FROM THE CEO
TARGETING TALENT
AMBA & BGA CEO Andrew Main Wilson looks at recruitment guidance aimed at helping graduates to outsmart AI bots and create that all-important first impression with employers
As the world in 2023 grows increasingly uncertain, both economically and geopolitically, graduates need to optimise their job candidacy more skilfully than ever before.
The ideal MBA job candidate needs to be persuasive, charming and inclusive, but not dictatorial. These attributes are now deemed so important that if a candidate lacks these skills, they must work tirelessly to try and evolve their personality. Most of our accredited schools now recognise this and, to their great credit, are providing one-to-one mentoring to help their students achieve this. The next challenge for your students, once they have optimised their job candidacy, is to outsmart the artificial intelligence-powered algorithms that are increasingly being used by almost all major multinational recruiters to shortlist candidates. When I graduated in the early 1980s, I was interviewed face to face by every company, from the very first interview, which was usually held during the recruitment ‘milk round’ on campus. At the final selection board with Mars, I was interviewed by the marketing director, while at Gillette I was interviewed by the CEO – how times have changed. So, how can your students outsmart the AI bots? Current recruitment expert advice includes the following insights:
• Ornately designed CVs may look impressive, but the candidate’s entire resumé should be in text format without any infographics • Reflect appropriate key words outlined in the job description, but don’t overuse them • Ensure the CV layout formatting is simple, clear and consistent • Opt for standard typefaces for optimum clarity and readability, such as Arial and Times New Roman • AI bots don’t have a sense of humour, so avoid jokey or over-elaborate language – robots are designed to look for specific data and key words • Use commonly understood job titles that algorithms will recognise Having made such a valuable career investment in an AMBA-accredited business school programme, dedicating the time and skilled insight into creating the strongest possible relevant CV for each job role is a small and logical final step of that investment.
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Too many business graduates still seem content to simply adopt a ‘sawn-off shotgun’ approach to their job hunting – spraying potential employers with exactly the same CV application for every job. They then wonder why they receive so many rejection emails. Now is the time to approach each job application in forensic detail. Employers feel they can almost take as read the quality of commercial and strategic skills taught by AMBA-accredited business schools, but the importance of building a personal brand identity in terms of soft skills cannot be taken for granted. Graduates really need to ask themselves, ‘Who am I?’, ‘What makes me unique that differentiates me from all the other candidates applying for a particular job?’ and ‘Does my uniqueness match the needs of the recruiting organisation at this particular time?’
50 | Ambition JULY/AUGUST 2023
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