Speaker You’re listening to Allied Health Podcast, talking all things Allied Health with your hosts, Danielle Weedon, physiotherapist, and Clare Jones, occupational therapist.

Clare Jones Welcome back to Allied Health Podcast with myself, Clare Jones. Danielle and I have worked in Allied Health recruitment for over 20 years, and it’s fair to say that we’ve seen it all when it comes to people acting professionally and not so professionally. And in our experience, when it comes to recruitment, it’s often very simple things that have absolutely nothing to do with clinical competency or experience that can determine whether or not you get the job. So you’re about to transition from student to health professional, but how professional are you actually looking to future employers? In this episode, I’m going to take a look at the things that reflect professionalism in the recruitment process. Let’s start with an internet search. So what would a potential employer find if they were to Google you? And just quietly, I’m telling you they probably will. So before applying for any job, get online and go ahead and just Google yourself. What do you find? If it’s not professional, take steps to remove it. Next, look at your social media accounts. Who can access the information in these accounts? Make sure your privacy settings only allow access to those you want to see your photos and posts, and not employers. How professional is your email address? If you’re still using the email address you set up when you were nine or you’re using a student uni address, it’s time to create a new email address and make sure it’s professional. Voicemail. Now, to be honest, this is my biggest bugbear. There are two things I want to mention when it comes to voicemail. Make sure you use a professional message and keep it simple. Secondly, there is nothing more frustrating than trying to leave an important message on a mobile that converts voice messages to text. It’s frustrating for the person leaving the message and important information can easily be missed. So please make sure your phone accepts voice messages. Staying with your mobile – just say a potential employer is calling you. Do you know it’s them? Is it a good time to take such a call? Are you in an appropriate space or are you at the petrol station? For every application that you make, save the employer’s name and number in your phone so that when you get a call, you can make sure that it’s the right time for you to take the call and that you’re in the right place. And if not, just let the call go through your professional voicemail, and then call them back as soon as you can get to a quiet space. And remember that if you’re at the petrol station, just don’t answer the call. Applications. So when it comes to making job applications, keep a detailed and thorough record of where you have applied and for which roles you’ve applied for. You present so much more professionally when you know which employer is contacting you and for which job. Moving on to interviews. When it comes to video and phone interviews, make sure you interview in a professional space. Even if you’re at home. Find a quiet space where you won’t be interrupted and where you can undertake a phone or video interview even if it’s in your bedroom. Sit at a desk or on a chair and make sure you don’t interview lying on your bed. Yes, this has happened before. And if you need to interview in your car, which a lot of people do these days, that’s absolutely fine. Just let the interviewer know that this is where you’ll be, just so that they’re aware of this. And finally, I want to talk about managing multiple job offers. Transparency is key, if you’ve made several applications. In the current market, employers are more commonly expecting you to have made more than one job application. And to be clear, when we talk about transparency, you don’t need to disclose who your other applications are with. You just need to advise an employer that you’ve made other applications. So being transparent about this does two things. Employers won’t be surprised if you ask for more time to consider their offer against others, and they also won’t be totally shocked if you decline their offer to take another. Acting professionally at the end of the recruitment process can mean the difference between doors remaining open in the future or not. And we all know how small the world of Allied Health is. Thanks for joining me for this episode of Allied Health Podcast. I hope you found this information useful, and please don’t hesitate to get in touch if you have any questions. Episode five is coming up where we’re going to detail the recruitment process from a job advertisement to starting in a new role, as well as the benefits of working with MediRecruit.

Speaker We hope you enjoyed listening to the Allied Health podcast. In the show’s notes, you’ll find links to our free recruitment resources, job opportunities and health care marketplace insights. To listen to new episodes, please subscribe via Apple, Google, or wherever you find your favourite podcasts and if you’ve enjoyed the show, please give it a five star rating and review. And be sure to tell your therapy colleagues and friends to tune in.