The time has finally come and tonight is the finale of The Great British Bake Off. We’ve sat through cake collapses, mushed meringues and the usual tears of joy and sadness, but just like the final contestants have been seeking their crown, finding the right job is surprisingly similar to their saccharine story. Don’t believe us? Read on to see what baking can teach you about finding a job.
Fail to prepare, prepare to fail
Deciding that it’s time to start looking for a new job is the same as planning to whip up a baking frenzy in that you can’t do anything until you’re organised and prepared. You need to read the recipe, or in this case job description carefully to check you are qualified and capable of doing the job and you need to research the company to see if it looks like a good fit. After all, you wouldn’t try to make a Croquembouche with zero baking experience.
You put bad things in you’ll get bad things out
Think of getting all the necessary pieces like CV’s, cover letters and references together like gathering your ingredients. Much in the same way that you wouldn’t want to put bad ingredients in a recipe because you’ll only get a bad cake, these also need to be the best quality. If you don’t know how to go about preparing a good CV and avoiding some common clichés, you can check out our tips here. If you also know that you’ve got the key information ready every time you apply to a job, it’s then easy to tailor them to the specifics of each job.
Tasting with the eyes
This is another key point about what baking can teach you about finding a job. CV’s and cover letters are like cakes in that the content or taste may be great, but if the appearance isn’t appealing no one is going to give it a chance. Why ruin a great CV with awful font choices, poor layout and spelling mistakes when your experience could actually be perfect for the role? Making your documents easy to ready and professional looking will maximum your chances of the hiring manager taking a big bite out of it!
Don’t worry about a Hollywood handshake
Simply put, you won’t get every job you want in life and that’s okay. Everyone wants different things and yes you may be qualified, but the company you are applying to might have specific criteria in mind or even if you reached the interview stage they might have just preferred another candidate.
You may be rooting for one baker to win the final tonight, while someone else could think they are worse than a cake with a soggy bottom. Even if you don’t get a golden Hollywood handshake to welcome you on-board, it doesn’t always mean you’re a bad candidate, it just means that everyone has different tastes, and that when you do get the right job for you, it will taste all the sweeter!
Ready to win star candidate and wow with your next great showstopper? We’ve got an amazing array of jobs to sink your teeth into!