What Fashion Companies Expect when you Apply and During a Job Interview

Applying for a fashion company seems a basic thing where you just have to follow a standard process: you search for the job offers, prepare your CV and you submit it to companies. Then you expect someone from the company to call you.

It is a few weeks after the first applications, when you get no response, that you realize that actually getting a job in fashion is not so easy. Fashion companies are hard to please because they receive many applications so they can choose from many applicants.

Therefore it is not enough just to submit your resume and wait to get your dream job by crossing your fingers. You have to make that extra effort and don’t make any mistakes during the application and the job interview. Knowing then what fashion companies expect when you apply and during your job interview will, therefore, put you ahead of all the other candidates.

You may have many brilliant experiences, but if your CV is not well structured, recruiters will discard it. While, you can just be out of school, but have a fantastic structured your resume and write an effective cover letter and get the job.

Alessandra Ricci, who is in charge of hiring staff at Burberry, told us that “A CV is effective when it can be used as a business card. It must, therefore, be exhaustive but synthetic, “personalized” on the type of role for which you’re applying for and professional … The CV must be also immediate and easy to read: this does not mean that you should forget about creativity, but you should not exaggerate.”

I explained to you already that it is essential to change your CV a little every time you apply for a new position. Using the keywords of the new job description in your resume is in fact, a trick that works very well.

For example, let’s say you want to apply for this job offer:
Collection Assistant at Dolce & Gabbana

The chosen figure will be inserted in the RTW Men’s Style Office and will:

• take care of the stylistic information acting as a trade union between designers and product/model technicians;
• support the creative team in the preparation of the collections;
• create and/or support the creation of collection boards;
• support and/or carry out the attribution activities together with the creative director, ensuring a precise and timely transfer of the same to the product offices of the reference offices;
• perform analysis and reporting on the collections;
• participate in collection and fashion show coordination activities ensuring the presence of all the material requested in the times, methods and quality of the company.

Main responsibilities:

• Ensuring a constant and punctual passage of creative inputs, updates and/or changes relating to the collection, to the product and/or technical offices involved.
• Act as a reference point within the office, guaranteeing adequate support in the coordination of activities.

The Ideal Profile Must Have The Following Skills / Abilities

• strong sensitivity towards men’s clothing product
• knowledge of fabrics and textile products
• knowledge of the main computer programs: AS400 / Modelform
• knowledge of the Office package: in particular Excel

Requirements

• Degree and/or diploma in Fashion Business and/or equivalent culture.
• Knowledge of English language
• Appreciated knowledge of the History of Art and Costume.
• Previous experience: gained at product offices / men’s fabrics and / or at style offices as an assistant.
• Soft Skills: problem solver, excellent stress management, confrontation and teamwork, flexible and available in terms of timetables.

After reading the job offer carefully, go back and pay attention to the activities listed in the job description:

• take care of the stylistic information acting as a trade union between designers and product/model technicians;
• create and / or support the creation of collection boards …

then take your CV and focus on your previous work experiences and incorporate the keywords of the new job description in the activities of your previous one, which in this case could be:

• support the creative team in the preparation of the collections
• perform analysis and reporting on the collections;
• participate in collection and fashion show coordination activities

obviously, you cannot incorporate the activities if in reality in your previous job you didn’t do any of them, otherwise, during the job interview they will figure it out and you’ll be out of the games. For this job as Collection Assistant, one of the requirements is: previous experience as an assistant at a product office/men’s fabrics and/or at style office- so if you are applying, it means that you have as assistant experience on your CV so adding the keywords of the new job is absolutely necessary.

Pay attention to the requirements and include them in your CV. Knowledge of the History of Art and Costume: you can add this requirement in your studies or other skills or mention in your cover letter that you are passionate about the history of art and costume and that is why you studied it through books, online courses, etc …

The same applies to the required knowledge of fabrics and textile products and knowledge of the main computer programs: AS400 / Modelform. Rather than writing the usual generic skills that everyone adds in the resume, make sure to include these specifications that you find in the job offer.

When you structure your resume, make sure it fits in one page. I know it may seem difficult but change the structure and the font size until you make it. Using a different font size that distinguishes the job titles from job descriptions can help a lot. Recruiters look at your CV for just 3 seconds before deciding whether to continue reading it or not, so once you finish working on your CV, look at it from a distance and see if you can understand in 3 seconds who you are, what you did and what you studied. Use a professional photo: a portrait of you from the shoulders up with a white background. Take care also to not mention hobbies / personal information irrelevant to the position you are proposing yourself for.

Print a copy of the job offer for which you are applying for and identify yourself with the recruiter. Keep in mind that there are at least 500 other people who are applying for the same job, so think big and make sure that your CV stands out. Thinking about what a recruiter is looking for: a nice clean CV that contains the right keywords in previous experiences and skills. If excellent knowledge of the French language and the use of excel and power points are required, focus on these skills rather than wasting space adding “good communication skills”, which everyone writes but which mean nothing to recruiters today. Focus carefully on what is asked in the job description and highlight everything they want. Put on top everything that is relevant.

What do Fashion Companies expect in the job interview phase

It is essential that during the job interview you show that you have done your research on the company. For example, name your favorite collection, something about the company that happened and that hit you. If you are applying for a job in PR, study the PR strategies that the company has used: the relationships with influencers, the magazines on which the brand appeared, celebrities who wore a piece at an event … Study everything online and show your passion for the brand and your knowledge. Recruiters will love it.

Prepare yourself by practicing at home before the interview, to answer questions such as:

• What do you like about our company and why would you like to work here?
• What is the biggest challenge you have had to face in your work experiences and how you did it?
• In which of our values ​​you recognize yourself most?

I asked Burberry’s Talent Acquisition Manager what she pays the most attention to during the job interviews and what is the decisive factor that allows her to understand that someone is the right person:

“I pay a lot of attention, in addition to the professional requirements, to check how much the person in front of me is in line with the corporate culture. The factor that makes me say “wow” is when the candidate shows enthusiasm and realism through a multifocal approach (underlines both the advantages that it would bring to the company, and the benefits it would derive from the fact of working inside it), as an expert ( it is able to emerge with respect to similar profiles as it uses its technical know-how) and as a problem solver (it is able to highlight its ability to think in perspective by focusing on the possible challenges that the company could face in the future).
All this, in addition to certain personal characteristics that cannot be changed, requires a pre-interview preparation on the company, its business sector, its products, its values ​​and objectives. It is essential to take all steps very seriously, starting with the “phone interview” and the so-called “cognitive interview”: they are in fact the first opportunities to make a good impression. Although they are not technicians, the recruiters who conduct the job interviews are often those who best know the company, its peculiarities and what the business requires – therefore they are able to assess the fit of the person with the position sought at 360 degrees. In technical interviews, used above all for specialized profiles, the specialized skills are also tested with tests, problem solving and practical exercises. In group interviews, on the other hand, it is asserted as the candidate behaves in a social context: the opening to confrontation, team spirit, leadership, argumentation and conviction or listening skills are then analyzed. You need to pitch yourself in an analytical and synthetic way, giving back an exhaustive picture of abilities, skills and strengths. We use the interview to enhance those aspects that cannot be understood from the CV and we pay attention to the form. It is necessary to show curiosity, to stimulate the attention of the interlocutor, avoiding to proceed with a sterile list of the roles covered, and to make it clear that you did your research before applying. It is not necessary to presume to know the peculiarities of the company, nor to ignore the fact that a company is an organization formed by people and consequently by relationships: don’t speak negatively about your current boss or colleagues. Don’t assume attitudes of disinterest and don’t give too much confidence to the interlocutor. “

You need to do something extraordinary to be considered. Therefore, in addition to applying for the company website form, you could search for the email address of the recruiter or future boss (in many job offers it is explained if you will support someone: the PR manager, e-commerce specialist, digital editor .. research on LinkedIn the person to find out who he/she is) and write an email using your cover letter in the body and attach your CV and any other document that is relevant, such as a portfolio.
Why don’t you consider a video application? Find a professional background, dress as if you were going to an interview and record a short video (40 sec) where you explain who you are and why you would like to get that job.

Always think big and remember to leave your mark! Good luck girl!