Almost every job I apply for requires ‘attention to detail’ and ‘communication skills’, often with an interest in the ‘user experience’. I feel these are often lacking in the recruitment process itself.

I helped to create a tutorial for support staff at Bristol University, now known as ‘InfoSafe’, which dealt with data curation and storage. Amongst other things, we explained how you could use file and directory names constructively for easy retrieval. Some employers could do with studying this advice. I’ve just downloaded further particulars of a job I’m interested in, and the file name is of the form ‘123456’ or simply ‘Job Description’. Would it be so hard to include the job title – in abbreviated form if necessary? Maybe the organisation’s name too, given that the file is likely to be downloaded by people outside it?

Another regrettable trend, which I put down to tidy-minded HR departments, is an absolutely formulaic invitation to interview. So much so that in two recent cases, instructions about a presentation to be given at interview were contained only in an attachment, with no reference to the presentation or the attachment in the body of the message. So easy to overlook, especially when many emails now come with a string of otiose attached files. It’s basic email etiquette that if there is important information in an attachment, the body of the message should indicate this.

No wonder the skills I referred to in my opening sentence are in such demand!