Applying with a Recruiter’s Eye: What Really Matters in Your CV and Job Interview
Eighty applications for a single vacancy: what do you look at first? That was the opening question of the workshop “Successful Job Applications”, held by the Safavi Impact Institute on Wednesday, 4 November, with 20 participants. For them, it meant changing perspective and looking at the application process from the other side of the desk.
The workshop was led by Yvonne Bauer. She has worked in recruiting for 20 years and has conducted several thousand job interviews. Today she is Head of HR at a cybersecurity company and Chair of Women4Cyber Austria. At the Institute’s conference in June, she had already spoken on the “Employer Reality Check” panel about where international profiles get stuck in the selection process. This time the focus was practical: what can each applicant do herself to make sure her profile is read and understood?
Fit over Perfection
The opening exercise showed what really counts. Working in pairs, participants collected the things that make a good first impression in an application. Yvonne Bauer summed up the result: perfection is not what matters, a recognisable fit is. Recruiters check whether experience and skills match the tasks of the role. They look at whether abilities are backed up by examples, whether the motivation is clear and whether the documents come across as clear and carefully prepared. The applicant’s task is therefore simple to describe: make it easy for the other side to see that you are suitable.
From Tasks to Results
The group used concrete examples to discuss how to achieve this in a CV. A short profile of two to four lines works well, along with a structure that starts with the current position. The guiding principle is relevance over completeness. Above all, applicants should not just list their duties but show what they achieved. “Customer service” becomes “independently managed around 50 existing clients”. The formula is task plus responsibility plus result, ideally with a figure or an example.
This step is especially important for women whose Ukrainian job titles have no direct equivalent in Austria. In small groups, participants compared two CVs from a recruiter’s point of view. Each of them then reviewed her own documents and noted three specific improvements.
Your Story in 90 Seconds
The second part focused on the job interview. Introducing yourself does not mean reading out your CV. It means telling a coherent professional story in 60 to 90 seconds. This short story answers four questions: Who am I professionally today? What experience do I bring? What am I particularly good at? And why am I interested in this particular position?
For questions about difficult situations or conflicts, the women were introduced to the STAR method: Situation, Task, Action, Result. It helps structure answers clearly and back them up with examples. Asking your own questions is just as important, for instance what is expected in the first six months or how success in the role is measured.
Then it was time to practise. In pairs, participants conducted interviews, taking turns as recruiter and applicant. They then gave each other feedback according to one rule: specific, appreciative, actionable. There was also time in between for questions from their own application experience.
At the end, each participant formulated her next concrete step for her upcoming application. As Yvonne Bauer emphasised, a small, concrete step is more effective than a perfect plan. A good CV opens the door, and a convincing interview makes the difference.
The workshop is part of the labour-market-oriented programmes offered by the Safavi Impact Institute, which combine language skills, job application preparation and individual career counselling.
