big slice of luck.

Crossing countries breaking boundaries

For many people a highlight of their life is travelling or volunteering abroad, either in a gap year after school or during a career break. Yet for some people they can't due to having a disability and the obstacles that this presents. In 2005, I was lucky enough to spend a term in New Mexico as part of my degree. This opened my eyes to the world and gave me a love of travel and Mexican food.

I want other disabled people to have the same opportunities to spend some time abroad. This is why I am involved in a project called Crossing Countries.

Crossing Countries was set up by my girlfriend and some classmates. The idea behind it is to support disabled people to volunteer abroad. They would go with a 'travel pal' who would support them during their trip. This summer we hope to go to Durban, South Africa to road test the idea. During the trip we will volunteer with street children and go into schools to talk with students about disability.

We need your help to make the trip possible. So I would be grateful if you would read the link below and if possible donate some funds.

Thank you.

http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/crossing-countries--2

the right support for the right people

Last week I was watching part of the Labour Party Conference and Ed Miliband was taking part in a question and answer session with delegates. I tuned in when I  think he had just been asked a question about employing disabled people- ( I didn't see the question) because his answer covered Remploy workers  and Employment and Support Allowance.

He said  disabled people who can work should be given the right support to be able to do so. This can be very complected as disability is different for every disabled person.

Using my experience as a disabled person I would like to offer 2 ways in which the government can help young disabled professionals like my myself support into employment..

Firstly for young disabled graduates a national employment scheme should be established to  support disabled people into  mainstream employment. in 2008 I secured a job at Lehman Brothers in September 2008 through such a scheme run by the disability charity SCOPE.The SCOPE scheme worked by me being employed by SCOPE for a year to work at Lehman Brothers, then at the end of the years employment it was up to the bank if they took me on permanently and I know the BBC have such schemes so why cant it be rolled out nationally?


Secondly disabled people need help to move house quickly.how this is done I do not know as there is a chronic shortage of of accessible homes.

I live in social housing in Edinburgh and had to turn down a job in London because I couldnt find accessible housing despite months of trying and was told the best way of moving was to secure a house swap but I couldn't find one.  the problem here is that disabled people cant job hunt unless they have accessible accommodation because they cant  take a job in London but live in Edinburgh like me then face the issue of finding a place to live which could take months.

So Ed Miliband is right when he says disabled people need the right support to gain employment and I hope I have offered some thoughts how that support might look

how the UK Government can raise a glass to disabled people in Britain

A year ago I was lucky enough to take part in the Paralympic Torch Relay. In my hand I held the Paralympic flame, it was meant to symbolise a change of attitudes in the United Kingdom, towards disability. Disability was meant to be tackled by society as a whole and not just by disabled people.

Despite this hope, many disabled people are despairing about the changes to disability benefits and feel that instead of being inclusive society is marginalising them through the use of language such as “scrounger”. For some disabled people politicians are not to be trusted because instead of helping to improve disability rights through welfare reform, those rights are being taken away.

That trust can be rebuilt by seeing disability as a positive thing. Today in the House Of Commons there will be an Opposition Day Debate on the impact of the government policies on disabled people. Some MPs will use examples of their constituents to show how government policies are hurting instead of helping disabled people and I'm sure I will find this debate very depressing.

So how can the UK government cheer me up? The answer is take me for a beer or at least give me access information in England and Wales about where I can get one. In Scotland I campaigned for and got a change in the law so that all new licensing applications have to say what access for disabled people their facilities have. This change was supported by all parties in the Scottish Parliament and the licensed trade. Such a move by the UK government has the potential to not just help the disabled people, but people with young families or limited mobility and help the licensed trade. The whole point of the legislation was  to improve access information not to say all pubs have to be accessible. 

Toby Perkins the Shadow Pub Minister through a written question asked if the   UK government have any plans to introduce similar legislation and the answer is no see here . I hope they change their mind and if they do I may just buy them a drink

someone new in my life

For the past eighteen months or so I have been sharing my life with a figure, who at first was on the fringes, but now are front and centre sharing my life on a daily basis. I would like to introduce you to “the Gloom”. Who or what is the “the gloom”? I hear you ask yourselves. “the Gloom” is my name for depression. I was diagnosed with it in March this  year.

My depression aka “the gloom” is on the mild end of the spectrum. I am finding it hard to have a constant mood. I am a yoyo, up some days, down the next. This feeling is not constant it goes and then comes back. It brings not a feeling of sadness but a feeling of pointlessness, I find myself wondering what I should do today because there are not job vacancies and after unsuccessful job interviews, I think, what did I do wrong?

“the Gloom” is in my life for two reasons. Firstly, on the surface I am depressed because I can’t find work, and spend my days looking for work and dream of being a campaign supremo and speech writer. The second reason is probably the underlying reason, I am just coming to terms with my disability. You may find that an odd thing for me to say because I have been disabled all my life.

I am struggling with this because I was brought up to believe my disability was not a barrier to my life However, I have discovered that it is and that realization has hit me hard, Yes my disability has led me to change the law and climb Ben Nevis. But it stopped me from moving to London to take a job with ITV that I would have loved. It is limiting my job prospects because I have to think about my home first and not the job, so it is stopping me from fulfilling my potential.

But “the Gloom” has made me realise what I want to do with my life and that is to make a difference to people. By managing “the Gloom” I know I can make a difference to someone’s life, my own.

CV of a public affairs professional

If you know of anyone needing  someone with media,policy and campaigns experience show them this CV its rather good its mine

Mark Cooper

 markcooperma@googlemail.com

Personal Profile

An award-winning, highly motivated individual with strong communication skills gained through various operational and strategic roles. I have a strong working knowledge of Scottish and British public affairs through experience in an MPs office and through working for one of Scotland’s leading third sector organisations.

I have significant campaigning and lobbying experience both as a campaign leader, as a member of a campaign team and as a candidate in the 2010 General Election. My work has been recognised by the Public Affairs industry. The successful Barred! Campaign – which I founded and ran – won the 2010 Devolved Campaign of the Year at the Public Affairs News Awards.

Education

Aberdeen University (2003-2007)MA (Hons) Politics and International Relations (Lower Second Class)

• Modules included: Scottish Politics, British and European Politics, and Research Methods in Social Science.

Boroughmuir High School (1997-2003)

• Highers: Modern Studies, History, Psychology
• 6 Standard Grades at Credit Level: English, Physics, Computing Studies, German, History, Modern Studies
• 1 Standard Grade at General Level: Maths

Employment

Scottish Labour
Campaign Volunteer (March 2011-May 2011; February 2012-May 2012)

• Data gathering and inputting which enabled voters to be targeted
• Collected voter data on a door-to-door basis helping enable Labour vote to be targeted
• General administrative tasks

Capability Scotland
Parliamentary and Policy Officer (October 2009 – October 2010)

• Promoted the involvement of disabled people in policy and campaign work by collating their views into organisational responses to Government consultations
• Heavily involved in external stakeholder relations with other disability organisations, national media, and civil servants, central and local government and by representing Capability on the Cross Parliamentary Group on Disability.
• Lobbying with the Senior Policy Advisor to exert influence to ensure that laws are passed to improve the rights of disabled people and to help change societal attitudes.
• High-level writing and drafting skills included writing parliamentary briefings, consultation responses, and newspaper articles.
• Conducted research on disability equality, which led to the production of reports, which were used to campaign on issues and inform press releases.

Capability Scotland
Scotland Policy Officer (July 2009 - October 2009)

• Headhunted by Capability Scotland as a result of the Barred! Campaign.
• Led a campaign for equal accessibility for disabled people in bars across Edinburgh whilst raising awareness across Scotland. This campaign resulted in legislative change.
• Liaised with Scottish Parliament and government officials.
• Promoted the work Capability Scotland across a range of media giving interviews, and writing articles, for numerous trade magazines and national media.
• Developed Capability Scotland’s social media strategy understanding the importance of social media in engaging with communities.

Lehman Brothers
Data Analyst (September 2008)

• Hired by the bank but bank collapsed before start date.

Nigel Griffiths MP Office

Officer volunteer (June 2005 – September 2008)

• Worked for Nigel Griffiths during university holidays and on a more regular basis throughout 2007 and 2008)
• Supported MPs’ workload through research, general administration work, and constituent responses.

Achievements

• Founded and ran the award-winning Barred! Campaign. This work was recognised by the Public Affairs News Awards and successfully amended legislation. The campaign also gained national recognition through Capability and other charities.
• Prospective parliamentary candidate in Orkney and Shetland at the 2010 General Election for Scottish Labour. This unique role helped hone my project management and media relation’s skills.
• Was a member of the Debating Society at Aberdeen University and represented the University at competitions across Scotland
• Competent with all Microsoft applications, e-mail and all social media platforms.

References

Available on Request

love is all around

Today is one of those days in parliament when you feel something momentous is being decided, just like  the debate on tuition fees and the Iraq war vote. The issue is today is can same sex couples be married.

I can see both sides of the argument, but I want to explain my point of view. I have spent months thinking about it. I am a practising christian although I don't go to church that often I have found my faith is getting stronger as I continue to fight to find a job it is a comfort to me.

I am in favour of  same sex marriage  and i will admit it i struggled with it because many Christians who i respect said in the press it was wrong. I came to my decision on Christmas eve  during the midnight service. the minister said we have to "put the Christmas story into our lives today into our schools and our work places" the minister who said that is my father.

In my view the Christmas story is about love, The Christmas story says that God gave Jesus to the world because he loved it. A wedding is the opportunity for two people to say to each other in public that they love each other and want to commit to each other in front of their friends.

The second way my faith has helped me to make this decision  is that the new testament talks about equality  how God loves everybody regardless of who they are. this commitment to equality is similar to my own as I really believe that people who would like to commit themselves to each other regardless of their sexuality should be able to do so.

Britain is an un equal society with rich, and poor but by passing the Marriage (same sex couples) bill  Parliament can take a step towards making Britain the equal society we all want it to be.