The workshop, Purple Squirrels and Red Elephants was very interesting. In the workshop we learnt about what employers are really looking for (purple Squirrels) and what stops them from calling for an interview or even hiring someone (red elephants).

Purple squirrel is a term used by employment recruiters to describe a job candidate with precisely the right education, set of experience, and range of qualifications that perfectly fits a job’s requirements. The implication is that over-specification of the requirements makes a perfect candidate as hard to find as a purple squirrel. 

The workshop said that employers are looking for people that are: 

  • Team players
  • Can work independently 
  • Detail orientated
  • results orientated
  • Good communication skills

We learnt that it is important to not just have these buzz words on our resumes but to demonstrate how we do these things through quantified impact statements on our resume, for example: 

“Spearheaded employee benefit overhaul, identifying a new, improved health insurance provider while reducing employee insurance costs by 27%”

Overall the workshop has helped to improve my resume and understand how to stop employers seeing my ‘Red Elephants”