{"id":2078,"date":"2021-02-08T12:27:14","date_gmt":"2021-02-08T12:27:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/careers\/?p=2078"},"modified":"2025-10-22T15:15:52","modified_gmt":"2025-10-22T14:15:52","slug":"can-i-trust-you","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/careers\/2021\/02\/08\/can-i-trust-you\/","title":{"rendered":"Can I trust you?"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em><strong>A view from the other side of the desk\u2026in lockdown<\/strong><\/em><br \/><br \/>I\u2019m Alex, a senior manager with a growing business. I\u2019ve managed to keep my team and business focussed and productive throughout the pandemic. I\u2019m really happy with how the switch to remote working went during Lockdown#1. Our client base has stuck with us and in fact our order book is looking extremely healthy. The team are working efficiently and creatively. Morale seems to holding up despite the challenges of Zoom calls, Groundhog days and home-schooling.<\/p>\r\n<p>My colleagues know what they\u2019re doing, they\u2019re experts in their field. They don\u2019t need me micromanaging them or checking up on how long they\u2019ve been sitting at their laptop - they\u2019re delivering high quality work and that\u2019s what matters. I know clients are getting the quality service they have come to expect from us because they are telling me so. I\u2019m happy because they\u2019re happy\u2026but I\u2019m also very tired and fed up with lockdown. My dad\u2019s elderly and unwell and I haven\u2019t been able to see him for months. My teenager still doesn\u2019t know if A levels are on or off or are actually on again but now are called \"short external tests\".<\/p>\r\n<p>HR have asked me if I would like to take on a placement student\/grad hire. It\u2019s tempting; I\u2019ve got so many new ideas for projects that I can\u2019t resource at the moment. The team could do with some fresh talent, especially if they have up to date knowledge and technical skills in our niche. We had a great graduate on placement from Bath University last year who we\u2019ve now got on a permanent contract. But can I risk rocking the boat? Do I have the bandwidth to onboard and remotely support a new young member of staff? What if they don\u2019t settle in quickly or turn out to be needy? What if they take months to get used to using our systems remotely? What if they upset important customers because they over promise and under deliver? Hmm, I think I\u2019ll say no to HR. Hey, I\u2019m only human\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026.<\/p>\r\n<p><em>Oh great, just heard from HR that the ad\u2019s already gone out. I\u2019m really going to take some convincing on this. These applications had better be special.<\/em><\/p>\r\n<p>So now here you are, applying for that placement, internship or grad job. Your CV and cover letter are seemingly ready and you\u2019re about to press send. How do you need to amend them to persuade Alex you\u2019re worth a punt?<br \/><br \/><strong>Next time we\u2019ll look at how to convince potential employers that they're not taking a risk with you, whether or not lockdown is still in place....<\/strong><br \/><br \/><br \/><\/p>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A view from the other side of the desk\u2026in lockdown I\u2019m Alex, a senior manager with a growing business. I\u2019ve managed to keep my team and business focussed and productive throughout the pandemic. I\u2019m really happy with how the switch...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1220,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[748],"tags":[16,384,552,22,68,580],"class_list":["post-2078","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-archive","tag-applications","tag-cover-letter","tag-covid-19","tag-cv","tag-employers","tag-remote-working"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/careers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2078","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/careers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/careers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/careers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1220"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/careers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2078"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/careers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2078\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/careers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2078"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/careers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2078"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/careers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2078"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}